Updated:2:11 p.m.- The nurse just told me the doctor prescribed Valium for Logan for sedation, probably because his body is getting used to the chloral hydrate. She said it's pretty common for babies to have that. Now, Valium sounds like some pretty medication for a 4 month-old. Of course I have to googled the side effects and all. I read that they do use it for babies, but not for long-term use. I need to double-check in a couple of days to see if they are still prescribing that to Logan.
Day 18 - Hospital Stay
Day 13 - Intubated
Logan didn't get his night time lung exercise last night. They have changed his "work out" schedule to 8 a.m. and 1 p.m., so that he can sleep at night. When I came in this morning, he was exercising, aka, on Cpap and not ventilator, and he was doing fine. The doctors came in to do rounds and I was able to get some more updates.
He has lost a little weight, back to 6.8 kg, down a little from yesterday. His CO2 level after his exercise is on the high side again. This is actually consistent to what he usually does. Because when he's breathing in those shallow breaths, he's not exhaling enough. Nothing too alarming at the moment. They will check his caffeine level again. I have asked about his diarrhea, since he's had it for about a week now. The doctor said it shouldn't be the antibiotics because it was a very low dose. They checked their medication book and noticed that a side effect of chloral hydrate (his hypnotic, sedation medication) is diarrhea. Since he's having quite a bit of chloral hydrate plus caffeine, no wonder he's having diarrhea. They have already run tests on his stools and urine, and they came back negative, thus ruling out any virus or bacteria causing the diarrhea. I asked if he would need extra oxygen when he goes home with a trach + ventilator (I am prepared that he will be getting a tracheostomy at this point). Doctor said usually yes, and at at least 30% (room air is 21% O2, in case you don't know, I didn't know until all this happened). Doctor said it's best to have a little reserve and I agree with her because I know Logan's oxygen reserve is very low. His current ventilator oxygen is set at 35% and it's ok to turn it down to 30%. He is actually doing well even after we turned down that extra oxygen concentration. We'll just keep what we're doing until the blood test results come back. Probably a few more days of bliss, the calm before the storm.
As mentioned before (or maybe I didn't write this down, I don't quite remember), I requested Logan's medical records from Kaiser for personal records. I picked it up yesterday. Thank goodness that lady didn't charge me. It usually costs $0.25/page. Logan has a thick stack of medical record since birth. It includes all the test results, notes written by doctors, etc. I haven't had the time to go through them all yet. I also received a call from Golden Gate Regional Center yesterday. The person told me to call him back after Logan is discharged because they need to know his level of functioning at the time.
The PICU is full house again today. I see a few more babies here. Actually, one of them is wailing at the moment. Poor thing. In a way, I am glad Logan is sleeping through most of this and doesn't feel any pain. It's so painful to hear a baby cry, especially in here.
*Picture of Logan sleeping soundly after we gave him a sponge bath and changed his central line dressing this morning.
1 comment:
How is his little butt doing with all the diarrhea? You're such a good mom getting him all clean up. I bet Logan feels good afterwards.
Jonas' patient chart was thick also. Between the time he was born at NICU till he was discharged from the hospital, he has over 10 books of medical record.
Peggy @ Seattle
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