| Corey's Updates |
| (Sorry if there is some confusion with what is said in some of the updates. Some of the terms and more background information will be explained in a different section at a later time.) |
| Previous Updates |
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| 7/4/02 - (5:00pm) Corey has been doing well lately. They tried him off of the vent again yesterday morning and again his airway collapsed. They are going to try one more time tomorrow. He is getting medication now for swelling to see if that will help. If Corey's ariway tightens up again tomorrow, then the doctor will order a bronchoscopy done to determine the reason for the problem. Corey was weighed yesterday morning and he was 5lbs. 0.4oz! He is getting so big. He has already grown out of some of his preemie clothes. Please pray that he is able to come off of the vent tomorrow so that he does not need to have a bronchoscopy done. If he does, he will need to be tranferred to another hospital to get that done. |
| 7/5/02 - (2:00pm) Corey was not able to come off of the vent today. His airway collapsed again like it did on Tuesday and Wednesday. The doctor will be scheduling a brochoscopy for hopefully next week. They will likely transfer him to Lutheran Hospital to get that done. They will be checking to see if it is an airway problem such as a narrowed airway from scar tissue or the cartilage in the trachea has not hardened. They would likely give him a tracheostomy if that is the case. We will explain more about the trach later if that is what is needed. |
| 7/7/02 - (10:00pm) Well it looks like they will be moving Corey to the other hospital to have the brochoscopy done. The brochoscopy is a procedure that they use a small camera and look inside Corey. This will let them see what is going on. They will also be performing his hernia operation at the same time. It looks like they will be moving him on Monday and performing the other procedures on Tuesday. We don't know any of the times yet, but we should find out tomorrow. |
| 7/9/02 - (10:00pm) Corey was successfully moved to Lutheran Hospital tonight. The bronchoscopy and the hernia repair surgery has been moved to Wednesday instead of Tuesday. They also moved him to Pediatric ICU instead of Neonatal ICU because the NICU at Lutheran is full and they needed to isolate him since he has MRSA. It is a big transition for us to change hospitals and to be in PICU. Corey was weighed yesterday and he was 5lbs 2.1oz. We will post the time for Corey's procedures when we know them. |
| 7/10/02 - (7:00am) Corey managed to extubate himself yesterday and it was traumatic to get the tube back in. After that episode, the doctor decided to make Corey's bronchoscopy a higher priority so they did it last night at about 6:45pm. They found that he had severe swelling, inflammation, mucus, and infection within his trachea. They decided then to treat it with antibiotics and go ahead and put a trach in so that the inflammation can heal. Corey successfully went through surgery for the trach. He is being giving medicine for pain that also has sedative properties and he is doing well. They did not do the hernia surgery, because the doctor thought that it would be too much to do at once. They will schedule the hernia surgery later. |
| 7/11/02 - (8:00am) Corey is recovering well from his surgery. We enjoy being able to see his mouth without tubes coming out of it and his cheeks without tape on them. They resumed his feedings yesterday morning, but with less quantity because of the surgery. The eye doctor saw Corey yesterday and said that he has Stage III Retinopathy. He said that it is not to the level of having to do treatment, but they will watch him very closely to monitor it. |
| 7/14/02 - (10:30am) Corey is has been doing well this weekend. He seems to be very happy and is getting some good rest with his new trach. They have increased his feeding back to the amount he was getting before the surgery. He did lose a little weight from the surgery, but he is now gaining it back. He weighed 5lbs 6oz today. It looks like Corey should be able to get some rest this week and they will do his hernia surgery next Saturday or the following Monday. |
| 7/16/02 - (10:00pm) Corey has been doing well lately. His doctor decided to consult the pediatric pulmonologist concerning Corey's case. The pulmonologist said that Corey has tracheomalacia and possibly broncheomalacia. This means that the trachea and anywhere down the branches of the lung are collapsing. He said that the inflammation and swelling that was found in the broncoscopy were a result of the trachea collapsing with each breath. The pulmonologist has been adjusting and weaning the ventilator settings to keep Corey's airway open. There is a possibility that Corey will come home on a ventilator and the pulmonologist is the one who oversees that. Corey has been gaining weight well. Today he was up to 6lbs. 3oz! It is looking like Corey will stay at Lutheran for the duration of his hospital stay due to being followed by the pulmonologist. The eye doctor came today and said that there was hardly any change in Corey's eyes, which is good news! |
| 7/18/02 - (10:00pm) Corey was struggling a little bit maintaining his oxygen saturation, so they decided to put a bigger trach tube in him today. It seemed to help reduce the amount of air that was leaking out of his mouth instead of getting into his lungs. The pulmonologist also weaned Corey off of the breaths per minute today. This means that he is getting constant pressure from the vent and pressure support when he breathes on his own. So far, he has been doing well with that setting. We have started working with the social worker to make arrangements for getting a home ventilator and the home nursing that goes with it. We have to have nurses here while we sleep because someone needs to be awake with him at all times while he is on the vent. So far, it looks like insurance is going to be really good about it. We have gotten in a routine lately of giving Corey baths in the evening. It is fun to be able to do that together and get him tucked in for the night. The doctor switched Corey back to continous feedings yesterday. The purpose for that is to ease pressure on his lungs by not having his stomach as full as it was when they fed him every three hours. They will switch back to the every three hours feedings later. |
| 7/22/02 - (10:00pm) Sorry it has been a while. Corey is doing well. He is having good sleep and awake times. He has been looking really good. They performed an upper GI on Corey this morning. This was to see if he is having any reflux and they did not see any. Corey will be getting his hernia surgery tomorrow morning. They will also be putting in a G tube just in case he has trouble swallowing food with oral feedings. They do this because kids with trachs sometimes will have a harder time with the feedings. This way they could do both surgeries at the same time. |