Caleb's CDH Story
  • Home
  • About Caleb
  • About Us
  • What is CDH?
  • Our Blog
  • Years
    • 1st Year
    • 2nd Year
    • 3rd Year
    • 4th Year
  • Photo Album
    • Aug. 12 - June 7, 2019
    • Nov 20 - August 11, 2018
    • May 5 - Nov. 19, 2017
    • Sep. 29 - May 4, 2017
    • Feb. 12 - Sep. 29, 2016
    • Oct. 20 - Feb. 11, 2016
    • Jul. 18 - Oct. 19, 2015
    • First Year by Month
    • May 20 - Jul. 17, 2015
    • Mar. 24 - May 19, 2015
    • Feb. 11 - Mar. 23, 2015
    • Jan. 7 - Feb. 10, 2015
    • Dec. 20 - Jan. 6, 2015
    • Nov. 28 - Dec. 19, 2014
    • Nov. 1 - Nov. 27, 2014
    • Oct. 20 - Oct. 31, 2014
    • Sep. 27 - Oct. 19, 2014
    • Sep. 1 - Sep. 26, 2014
    • Aug. 13 - Aug. 31, 2014
    • Caleb's CDH Surgery Day
    • Aug. 1 - Aug. 11, 2014
    • Jul. 19 - Jul. 31, 2014
    • Caleb's Nursery

Caleb's 'Rocky' Journey

7/31/2014

0 Comments

 
Where do I begin??  Caleb's second week started off with three extremely difficult days with many ups and downs.  His status deteriorated quickly starting Sunday, July 27, 2014.  He started trying to breathe over the oscillator vent, which was concerning because the machine is supposed to do all of the work. For most of the day, the doctors tried to stop him from breathing on his own by changing some of the respiratory settings on the oscillator and finally decided that they would increase his morphine to help sedate him and make him more comfortable.  This seemed to make a significant difference.

Monday and Tuesday brought Caleb a new set of challenges.  His kidneys had shutdown and he stopped excreting urine for the 2nd time.  They performed an X-ray and he began being followed closely by the renal team.  The X-ray did not show any cysts and they believed that he had acute kidney failure, which is the rapid loss of your kidneys' ability to remove waste and help balance fluids and electrolytes in your body.  They inserted another Foley catheter to monitor his urine output, began giving him a renal dosage of dopamine, and started administering Lasix; a diuretic to help remove the excess fluid that had built up in Caleb's body and to help increase his production of urine.  During that afternoon, he also had a severe drop in blood pressure and some additional complications when the team of doctors removed his umbilical venous catheter.  This catheter was fed through Caleb's umbilical cord to just outside his chamber of the heart and could only remain in place for up to ten days after birth.  It provided access to the arteries and was used to draw blood and monitor his blood pressure.  He began to desat, but after a little intervention from the respiratory therapist, he recovered quickly and they were able to successfully replace his umbilical venous catheter with a peripherally inserted central venous catheter (PICC line) in his arm.

Finally, we got some very devastating news.  We learned that Caleb has a grade 2 intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH), which is bleeding into the ventricles of the brain.  Prematurity is the greatest cause of an intraventricular hemorrhage and doctors think that several things combine to make preemies susceptible to IVH. First, the blood vessels in a preemie’s brain are more fragile than those in a term baby and premature babies may suffer from repeated episodes of low blood-oxygen levels, and are exposed to greater fluctuations in blood pressure. The doctors believe that this may have been caused by his extremely low blood pressures on Monday.  Thankfully, grade 1 and 2 hemorrhages are usually considered mild bleeds and most of the time, they can resolve on there own and there are no long term problems resulting from the bleeding.  However, grade 3 and 4 bleeds are more severe, with more serious initial symptoms and more long-term complications.  Since there is no way to stop the bleeding associated with IVH, our greatest hope is that his grade 2 bleed does not progress further. The doctors will try to keep Caleb as stable as possible and he will be followed closely with a weekly head ultrasound. 

So, as the emotional roller coaster continues for us, Caleb continues to fight everyday.  We must take one day at a time and have learned that although we are grateful for each minute Caleb is stable, his status can change instantaneously.
Visit Caleb's Photo Album
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    April 2019
    August 2018
    May 2017
    September 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    October 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014


    Categories

    All
    1st Birthday
    6th Pregnancy
    Bringing Everyone Up To Speed
    Caleb & Brody Meet
    CDH Reherniation
    CDH Surgery
    Decision Day
    Extubated
    First Week Of Life
    Follow Up Appointment
    G-J Tube
    Homecoming
    Mt. Washington
    Never Be Alone Foundation
    Nitric Oxide
    One Month Old
    PICU
    Retinopathy Of Prematurity (ROP)
    Shunt Surgery
    Tour Of Hopkins NICU
    Tracheostomy
    Visit To CHOP
    Visit To Hopkins
    Visit With Another CDH Family



    eMail Tim & Candice

    Subscribe to Caleb's CDH Story

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

Caleb's CDH Story
Tim & Candice Salkeld
calebscdhstory@yahoo.com


Caleb's Visitors Since June 2014
Website by Novair Group