Long Night

Last night (Thursday) we got a call from Kyle's nurse practitioner around 6:00pm saying that Kyle had a rough night but was doing much better and his little black toes were looking much improved.

Around 7:30, my parents called and said that they were just leaving All Children's and the nurse had seemed concerned about Kyle's weight or something but they couldn't give them any information.

Around 8:30, one of the night doctors called and said that Kyle had taken a turn for the worse and if Chris and I could come down to the hospital, it might be a good idea. They had put him on the high frequency ventillator again and were having to keep it at 100% and Kyle's gas levels were of concern. I called my parents and asked them to come watch Hannah so that we could head down to All Children's.

As soon as I hung up from talking to my parents, I got another call from the night doctor and she said they were going to administer Hydrocortisone and would most likely put Kyle back on the Vecuronium to paralyze him again.

Chris and I rushed down to the hospital and were confused when we came into the NICU. Kyle's incubator was not in it's place. In fact, there was no incubator in that spot. They had moved Kyle across the room to make more room around another incubator where another family was having a worse night than us. I recognized all the signs. They had set up curtains around the incubator for privacy for the family, sent in the chaplain, the couple were emotional and clearly heartbroken and the IV pole had numerous syringes of medicines like Dopamine and other medications I recognized from Eric's last days.

Dr. Wadhawan, the neonatologist on staff, came to speak with us and made it clear that Kyle was very sick and his lungs were not doing well. He mentioned the possibility of using the Dexamethasone (a corticosteroid) and asked if Dr. Brooks had discussed with us the potential risks of using this kind of steroid. We let him know that we were willing to take the risk if it may improve Kyle's lungs and keep him with us so they administered the Dexamethasone in place of the Hydrocortisone. They had stopped the Vecuronium for a while so Kyle wasn't moving much but his eyes were wide open when we got there. He was looking around with his big, bright eyes trying to see everything that was happening.

Dr. Wadhawan let us know that the steroids would take anywhere from 24-48 hours to show any change so we were basically just waiting it out. Chris had to leave around 11:00pm to go home so that he could work this morning so his mom gave him a ride home so that I could stay with Kyle.

Once Chris got home, my parents came down to the hospital and my dad left my mom with me for support and let me know that he would arrange for Caleb to watch Hannah in the morning when Chris left for work so there wouldn't be a rush on me heading home in the morning.

It was a long night of watching and waiting. Seeing as Kyle was on the Vecuronium again, there wasn't a lot to watch except numbers. The nurse said that we wanted the ventillator % to go down and the saturation % to stay up.

Mom and I took several breaks in the cafeteria and family waiting room and each time we returned Kyle was doing a little better and the family across from us was doing worse. I felt a wave of sympathy when I saw them tearfully carry their small baby out of the NICU with their minister beside them and I nearly cried when I saw the staff clearing the space where the incubator had been. I knew what they were going through and I felt a selfish joy that we were not in the same situation. Though things were touch and go with Kyle, he was stable and slowly improving.

Around 4:00am, Kyle's ventillator was down to 68% and his saturation was up to 94% and the nurse said his gas levels were good so Mom and I went to the family waiting room with a couple of pillows and blankets and got a couple of hours of uncomfortable napping in. We got up at 6:00am to check on Kyle but I had forgotten that the NICU doesn't allow visitors during their shift changes from 6-7:00 so we had to wait another hour.

While we waited, we talked to a woman in the family waiting room who had a 2 1/2 year old granddaughter (Vanya) in the hospital for chronic heart problems. I was thankful that my own 2 1/2 year old did not have any severe health problems and never had.

After 7:00, we returned to the NICU. Kyle was back up to 94% on the ventillator and down to 84% on saturation. The nurse said that it was mostly due to the hands-on she had just done with him. We got to talk to Dr. Wadhawan again and he said that, though Kyle was still sick and not out of the woods yet, he was doing better than the night before and only time would tell if the steroids would help improve his condition.

That was enough to let me leave for home without too much guilt or worry. I was still concerned about Kyle's condition but exhaustion and back ache were calling me back home to bed. There was nothing I could do at the hospital anyway. I told the nurses to call me with any changes and headed home.

Unfortunately, we still don't have any good news to report yet but we don't have any bad news either. We're just waiting. Please continue to keep us in prayer and I will update as soon as we know more.