Friday 13 April 2012

Klebseilla...AGAIN

The results came back yesterday positive for Klebseilla...again.  For those of you following the story since the beginning (and those without a medical degree) Klebseilla was/is the bacteria that led to Braeden's Sepsis in December (Sepsis is Scary Shit).  It was not what I was expecting to hear yesterday that is for sure!

The thing with Klebseilla, unbeknownst to me, is that it is actually one of the more common bacterias found in UTI's (urinary tract infection), so it's not as big of a shock really.  B's temp is down and he's looking a bit better but is still feeling pretty miserable.  He just wanted to be held all day yesterday and I was happy to comply.  We are still waiting on some more test results to come in but the UTI seems to be the main cause of the illness.  He's been pretty unsettled so far this morning and was really unsettled last night when Mike and I were there to put him to bed.  What we DO know is that it is NOT in the blood, his blood cultures came back clear...phew!!!

Another concern right now is that his heart rate is low and has been down into the 60's at times before coming back up.  Cardiology isn't too concerned as his profusions look good when he is dropping.  His hand and feet are freezing cold though so that's no fun.  He did have two 'episodes' on the monitor yesterday when I first got there where his sinus was all out of wack and the heart rate read 180.  The monitor beeped and read a VTach (which I don't remember seeing before).  I called a nurse in and when he regular nurse came back from break I told her as well.  I was stewing about it and so I asked to talk to Rachel (Nurse Practitioner) about it and she reassured me that it wasn't a 'real' VTach and that he was fine.  With the combo of those (the low heart rate and VTach) they (Rachel) did order a ECG yesterday to be safe (and to reassure me or shut me up more or less!).  Cardiology figures the low heart rate is because of the illness and that it should start to go back up again once he's feeling better.

Nephrology came into see me (well Braeden really) this morning.  He was telling me that Neph is thinking that B's Sepsis in Dec was a result of an unchecked UTI.  How do you know a 3 week old has a UTI anyhow??  Anyhoo they are concerned that this may very well be his second UTI now and this is a second strike for him therefore they want to do a renal scan to determine if he has VUR (Vesicoureteral Reflux).  I asked if this had anything to do with all the cysts in the kidneys and he said not at all.  IF he has the reflux the Neph thinks it is only Grade I or II and it can be easily (?) fixed with surgery...yes, he has to be put out to fix it.  I asked if they could just 'tack this on' to the existing surgeries we are facing and he figured that would work.  So we're in for a renal scan in the next few days (prob next week) where they will insert radioactive dye and do a tracing of the bladder and such.  Do you think this kid glows in the dark yet??  Yikes.  We already know that B has Hydronephrosis (swelling in the kidney) as they were watching it in utero, so the VUR wouldn't be a long stretch.  Let's just add it to the list shall we?

He got fought over to be held this afternoon (I didn't win!) so he is certainly in good hands for his much needed cuddles!

On an exciting note, I lost TWO FEET of myself tonight (yes, willingly).  I finally got around to getting my hair wacked off in order to donate it.  I will post some pictures when I have a spare moment (ha ha).  I'm happy to have it gone but it is a shocking change when you lose that much hair in one go!  Thank you to Pam for a great cut and to Jenn for being my support person/photog and hot date! :)

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