Yesterday morning Hunter pulled out his needle....he cried a bit and I took the dressing off and took the needle off his chest. The blister that was there looked red and worse so I brought him in to the day unit at the hospital. His doctor took a look at it and said we need to give that site a rest so we are going to admit him and put in a peripheral IV. AAhhhhhhhhh........not what I was expecting.....the vein specialist came in and was able to get a peripheral IV on the second try....she took blood work and a culture of the blister. They started putting a steroid spray on the blister to clear it up. And of course we are having a snow storm right now so that just makes this even better for family coming to visit!
I drove through the snow storm to get to the hospital this morning...Chris's mom stayed with Hunter last night.....I called Chris on my way in and told him not to come to the hospital until later because the roads were so bad.....Hunter's doctor came and told me that the culture they took of the blister was still growing something even though he was on the antibiotics....therefore we needed to pull his line since the infection was being fought at for almost three weeks and was still growing. Not the news we were hoping for. The doctor said we would need a surgical consult to take the port out...then a week of antibiotics....then put in a new port.....
The surgeon who fixed Hunter's prolapse last week may be the surgeon to take out the port so at least we know him....and he may be able to do it as soon as tomorrow.....thanks to the bad weather and all the people who have been cancelling their surgeries.....its not official yet but will keep you posted.....
Hunter Thomas Reeve was born on March 12, 2009 at 2:38 in the morning at St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital. Hunter weighed 6 pounds and was four weeks early but appeared to be a healthy baby boy.Although Hunter was eating well he was steadily losing weight. Three days after his birth Hunter was released from the hospital and made the trip home. Due to the weight loss Hunter was brought back to the St. Thomas hospital and after a series of tests it was found that Hunter was severely dehydrated. An IV line was started in the top of Hunter’s head because he was too dehydrated for the nurses to find veins anywhere else in his body.Hunter was rushed by ambulance to the Children’s Hospital in London, where he stayed on the IV while doctors and nurses diligently tried to determine what was causing the dehydration. By this time Hunter was down to almost four pounds and struggling to stay alive. Hunter fought hard (even managing to rip out the lines that the nurses kept putting in) and was stabilized thanks to the staff in the Pediatric Critical Care Unit. Without their care Hunter would not have lived through the night.After exhausting all of the non invasive tests, doctors from many specialty units were brought in to try and find out what was causing Hunter’s illness. Dr. Bax of the Pediatric Gastroenterology team was brought in, and in Hunter’s first week of life, he had his first surgery. A sample of Hunter’s small intestine was obtained through a biopsy and sent off for analysis. This is a rare procedure to have done on a baby and is not part of routine testing. Miraculously enough, this procedure determined the cause of Hunter’s decline: his small intestine was not absorbing any nutrients from his food. In fact, Hunter was outputting more than he was taking in.Hunter was diagnosed with an extremely rare and potentially life threatening disease of his intestines called Microvillus Inclusion Disease (MID). This disease prevents Hunter from absorbing any nutrients through his small intestine making him completely dependent on Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN). TPN is very hard on Hunter’s liver but the only other option is a small intestine transplant.At first it seemed like a very grim prognosis as the complications with transplant are many. But there is hope: an experimental treatment called Omegaven. Omegaven couples Omega 3 fatty acids with TPN which greatly reduces the risk of liver damage and may assist in its repair. Unfortunately, Omegaven is not currently covered by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) or independent insurance companies.This disease only affects one in five million people. Hunter is the twelfth known person suffering from this disorder in North America right now. Currently there is no cure for Microvillus Inclusion Disease. Hunter needs constant medical care and the cost can be overwhelming to a family. There is very little coverage for in home support for families battling MID; as this disease is rare it is not typically covered by OHIP. Although Hunter’s Omegaven is currently being paid for it is unknown how long it will remain covered and what challenges this little boy will face in the future. Because MID is such a rare disease more research is needed to find other treatment options that are not as detrimental to the health of those affected. Hopefully someday this research will lead to a cure. Hunter needs your help to stay home. With your support we hope to make this dream a reality. Please help – because every baby deserves to grow up.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
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