Surprise

Surprise! We found out today that Carson is going to get his G-tube sometime tomorrow. They have him in the surgery schedule and we’ll know what time it is later tonight. We weren’t expecting this surgery until next week, but the pediatric surgeon decided that there was no reason to wait. They have also decided against doing the procedure to shrink the opening to his stomach. After he gets the G-tube, he’ll be on IV fluids for a while and then they will start feeding him again. Once he’s up to his regular feed amounts and if everything looks good, it sounds like they’ll let us have him. So being praying that everything goes well and that we’ll get to take him home soon!!

We started Carson’s trach care training on Monday. This has been something that I’m nervous about doing. There is a lot of information to take in and it seems like I’ll never remember everything. Our first class was about the types of trach tubes and the equipment used to care for it. We also learned about the signs that tell us whether he is breathing ok or if he needs attention. We got to use the stethoscope to listen to his lungs and learned how to take his heart rate. We learned about the things we need to be aware of like aerosol sprays and bath time, and also found out that we CAN keep the cats; just as long as they stay out of his room. We feel more informed and I’m sure that our class today will overload us some more.

We did have one scary moment in the NICU after our training yesterday. Right at the end of our training, Carson’s respiratory therapist was suctioning out his trach tube (putting a small tube inside Carson’s trach tube to suck out all of the mucus buildup). Carson’s heart rate dropped below 90 during this and caused a lot of alarms to go off, but our RT assured us that everything was fine; especially since Carson was still alert and moving. But after the RT left and I was holding Carson, he had another episode where his heart rate dropped below 80 and he went limp in my arms and turned dusky. The nurse had me rub his back, but his heart rate was not coming back up. I had two nurses rush over and one of them suctioned Carson very quickly. His heart rate came back up and then everything was fine. We’re not really sure what happened, and the nurses all acted as if that was normal. So we’re going to be asking some questions today to see what was going on. They did mention that when he gets suctioned that it can drop his heart rate, but this happened well after he was last suctioned. It was a very tense moment and I was sweating bullets. Please pray that everything is ok. We’re not trying to worry everyone, so don’t be worried.

We can see that our lives are going to be full of surprises going forward. We’re trying to stay strong and positive, and look forward to how God is going to use Carson. One day at a time; yesterday was a little rough, but today is a new day.