Friday, July 22, 2011

Hello everyone, sorry there hasn't been an update since we brought Rowan home. It's been incredibly stressful and exhausting, but he is a brief update. We did end up bringing him home last Wednesday night. We got him hooked up to the IV (called TPN) and we all went to bed. All seemed fine except for the next day when Mommy noticed that where the broviac (his IV line) entered his leg looked dirty and that there was brown fluid in it. So she told the home health nurse that day that it didn't look right and thought maybe the dressing should be changed and the area cleaned. They told us it was fine. Well Rowan had an awful night that night, crying for 6 hours straight. Since we aren't able to feed him much milk there aren't too many options for comforting him. Over the next two days Mommy continued to try to convince the home health nurses to clean and change the dressing. Finally Friday night the nurse decided that yes it should be changed, but we would wait until Saturday night... that night came, and the skin was pink and puffy and there was a lot of puss coming out. The nurse seemed a bit concerned but felt she cleaned it well and it would be fine. Sunday morning there was already a ton of puss. So a different nurse came that day and I made her clean it again, but she was concerned and called all the doctors to see what we should do. They said to make an appointment first thing Monday morning to have it looked at. So Monday morning Rowan and Mommy went to the pediatricians office, and they called the surgeon to describe what the leg looked like. The surgeon was extremely concerned and told us to go to the hospital right away and she would have the broviac removed and put in the other leg. That was completed that afternoon, and they sent us home that night. In the night we took his temperature and it was at 101.5. So we rushed him back to the hospital and after sitting in a tiny room in ER for hours and hours we were finally admitted to the pediatric unit. There we have been ever since. It has not been very much fun. Rowan wouldn't sleep unless someone was holding him, and he was in a lot of pain from the infection and surgery. They finally transferred him to the NICU which mommy and daddy wanted all along since they all know him there and can take better care of him since they are used to more serious cases. So we just got him transferred there where he is getting a blood transfusion and more antibiotics. He will also be getting something to thin his blood and get rid of the clot. Mommy and daddy brought all their stuff back home and will go back to see him tonight. Hopefully this will be a short stay, but it will be for the best and will get him healthier quicker. Being in the pediatric unit was basically like being at home, as we were doing all of the work still, except that nurses came in every hour to check his temperature and blood pressure, and basically make him upset and in pain, so that no one got any sleep at all. We will try to keep you all updated better now that we are back home. Thank you for your continued prayers on Rowan's behalf.

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