The fluid they found around David's heart was actually a large blood clot. Within this clot, they found bacteria which turned out to be MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus - or a staph infection that is resistant to the basic antibiotics). I know that there are many horror stories about this infection - it's not called a superbug for nothing. However, we are not too worried b/c when they first thought an infection might be present, they pulled out the big guns. They gave him an antibiotic (vancomycin) that is so strong it's actually semi-toxic. It's hard on your kidneys, which was our worry since we've had trouble with them this go around. There are different strains of MRSA that are sensitive to different treatments. It takes a few days for the cultures to come back and tell us which strain he has. Luckily, it's a strain that can be treated with a drug called clindamycin. This is much less toxic to his little body. It also comes in a form that he can take by mouth. Meaning we don't need to stay in the hospital until treatment is done (approx 4-8 weeks). Once this treatment is done, David shouldn't have to be on a lifetime regieme of meds for MRSA.
Because of the infectious nature of MRSA, we are asking that no visitors come to the hospital at this time. We're in a quarantine of sorts with gowns and gloves and such. We don't want to put anyone else at risk of contracting MRSA.
As of right now, we're not sure how long we'll be here. He's improving, but apparently he's not quite ready to leave. I guess he wanted to see his weekend nurses again! We have to wean him off the oxygen and keep his heart rate and blood pressure under control. It's a dance we're doing with meds and David's stats.
People have asked what we need. Honestly, we have been so blessed already! We don't really need anything. We've received gift baskets of food and things that we're sharing with the staff and still have 3 giant bags full! What we really need are your prayers. I know we ask for them a lot, but they are a huge reason we are still able to function! So, keep 'em coming! For those who like to pray for specifics, we could use healing in his incisions, healing from MRSA, continued improvement in his lungs, excess fluid to leave his body, and his physical abilities to return (sitting up, walking, etc) after being in a bed for 16 days.
As far as Drew and I are concerned, we're doing okay. We're tired and ready to be home. We're blessed to have the best, sweetest, strongest, most courageous little boy ever. We rest when we can and lean on each other when we need to. We're lucky that Drew's mom has the space and compassion to keep our dogs at her house and take care of them while we're up here. Our families have been bringing us meals so we don't have to eat at McDonalds 3x/day! And our awesome friend, Jamie, is watching our house, getting our mail, paying our bills, and eating our cookies! :-)
David has started to get back to his normal self. We watched most of Sesame Street this morning. He's watched Elmo and P&F on Netflix & YouTube. We even read part of a book (Grover is the monster at the end of the book, btw).
Well, I think that covers it. If there's something I missed, I'll have to answer tomorrow. Right now, D's asleep. So we will be too!
If I sent a flash light for him to hold will it help with poop???If so I will have one on the way lol
ReplyDeleteBrandon