The Journey of James Weston

Monday, July 26th, 2021 9:30am Nurse called this morning: Clonidine suggestion is to change to Q6 and alternate with methadone so every 3 hours James gets something to decrease frequency without changing the dosage. Starting 24 hour trial today on the LTV - started at 5am (or until James needs a break). Had a small spit up on his face but nothing major. Vented to remove gas several times. Overall pretty good. Weren't able to get enough blood from the heal stick after 2 attempts so Director said it's not needed and to not try for now. If needed later, will try IV team, but will keep us posted. Lactolose scheduled for 4am and 4pm. We can FaceTime on the iPad anytime you want too. 1:00pm Nurse called with update:  James isn't doing well. They already gave him Tylenol, they are going to give him morphine now. They are switching him back to the Servo. They tried holding him, venting him. I guess nothing is working. They think he may be sick. They tried a heel stick on nigh...

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 col...

Saturday, July 24th, 2021 Updates: James vomited this morning twice around 8:45am and 9:20am. We have mylicon gas drops ordered now so they will be given Q6. James tolerated the LTV today for 7 hours during day shift and 7 hours during night shift. Mom was holding him in the chair and James started having a BPD episode, turned purple, and went lifeless in her arms. The Charge Nurse, Physician Assistant, and 2 RTs came in. No one knows why. His stats were good, his trach was in, and we couldn't find a disconnected tube. He was able to bring his color back. But oh man that was scary! Dad came at 4pm to relieve Mom. He read James Peter Pan. Dad also helped with the wipe down bath and trach tie change. James slept on his tummy for 6 hours.   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

Friday, July 23rd, 2021 Updates: At 12:30pm, James had a massive diaper. All over his bed, filled up 3 diapers, and a onesie. 2nd bowel movement today. Mom talked to the Doctor to see if we can change the lactulose to just once a day so we will skip the evening dosage. Mom did his wipe down bath by herself. James did 7 hours on the LTV today for both day shift and night shift. Tomorrow we are getting a new doctor that we've never had before. We've asked the nurse to start doing mylicon gas drops again. 🚨 First emergency trach out situation! We were doing Trach ties and the RT was insistant on holding up the back of his head instead of him laying on a rolled towel. Mom asked several times if he could just lay him down, because that is the way she was trained to do it and is comfortable that way (more importantly it's safer). The RT let Mom know that the swaddle not working, James was getting out of it (this happens everytime we do trach care). Well we heard James make a ful...

Thursday, July 22nd, 2021 Update/Changes: Removed all Prune Juice. Started Lactulose instead, 5mL twice a day. We were not seeing results from the prune juice and 30 mLs was a lot to be taking the place of breastmilk. Ended up doing a 2nd glycerin at 11:30am. James eventually had a bowel movement. PT stopped by to work with James and hung suction tubing across his crib to hang toys from. During rounds, it was discussed that the LTV trial last night was stopped due to James not tolerating it. Mom corrected them and letting them know that they were actually having difficulties and then they decided to bag him, so no James didn't have an issue with the LTV he had an issue with getting bagged. It gets pretty frustrating how many people try and cover their ass when they're talking with the doctor. 5 hours on the LTV during day shift/ night shift ENT came by to look at his new granuloma and she said it's fine. She recommended putting aquaphor on any skin in the back of the neck t...

Wednesday, July 21st, 2021 This day last year James as a Blastocyst (180 cells) was transferred into Mom's uterus! There was a 49% chance that he would implant. He has defied all odds since the beginning and every step of the way! 💪 This is a picture of James as a Blastocyst. Not everyone has a baby picture this early! What's really crazy is that James was first created back in March 2019 when Mom had her aspiration surgery. That's when they retrieve the eggs to undergo Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI). In the ICSI process, a tiny needle, called a micropipette, is used to inject a single sperm into the center of the egg. After James grew for 5 days into a Blastocyst, he was then frozen for a whole year just waiting for the day he was chosen by the embryologist for implantation! Below is an example of the IVF process and how it's normal to lose anywhere between 35-60% at each stage in the process.  Mom & Dad's IVF Journey in 2019 19 eggs retrieved 12 matu...