It should be against the law for Nurses to STRIKE

9 weeks

Carter 4 lbs. 4 oz

Easton 4 lbs. 1 0z.
 

Well it has been about a week since we last blogged and so much has happened, it is hard to figure out where to start. It seems like just little things happen each day but it stacks up really quick into a whole big pile.
 

Let's start with the Nurses strike last Thursday, What a HORRIBLE experience... These so called nurses that were flown in and brought in by bus from other states could not have really cared any less for our babies. Lauren spent over 24 hours at the hospital overseeing these traveling nurses, who didn't know anything about this NICU, had no passwords to access charts, medicine or supplies locked in cupboards. Lauren would do everything the law would possibly let her do and then watch the nurse screw up the rest, then call one of our Doctors in to fix the mistakes. At one point Carter's nurse used her mouth to open his medicine, USED HER MOUTH TO OPEN HIS MEDICINE, are you for real holy crap you should have seen the doctor and Lauren as they verbally tag teamed this nurse on how wrong that was. Needless to say the Dr. assured us that she will have a very thorough evaluation to give to the agency who hires the traveling nurses.
 

Easton is having lots of troubles and complications. As we sit here and type this in one of the parents rooms in the NICU, Easton is having laser eye surgery on both eyes for R.O.P. and plus disease. Long story short the vessels in his eyes that are supposed to connect to the retina are not doing what they are supposed to, they are getting tangled and beginning to clot. As they happens it pulls the good vessels off and causes bleeding and blindness. Hopefully this laser surgery is in time to prevent total loss of vision. The Opthamologist says best case he will have a little loss of peripheral vision. However there is a possibility this will not work and he will be blind. But we pray and have faith this will not be the case.
 

Next Easton has had his broviac in place for around 2 months. Within the last week or so we have notice it has started to get puss around the entry site. The other day the nurses tried to draw blood from the site but it was clotted off. After several medicines and failed attempts to clear the clot we are learning that the broviac might be causing an infection in his blood stream. If this is the case the Surgeon would like to keep the broviac for a site to push 4-6 weeks of antibiotics. Lauren and I feel that this is a bad idea and have raised concern with keeping it in because it will also hinder the possibility of the shunt surgery or surgery to fix his diaphragm (I'll explain those next.) We have finally come to the conclusion with the Dr. and Surgeon, we need to remove the broviac, so tomorrow, Thursday the broviac will be removed.
 

As for the ventricles in Easton brain, they have been stable but are still full of fluid. Easton is still on the 50th percentile line for head growth and the Neurosurgeon feels that we need to continue to wait and see when the shunting will need to be done, if done at all.
 

The dreaded diaphragm, still has minimal movement on the right side. We are praying and hoping that it will start moving as it should. We also feel that when the broviac is removed that it will help, because that is when it stopped moving in the first place.
 

Easton is still on the ventilator and it sounds like he swallowed a duck call. This poor little guy has the biggest air leak around his E.T. tube but is still a little too small for the next tube. Friday we will be attempting to extubate him and everyone is confident he will do much better this go around, feeling that he has gotten bigger and stronger since the last attempt.
 

Carter got the to remove the funky rhino mask also known as C-pap. He is now rocking a humidified nasal cannula. It is so fun to see his chunky little face without all the tubes and head gear. Carter is also loving the outfits and beenies mom has been dressing him in. I can happily say that there is no major concerns or pressing surgeries. The only thing we are watching is a little bit of reflux after he eats, causing him to drop his oxygen settings for a couple of minutes, then back to happy. He really loves being on his belly and getting massages from his parents and nurses.
 

Here are some pictures of the boys over the last week.

That's my boy Carter, can't you see the resemblance

Sleepin' like his daddy, mouth WIDE open

Even though Carter loves his puppy, he is still a lil' too big.

Carter is such a mommies boy already

who needs earmuffs when you have hands

Easton wishing this squeeky tube would just go away 

After thirty hours off the vent his right lung collapsed, thanks diaphragm

 

After a couple hours back on the vent, hello right lung, still a high diaphragm