Well, Crap! One of the common problems associated with spending lots of time in the hospital, spending lots of time in the ICU specifically, and having lots of invasive interventions (PICC lines, ventilator, IVs, surgery) is an infection. Looks like Mason's become common. Last night after his evening drug holiday, the nurse took his temperature and it was elevated. He responded well to Tylenol and/or ibuprofen for a bit, but now, no improvement that we can see. He is now at 101.7 degrees, up from the 100.4 it was last night. Crap! They've put him on IV antibiotics just in case, they're running every kind of infection culture they can think of, and once again have the nurses and doctors wearing gowns, gloves, and masks (we'd stopped using the masks about a week and a half ago since he's no longer breathing the same air). So far, we cannot tell what his little body is fighting, but it looks from the blood counts that it is bacterial (specific types of his blood cells are elevated). Crap!
Despite this, he has done fairly well on his drug holidays. Last night's lasted a couple of hours with him being awake for about an hour and today's lasted about 3 hours with about an hour and 15 minutes of awake time. Each time it takes a bit for him to regain his coordination, but each time he becomes a little more coordinated than the time before. Mama is getting a little more used to them as well; I now consider him to be taking long naps in between. Maybe reality, maybe fooling myself, but hey, it works!
Mason's oxygen need has been up, down, and all around. He has times when he's back down to 65%, then times when he needs 85% or so when not on his holidays. It does seem to be related to position as well as how he is feeling otherwise. Now that he's fighting this wretched infection, he needs a little more oxygen. Is this, once again, another lesson in patience? Seriously, child, I'm pretty sure there are easier ways to teach your parents lessons!!! I remain hopeful that the antibiotics will kick in soon and Mason will begin to feel better.
Before I sign off, I do want to make sure Mason has the opportunity to say HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY, STARAMAMA!!!
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2 comments:
I'm so sorry he's got this going on on top of everything else. I'm still praying for Mason and you-all.
Thank you Mason for letting everyone know how old I am. And thank you for my gift, bringing your heart rate, and temp down for me. I knew you were going to give me some kind of special gift. Keep up the great work. Next year, maybe coloring a nice picture will be a little easier on all of us.
Love You
Staramama
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