September 5, 2006
The past few days have been challenging for Zach. Starting on Friday Zach has had a couple of his episodes. During these episodes his oxygen saturation level will drop and the hospital staff will have to take alternate measures to restore Zach back to his normal state. Prior to Friday, Zach was doing pretty well with his feeds (up to 26cc an hour) and even making some small improvements on his ventilator settings. Friday morning following his episode the doctors have basically had to go back to the drawing board. They have stopped his feeds again and he is requiring an even higher level of support from his ventilator.
The docotrs aren't exactly sure what triggered his first episode but it appears to us that it all relates to the amount of pressure that builds up inside Zach's little abdomen. The first warning sign came when his g-tube started leaking fluids again around the outer site. After stopping his feeeds a short time later the nurse noticed his hernia had gotten much larger and was having a very difficult time reducing it. The fear was that if they were unable to reduce the amount of intestine that had decended through his hernia it may become incarcerated and require emergency surgery before that portion of the intestine began to die off. Fortunately, the surgeon was able to reduce the hernia and Zach avoided his seventh trip to the OR. The potential incarceration acts like a blockage and can become pretty serious so we were very happy to see that situation improve.
Zach continued to hover in the same not so good status over the weekend with a few more episodes as his little body tried to deal with the all of the things that were going on. Eventually the doctors decided to completely sedate Zach so that he wouldn't fight against the vent and would be able to relax in order to allow his body to just rest and recover. They put him on three medications, Verced (an anti-anxiety medication that helps his body to relax), Fentanyl (pain medication), and Vecuronium (a paralytic that prevents him from moving and fighting against the vent). The combination of these medicines kept him completely "schnockered" as the nurses put it over the weekend. The doctors also started Zach on nitric treatment again which helps to dialate his blood vessels and helps his body oxygenate his blood better.
As of this morning things appear to be working. Zach is returing more to his normal baseline. His support requirements from the vent have gone down somewhat and his hernia is looking OK. We hope he continues to improve and we can try to get things figured out with his feeds again.
As some of you know Greg and Tieryn are leaving this morning to Hawaii for a short vacation. We have Grandma Diana here to take care of the kids and to keep us updated on Zachary. We might not be able to update the blog for a little while but really need your prayers so we can rest a little easier that our little guy will do OK while we are away. We love you all and appreciate all you do for us and all the prayers that are said on a daily basis for our little Zachary.
The docotrs aren't exactly sure what triggered his first episode but it appears to us that it all relates to the amount of pressure that builds up inside Zach's little abdomen. The first warning sign came when his g-tube started leaking fluids again around the outer site. After stopping his feeeds a short time later the nurse noticed his hernia had gotten much larger and was having a very difficult time reducing it. The fear was that if they were unable to reduce the amount of intestine that had decended through his hernia it may become incarcerated and require emergency surgery before that portion of the intestine began to die off. Fortunately, the surgeon was able to reduce the hernia and Zach avoided his seventh trip to the OR. The potential incarceration acts like a blockage and can become pretty serious so we were very happy to see that situation improve.
Zach continued to hover in the same not so good status over the weekend with a few more episodes as his little body tried to deal with the all of the things that were going on. Eventually the doctors decided to completely sedate Zach so that he wouldn't fight against the vent and would be able to relax in order to allow his body to just rest and recover. They put him on three medications, Verced (an anti-anxiety medication that helps his body to relax), Fentanyl (pain medication), and Vecuronium (a paralytic that prevents him from moving and fighting against the vent). The combination of these medicines kept him completely "schnockered" as the nurses put it over the weekend. The doctors also started Zach on nitric treatment again which helps to dialate his blood vessels and helps his body oxygenate his blood better.
As of this morning things appear to be working. Zach is returing more to his normal baseline. His support requirements from the vent have gone down somewhat and his hernia is looking OK. We hope he continues to improve and we can try to get things figured out with his feeds again.
As some of you know Greg and Tieryn are leaving this morning to Hawaii for a short vacation. We have Grandma Diana here to take care of the kids and to keep us updated on Zachary. We might not be able to update the blog for a little while but really need your prayers so we can rest a little easier that our little guy will do OK while we are away. We love you all and appreciate all you do for us and all the prayers that are said on a daily basis for our little Zachary.
posted by Tieryn at
4:04 AM
3 Comments:
We never tire of praying for Zach, we just wish there was more we could do to help out. We are glad they seem to be finding some answers to the feeding problems. I know with Grandma there in Texas the grandkids are in for a good time. We hope you have a great relaxing vacation and all will continue on the upwards path for Zach. All the best from us!!!
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Greg & Tieryn - sorry to hear of the setback. We'll definitely intensify our prayers, and I'll call the Las Vegas temple tomorrow and get him on the prayer roll. I hope you can have a nice trip.
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