The boys have had a rough couple of days since the last posting here. On Wednesday morning we talked with Dr. Creswell and he had heard a murmur while listening to Evan’s heart. They did an echocardiogram and found that Evan had a medium opening in his ductus arteriosus (a PDA), the same condition they had treated Aiden for earlier in the week. As a result they put Evan on indomethacin to try to close the opening. Today Dr. Creswell could not hear the murmur which could mean either the opening has closed back up or it has opened so fully that it no longer resists the blood flow enough to cause a murmur. They are going to keep Evan on the indomethacin until tomorrow and do another echocardiogram to check the progress.
Both boys have had some issues with their breathing. Aiden seems to be doing better today but Evan has been up and down on his blood saturation levels for the last two days. He’ll be in the 90s for a few minutes and then fall off into the 70s or lower for a minute or two and then come back up. The nurses have increased the percentage of oxygen they are giving to help keep it up. Dr. Creswell says the desaturation could be caused by the indomethacin which has a side affect of stiffening the lungs making breathing more difficult for Evan or it could be that the PDA valve is preventing his blood supply from flowing through his lungs correctly. The constant up and down motion of Evan’s oxygen saturation is staring to fray our nerves a bit and does not help our fear that Evan’s opening has gotten worse instead of better.
Because of Evan’s PDA, they did not let us do kangaroo care with him yesterday or today so Janel held Aiden. Evan has been looking agitated the last few days which probably correlates with his blood saturation issues so keeping him undisturbed is probably best.
Some good news is that both boys are slowly starting to do better with their feedings. The residual they are pulling back up on their feeding tubes from both boys is no longer the dark green goo it was before and they have increased the feeding amount from 1.5 mLs every four hours to 2 mLs. Also, Evan finally decided to open up his right eye so he no longer looks like a one eyed pirate.
Please keep praying for Aiden and Evan.
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It must be exhausting for the 2 of you to have all these ups and downs. But it does seem that for every piece of worrisome news, there is something to celebrate. Prayers will continue! And you two, please try to get the rest that you need.
ReplyDeleteGayle and Mark
We are still praying daily for you all. I'm so sorry you're having to go through this. We pray for the boys' complete health and recovery and want to encourage you to hold on to the fact that whatever the outcome, God will make good from it, even when it's not the outcome you may have chosen.
ReplyDeleteWe've been there, we understand. We love you guys.
Wayne and Lea Ann