Thursday, May 07, 2009

Nate - Thursday Morning Update

Nate had another good night and a good start to the day. We were able to cough up a lot of stuff this morning and his nose had very little congestion. He's back to making his normal sounds and his saturation level was back up to where it should be. His heart rate is back in the normal range more often but he still has some periods when it is elevated.
We're cautiously optimistic and really appreciate all the prayers for him!
Thanks,
Trey

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Nate - Wednesday Morning Update

Nate had an OK night after a very up & down Tuesday. He only desatted a couple of times last night but was awake for about 2 hours "visiting" with Jennie. As expected, he was very congested and "gunky" this morning so we coughed him about 6:45AM. We got a lot of snot & congestion out of his nose and this really helped him. Over the last couple of days, we had not gotten much of anything out of his nose so this was an improvement.
The radiologist's report came back last night and he stated that Nate has "pulmonary congestion" but no pneumonia. The pulmonary congestion basically means excessive fluid in the lungs and this explains why sometimes his lungs sound clear, then we hearing wheezing and then they sound diminished, etc... The radiologist will also compare Nate's x-ray from yesterday to ones they have on file and let us know if he sees anything else.
The prelim results of the cultures showed low amounts of Staph & Pseudomonas but nothing to be concerned about at this point in time. I believe that Nate's cultures will always show Pseudomnas since he had a long bout with it years ago. Dr. Rippy told us to just keep doing what we're doing...meds, breathing treatments, the VEST and cough assist sessions. He's going to talk with Dr. Cyrus today and let us know if they have any other thoughts.
Thanks for checking in on the Little Guy...
Trey

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Nathan

Nate is up and down. One minute you think he's much better and the next, he's really struggling. He hasn't run a fever yesterday or today, which is good. And he hasn't needed any supplemental oxygen, except for this morning for a little bit. This morning was rough and he's still not doing great. The speech therapist came out and only stayed a few minutes. Nate started choking, and then he was too worn out to do anything. Right now he's stable and sounds good, making cute sounds and looks better. The nurse heard wheezes in his lungs this morning and yesterday his lung sounds seemed diminshed to me when I listened. I've called the dr. to get a chest x-ray hopefully today. We are still waiting on the culture results. I'll update when I know more.

Monday, May 04, 2009

Nate is Sick

But, he's doing better today! Apparently Nate caught a cold or whatever Owen has had for the last week. Nate started struggling last Friday and had a pretty rough weekend. High heart rate, tons of thick secretions, running a fever, and could not be off the bi-pap AT ALL. We were coughing him a TON. Saturday was the hardest day. Yesterday he did better until late afternoon. He was on a tiny bit of oxygen overnight to keep his saturations normal. We took in cultures yesterday for Influenza A & B and any bacterial infection. Not sure when we will get those results. He started Amoxicillin yesterday. We can tell a difference today. His eyes look better, his heart rate is better and he is smiling and making his cute sounds. We obviously skipped going to school Friday, but are hoping he can go this Friday because Trey is off work and wants to go with us. If not, we'll go the following week because Nathan is the "Spartan of the Week". (Will update more on that later with pics, etc.).
We are relieved that it looks like Nathan is getting a little better. We would appreciate your prayers. Thanks for checking in!
Jennifer

Random Pics of Owen







Nate at School








Pics of Nate with his friends reading to him (which they LOVE to do) and pics of him with one of the school "pets".

Ducks



The teacher brought some baby ducks to show Nathan during his school session at the house. He wasn't quite sure what to think about them. They quacked the whole time through school. So cute! Owen wasn't sure about them either!