The Echo

Bridger had his echo done yesterday, which said that his heart function went from 59% down to 17%- we were not happy about this. However, in speaking with the cardiologist and the intesivest, they agree that yes his heart function is decreased, but maybe not as much as the numbers are saying. So they increased one of Bridger's heart medications and started another heart med and we will give it a few days and then maybe re-echo at the begining of next week. So not exactly what we want to hear, but hopefully a little better than the numbers show.

No news is good news

Not a whole lot of changes right now. The medical team is just trying to fine tune all of Bridger's medications. Sometime today he will have another echo to see the function of his heart with the new valve & his pacemaker. He has started to drink from a bottle again! It has been nearly four months since he has taken anything by mouth, so this is pretty exciting for us. Today he even got to try a little formula (1/4 formula & 3/4 pedialyte- so that he isn't shcked by the flavor) and he drank an entire ounce ( that is alot after months of eating nothing). So we have some things to continue working on. His rehab therapies started yesterday as well, which has been keeping us busy. Hopefully we are working our way out of here.

OOOPs!

Sorry I forgot to say that Bridger was extubated on Thursday, and they even let him pull out his own breathing tube! He is much calmer without it, but again this morning he was still working on a fever. A couple of changes were made to his IV medications so we will see if that helps him tonight. This morning he and I got to take a nap on a mat on the floor together. It was great! Just lying there and holding hands. He is soooo sweet. And this afternoon while Danny was here, Bridger finally started smiling again and even laughing at me. Otherwise no other changes for now.

Another fever

Bridger spiked a fever again this morning. So far his cultures from the fever a few days ago have shown nothing, so they are repeating all of the same cultures again today. For today there is not much on the board for today, we will just try to keep him cool and find the cause for the fever

Never a dull moment

Bridger had a rough day yesterday, he was very restless and uncomfortable. I thought that maybe he was just ready to have his breathing tube out and that was what had been making him mad. So his sedation was increased and he settled down until about 5:00 this morning. He became furious, his heart rate shot up to 200 from 120 earlier, and his breathing became very distressed. They checked his tempurature and it was 39.5 (103). So he had blood and urine cultures drawn, and well as a viral respiratory panel. For right now we have been put on isolation in case of a virus. Because all of this causes him respiratory distress, the doctors will not look to wean the ventilator any more today. Hopefully we can get Bridger more comfortable and have a quiet day.

Timing is everything

Today is a big day for Bridger. He needs to have the central line in his neck removed, the arterial line in his right wrist removed, a drain is his abdomen removed and have his g-tube changed out. However, the trick to all of this is that it must be done while his blood thinner is off and it can't be left off for to long. So the doctors are are trying to coordinating all of the specialists to be at the bedside at the same time, and the nurse will have to reroute all of his IV medications from his central line to the PICC line that was placed yesterday. So there will be alot going on today for Bridger and hopefully it won't stress him out too much.

-----Staci