Day +24
WBC 0.9
Today was another day of baby steps forward regarding the ventilator. Small adjustments were made to decrease the number of breaths the machine was making for Max and the overall oxygen percentage remained low. The also lowered the sedation a little bit so Max was able to open his eyes a few times and squeeze our fingers a few times.
Overall he is continuing to better live with the effects of sepsis. It’s far from gone, but he is doing okay and it is described as being “under better control.” He is regulating his blood pressure very well and hasn’t had any high fevers.
He does, however, have a new cause for concern. He has a bacterial infection that is not responding to Vancomycin (one of the many broad spectrum antibiotics he is on) and is therefore known as VRE Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci. This is most probably an infection that he got in the hospital. We are now in “contact isolation” which means that we have to wear full-body gowns and gloves and so does everyone who comes in the room. The danger is not to Max, he already has it, but it’s to keep it from spreading further out to the other kids. But who kept Max from getting it? We’ll never know. Since he is improving overall, they are still going to keep him on the same regimen because the “Vanco” may be helping to fight other bad things in and around Max. This new infection may or may not have had an effect on the original sepsis, but hopefully this is something that they can get under control until Max’s immune system can get stronger. As long as it doesn’t grow too much and spread, he’ll be OK. We will learn a lot more about this tomorrow.
We were feeling more optimistic today and took advantage of our help to have a little lunch date with each other. Grannie stayed with Max and Auntie Dana went on a guided tour of Ronald McDonald House with Grace so we could have a little pasta from Maggiano’s in our room. It’s the first alone time we’ve had in about a month and it was nice to say the least. We have so little time for each other that a little reheated pasta goes a long way. Thank you Dana for helping us this weekend, and thanks for bringing the angel hair up from Chicago!
We haven’t talked to Grace’s friend Kendall’s parents recently but they were on schedule to get out very soon, maybe even by the time most of you read this. Congratulations Kendall! Also, Aaron Athy, is in a hospital now fighting his own little bugs and we want to say thanks to Aaron’s Mom for encouraging so much support to come our way and we hope you know it’s coming back from us just as strong.
Good night,
Mike
Today was another day of baby steps forward regarding the ventilator. Small adjustments were made to decrease the number of breaths the machine was making for Max and the overall oxygen percentage remained low. The also lowered the sedation a little bit so Max was able to open his eyes a few times and squeeze our fingers a few times.
Overall he is continuing to better live with the effects of sepsis. It’s far from gone, but he is doing okay and it is described as being “under better control.” He is regulating his blood pressure very well and hasn’t had any high fevers.
He does, however, have a new cause for concern. He has a bacterial infection that is not responding to Vancomycin (one of the many broad spectrum antibiotics he is on) and is therefore known as VRE Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci. This is most probably an infection that he got in the hospital. We are now in “contact isolation” which means that we have to wear full-body gowns and gloves and so does everyone who comes in the room. The danger is not to Max, he already has it, but it’s to keep it from spreading further out to the other kids. But who kept Max from getting it? We’ll never know. Since he is improving overall, they are still going to keep him on the same regimen because the “Vanco” may be helping to fight other bad things in and around Max. This new infection may or may not have had an effect on the original sepsis, but hopefully this is something that they can get under control until Max’s immune system can get stronger. As long as it doesn’t grow too much and spread, he’ll be OK. We will learn a lot more about this tomorrow.
We were feeling more optimistic today and took advantage of our help to have a little lunch date with each other. Grannie stayed with Max and Auntie Dana went on a guided tour of Ronald McDonald House with Grace so we could have a little pasta from Maggiano’s in our room. It’s the first alone time we’ve had in about a month and it was nice to say the least. We have so little time for each other that a little reheated pasta goes a long way. Thank you Dana for helping us this weekend, and thanks for bringing the angel hair up from Chicago!
We haven’t talked to Grace’s friend Kendall’s parents recently but they were on schedule to get out very soon, maybe even by the time most of you read this. Congratulations Kendall! Also, Aaron Athy, is in a hospital now fighting his own little bugs and we want to say thanks to Aaron’s Mom for encouraging so much support to come our way and we hope you know it’s coming back from us just as strong.
Good night,
Mike
posted by Mike Ciacciarelli
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