Tuesday morning update 1/23
Gideon had another good night. I don’t have a new picture of him yet but I hear his puffiness has gone down just a bit so hopefully he will look even better in the next picture with less swelling and more color.
His central line (the big IV in his neck) was removed last night so that’s a good thing. They had to flush his PICC line (the one from his foot to his heart) with medication to prevent clotting in it which worked so his PICC line is good to use again. Another good thing.
They removed the EEG yesterday after his 48 hours was up. There are no results from that yet but there was no seizure activity seen so that’s a good thing.
The vent settings are as low as they can get them but they are unable to remove the vent completely because his body has to work too hard to maintain everything all on it’s own so he needs some assistance from medication and the vent even though he is breathing on his own. The vent is just left on for backup basically but it still hasn’t triggered yet because he hasn’t had an apneic episode.
He has monitors on his forehead to monitor his cerebral oxygenation as well as across his back to monitor his renal (kidney) oxygenation and those are the ones giving him the biggest trouble right now. They are his NIRS scores – near infrared spectroscopy and those have been declining as they wean him off of more and more medications. Those need to stay up to show that he is able to perfuse his entire body well and maintain good oxygenation throughout his entire body, even without the assistance of medicaiton and the vent and he hasn’t been able to prove that he can do that just yet. Hopefully today he will grow stronger and these #’s will improve and maintain as they continue to wean him.
Prayer request for today: maintain NIRS stats on his own with no medication / vent.
As for mama, please pray. I feel better (ish) but I still sound awful. Today is day 4 at home in ‘isolation’ without my big boys (day 10 without seeing them at all in person) of rest, fluids and a whole lot of nothing. My routine is basically to drink, eat, drink, pee, pump, rest & repeat. My biggest event of the day is taking a shower every day. Yay. I am now running out of shows to watch on Hulu and can only read a page or 2 at a time of my book before I fall asleep. I just need to get better so I can spend some time with the big boys and get back up to the hospital to relieve daddy and spend some time with Gideon. So please, pray for my health. I have a friend bringing me a neti pot today to try as well as some soverign silver that i hear is a sinus infection KILLER so I’m really hoping and praying those 2 will knock the rest of whatever is in me, out and I will be good to go!
I’ll post an updated picture of my little nugget when I get one later this afternoon. Thank you for your continued prayers, especially the specific prayers for his specific needs each and every day, we appreciate it so much!
Give blood if you get a chance! :)
Much love and many blessings to all of you!
– The Bradshaw Crew (Kari)
Prayers continue. Feel better soon.
You are making big and little improvements every day!!! Go Gideon! Way to go little warrior. We love you and are praying for you, our newest little friend in the cul-de-sac. We can’t wait to snuggle you and laugh with you and find out about your unique personality. You are infinitely loved by your BFF Jesus and so totally loved by many of us here. We are impatiently waiting for a play date with you in the hood. xoxoxox