Day 207 - Vomiting, 10hr LTV Trial, & Mom is Banned from Hospital

Sunday, July 25th, 2021

Started LTV trial at 3am, at 6:30am the POWER LOST alarm went off again. This is very concerning considering on how Vent Alarms go off all the time on this ventilator.

Dad held James in the morning and unfortunately he projectile vomited all over Dad. Luckily Dad had a 2nd shirt to change into; however, feed port then opened on his shirt and pants.

Still no bowel movement since 12:30pm on Friday so with the 4:00pm bolus feed they are going to give him a second dose of lactulose. If that does not help move things for James they will give him in the evening. 

Due to James's chest rising a little too much they decided to do a 10-hour trial today instead of 12 hours on the LTV for each shift. Tomorrow shooting for a full transition on the LTV.

🤒🤧😫 Mom has not been feeling well and today was even worse. She ended up going to a walk-in clinic to see if she could get tested for the flu or something. The doctor did not think she had the flu maybe just a viral cold but of course they had to do a covid test anyways. So because Mom was tested for covid she is banned from the hospital until the results come back. This has been really upsetting but it's not worth James getting sick with RSV. Mom will have high anxiety not being in the hospital.

After being in the hospital for 7 months 24/7 Mom has seen her fair share of situations and is not comfortable leaving him alone. Dad relayed this concern to the Doctor and Charge Nurse today. In addressing some of Mom's concerns....They said they will leave a voice message after rounds each day, similar to NICU. And we were able to get a direct phone number to the PICU to call in. They will leave the door open and have eyes on him directly since he's in line with the desk. They also said since we are hands-on parents, they have been more lax when we are in the room. But if we aren't, they would be very much on top of it which is something we couldn't see being here. Mom also let them know that she would rather have James sedated on morphine then have him thrashing around accidentally disconnected his oxygen

Dad communicated that Mom is okay with them using Morphine or Tylenol if he needs it. James has been irritated the last couple of days probably because of the wean. We would rather him be sedated than be dead from flailing his arms and accidentally disconnecting his vent. He has done that several times recently and the vent disconnection alarm is just the same sound as every other alarm 🤯. Luckily Mom or Dad has been there to reconnect in time. Also alarm fatigue is a real problem in the ICU. 🚨 Mom is concerned about a fast enough response time.

*Severe infection with RSV can lead to pneumonia (an infection in the lungs) and bronchiolitis (inflammation of the small airways in the lungs) and may require hospital care. People at greatest risk of severe infection are the very young (those less than six months old), those over the age of 65 and those of any age who have heart or lung conditions or a weakened immune system. RSV can also make existing heart and lung problems worse.

The PICU is now taking some of Mom's breastmilk bags which is helpful!

Mom organized the March Breastmilk so we can bring that to the hospital. March was a good month!

P.S. You can email James your love and support as often as you’d like. Mom and Dad read these emails to James as they come in. We all love them! JamesWestonAbramowitz@gmail.com