Another Weekend, Another Battle

When we saw Christopher Saturday morning he was abnormally quiet, not responsive, very pale and his heart rate was 190-200 beats per minute (normal is 150-170). We spoke with the doctors when we saw them during rounds about 20 minutes later and asked about his condition. Christopher shortly received blood work, a lumbar puncture, broad spectrum antibiotics and later a blood transfusion. Because his breathing tube was leaking he was switched to a larger, big boy size tube. A change of ventilators helped remove his excess CO2. By the time we left about 10 hours later he was exhausted but looked much, much better. On Sunday Christopher was even more improved and by Monday he was almost normally active but puffy due to side effects from medication.

Kyle, on the other hand, spent Saturday and Sunday resting and behaving himself for a change while his brother received most of the attention. However, on Monday Christine noticed that Kyle was lethargic, pale and had a higher than normal heart rate. Sound familiar??? She let the doctors know of her observations and with the support of the nurses got Kyle on antibiotics. He was already better Monday evening but will also stay on antibiotics for two weeks. Yes, Strep B again.......

The good news is that the meds will hopefully buy the boys another few weeks without too many surprises. And both boys now weigh around one kilogram! The bad news is the side effects of some medications can be quite nasty. Retaining fluids can really, really suck!