Monday, August 3, 2009

August 2, 2009











What The Heck Just Happened?

That was the question that Shannon and I were asking ourselves on the way home from an incredibly crazy day at the hospital. This morning Shannon spoke with the doctors about tomorrow’s surgery and they said everything was a go so far. Then we got Gabe’s morning x-ray back which did not look good at all. In fact his entire left lung had collapsed yet again and they thought that the surgery would be cancelled. This was very disheartening, since we were so looking forward to getting some answers as to what is going on with his liver. Then we found out his arterial line was no longer working which is a pretty big problem. This is the line that they draw blood from every hour or so to check his blood gas which they then use to make changes in ventilator settings and other things. They then tried repeatedly to re-establish a new line with no luck. The poor little guy was doing the mime scream the whole time and we felt so bad. They finally decided that they would just continue to draw blood each time the traditional way through the night, which means he’s going to get poked repeatedly. They are going to leave the last few possible sites available to the surgical team tomorrow who will be able to do it with Gabe totally paralyzed making it much easier. Then later another x-ray showed that his lung had improved slightly and they said that things were looking like they may do the surgery again, but only time would tell. Poor little Gabe is also beginning to get puffier as he puts on more edema. They began giving the blood product Albumin which keeps his vessels from leaking fluid out into his body and also will be giving him the Lasix which will help him get rid of all that fluid faster. Poor little guy.
We had Kayla with us up until this afternoon, then we raced to the grandparents house to drop her of for the night and then raced back. When we got back to the hospital we were excited to hear from nurse “L” that I would be able to hold Gabe for the first time since they had to move him to another bed. This is the bed that they will be using if they decide to do the surgery tomorrow as planned. So after nurse “L” spent about 30 minutes moving stuff around and setting up the move, it was my turn. For the first time I got to hold the little man. I can’t even begin to describe just how wonderful it felt. I can remember thinking, I am actually holding my son and this is real. It suddenly made everything we have gone through feel worth it. This was the best moment thus far for me. Then things got sketchy! After holding Gabe for about an hour, it was time to put him back on his new bed. We now had a new nurse who was unfamiliar with Gabe’s antics. So when they went to move him, he gave us yet another scare that made me need to change my shorts. Suddenly he started changing blue and his oxygen saturation dropped to 5, that’s right 5% and his heart rate dropped down to 60. They began manually bagging the air into his lungs and called for all the doctors, which came running. Shannon and I are almost in tears looking at our little Smurf colored kid thinking this is going to be the last time we get to hold him. But luckily Gabe is a fighter and never gives up, bounced back to normal within minutes. Shannon and I agreed that we have seen our little man turn blue so many times that we think we have had enough. What had happened was during the move a tube that supplies air from the ventilator to his lungs became dislodged and he was no longer getting air. I told the doctors that I had some zip ties and hose clamps down in my truck that I would be willing to donate them so that we would not have to go through that again. They thought I was joking but I was totally serious and will bring some tomorrow.What a day! So as of tonight, his left lung has improved enough to get him out of the no way category to a strong maybe category for surgery tomorrow. Only time will tell and tomorrow morning’s x-ray which is at 6 am will let us know. So we will be there waiting anxiously. Keep praying.
On a separate note I found out that today the wonderful firefighters of the Palo Alto Fire Department were over at our home ripping the roof off in preparation for a new one!!! We can’t even believe this, they are truly amazing. Shannon and I had no idea what we were going to do about this upcoming winter. I was going to be putting a new roof on the house this summer along with new heating and air conditioning but life changed suddenly and we had to put everything on hold. We then decided that we would just put tarps over the roof for the upcoming winter and get more space heaters. However, the wonderful firefighters that I work with again amazed us by telling us they were going to be replacing our roof and put new heating and air conditioning in! I can’t even begin to tell you what an incredible relief this is for Shannon and I. No more leaking roof to worry about. No more freezing winters and hot summers to worry about. We wish there was a stronger words than Thank You. THANK YOU to all those that have worked so hard to help us out! We can’t even begin to tell you how truly thankful we are for what you are doing. Everyone we tell the story to begin to cry and can’t believe there are people like those great firefighters that I am so proud to say I am a part of. Thank You all!!!!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Every time I talk about your story, I cry. Seriously, you two are soooo strong, just like Gabe. It's so wonderful to see you both leaning on each other. You both have a fabulous support system too! Your co-workers amaze me. Let us know if we can do anything to help and I hope the surgery goes well for you all.

Anonymous said...
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Unknown said...

As i sit here with tears in my eyes,simply amazed at Gabe! He is a strong little boy with a strong will to live!! What a fighter!! Our love and prayers go out to you...