Elias’ New Years Resolution – To Breathe

Elias stopped breathing again today – 3 times and has already  demonstrated he plans to carry on with these antics this morning. We have already had to bag him back once. Overnight we increased the rate on his vent to 18bpm because he was unable to hold his O2 Sats above 90. Thankfully, no oxygen was needed and he slept through the night without an incident. He did however, let the ventilator do most of the breathing for him.

We have noticed a new behavior with these episodes so far – he is sticking his hand in his mouth like he is trying to gag himself. Makes us feel more and more like these obstructive in nature and not central as everyone is theorizing. We are going to see if he continues this with future episodes – albeit nice if he never had another, we are realistic enough not to allow that naive optimism get the better of us. Oddly enough, the hand gagging is a behavior we have seen in conjunction with his mysterious feeding issue. Another of Elias’ unresolved & unexplainable phenomenon. This opens a Pandora’s box to the possibility of considering a connection between the two in some fashion. Our inclination to consider this derives from a common theory doctors have offered in regards to each of these events as separate issues – Reflux!

And as if that wasn't enough to be concerned with, Elias has had another recurrence of the chronic C-diff – beginning just 2 days after the last course of medication ended. There is also yeasty type of rash present for which we just completed a treatment course a week ago. There is a discussion amongst his team about this. All of the antibiotics Elias is constantly given – for treatment & prophylaxis - can potentially exacerbate both of these issues. Finding the balance is going to be the crucial key.

We would appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers, especially in light of the episodes. If he continues there is a chance they will admit him – not the way we want to have to start 2011 in light of last years conquest over hospitalization. We will keep you posted with any new developments. Take a moment to notice the bar at the bottom where you will see a scrolling set of titles – if you haven’t seen this yet, this is where brief updates on things like this & other general FYI’s will post. This is particularly handy when we can’t blog an update as we can post these quickly from our mobile phones. Technology is great and helps keep our family & friends connected and in the know!