Monday 4/27 Update

Faith here- So yesterday was a bad day... I finally hit my breaking point and lost it. Let me fill you in on what happened. Gavin has a team of doctors, all different, with all different opinions and techniques for how they care for the patient. All day yesterday a new doctor would come in with their opinion. One would say "let's get him up and walking today"... another "let's keep him resting". "Give him fluids", "don't give him fluids", "give him zofran", "why is he on zofran?", "he needs a CT scan", "he doesn't need a CT"... I think you get the drift now.

Gavin ended up having a CT scan yesterday to r/o hydrocephalus. Gavin has a history of seizures and enlarged ventricles in the brain. Gavin slept ALL day yesterday and only woke up to vomit or cry with irritability. So basically they wanted to rule out the unknown. Praise God there is no hydrocephalus, just mild enlarged ventricles.

Dr. P said the main concerns now are for Gavin to have a bowel movement, to urinate on his own (they have plans to remove the catheter today), to get the chest tube to quit draining- he drained over 500 mls during the day shift yesterday, which is a lot. He has already put out a 100 this morning. They also want the vomiting to stop, for Gavin's blood pressure to come down and for Gavin to have more energy. They are starting him on a new blood pressure medicine today to see if that helps with the vomiting issue also. It's so important for Gavin to absorb his medicines, especially his seizure meds, we do not want him to have a seizure.

Once they allow Gavin to start eating he will be on a low fat diet. We met with a dietitian yesterday and she gave us all the rules. He will be on the diet for 6 more weeks after we come home. There was a lot to digest yesterday and I became very frustrated with Gavin's situation. I hate seeing him so miserable. I think we all got our hopes up with him doing so well the day after surgery and now that he is regressing it's a real bummer.

To add to the stress the hospital is on lock down now for who knows how long. There are four known cases of the swine flu here and they want to keep the patients healthy. They are swabbing the patients daily to check for more cases. I completely understand the reasoning but it's hard to not have the help and support of our family now. Adam is at the hotel sleeping and will come up here tonight to stay again. This shift seems to be working out the best because I get so nauseous (from the pregnancy) at night. So it's just me and Gavin (who is currently sound asleep- see the picture?) for the day.

Again, we are humbled by your prayers and support. Thanks for all of the cards, emails and gifts for Gavin.