I left the house at 5:15 this morning and got back home at 9:30 tonight. In between, I drove to LA, worked for 7-something hours, drove back, and then went to the hospital. To give you an idea of how tired I am, I'm going to bed as soon as I finish writing this, around 11pm.
There's not much change to report at the hospital. Andrew's still doing well, though he started to move a bit today. They had to increase his paralytic dosage a bit, but he was still moving while we were there. They may have to increase it again in the next few days.
The surgeons are trying to schedule the procedure on his lung, but first they want to get a bronchoscopy. This involves inserting a small camera down his airway, taking a look at the trachea/bronchus walls on the way down. We're not sure why they need it, but this test isn't difficult and should provide some additional information. It would let them know if he had a floppy airway, another constriction, a weak point in the wall, any scar tissue, etc. I don't think they're expecting any of these to be the case, but we're certainly not complaining about any extra testing before starting an irreversible surgery.
They'll try to do the bronchoscopy later this week....we'll probably know for sure tomorrow. After they finish the bronchoscopy, they'll try to schedule the other surgery.
About Me
- JR
- D's husband. Andrew's dad. Son, friend, cousin, nephew, grandson....the list goes on.
About This Blog
This blog was originally created to disseminate information about Andrew, our son who was born on June 15, 2007. Andrew was born with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) that allowed abdominal organs (stomach, intestines, etc) to migrate into his chest cavity during development. This prohibited normal lung growth, making it difficult for him to live without significant life support, including a ventilator, a lung bypass machine called ECMO, and a long list of medications.
Andrew spent the next five months at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego, undergoing multiple operations for the hernia repair, intestinal rearrangement, stomach tube insertion, etc. Multiple attempts to help him breathe on his own without a ventilator were unsuccessful due to a number of anatomical and developmental difficulties. Andrew's failure to progress and an abundance of overwhelmingly unfavorable test results led us to remove him from life support and let nature take its course on November 19, 2007.
We greatly appreciate the time we were able to spend with Andrew, and this blog continues as a source for information, a tribute to his memory, and a continuation of our lives without him present. From the emotional to the mundane, our lives have been forever changed by his presence; those lives are now chronicled here.
No comments:
Post a Comment