Author: hannah

Seth is stronger than anyone I know! They had a family care conference with Darcy, Dave, Ben and Hannah earlier. To recap the afternoon, we don’t know why out of the blue Seth’s oxygen levels started dropping again (other than his pneumonia and ARDS) With interventions, they got them back up. Before all of this started, they were wanting to turn him on his stomach to help his lungs, and give him a paralytic to sync his breathing with the ventilator so they could try again to get a CT scan. This didn’t last long before they called another conference with the family. Seth’s options were either a more medically induced coma or ECMO. Shortly after this news, they called another conference to tell us that Seth’s most recent blood gas results were very critical. The words they used were that if they don’t proceed with ECMO, his heart might not survive the night. So currently, they are inserting a large catheter in his neck to proceed with putting him on the heart and lung bypass machine. It’s his best chance at recovery to let his heart and lungs rest for now. The machine will do all the work for him. So continue to pray for Seth, his family, and all the teams working non stop to take care of Seth. Other concerns are for infection of the new catheter they are placing, and the fact that they normally place people on blood thinners to help the blood coagulate less in their machines. Since he has a head injury and a brain bleed, they don’t want to increase his blood thinners much more. Recent updates…. they successfully placed the catheter! He’s hanging in there and we are just waiting at this moment for a bed on the fifth floor. This will be in a medical ICU unit where they specialize in ECMO. Keep praying prayer warriors! God is good! 

-Kerry

SP02 goal: 95+

12:15 – SP02 suddenly started to decline to 83 with no warning. The doctors and nurses were able to get it back up to 91 but the CT has been postponed.

12:46 – SP02 79

12:51 – SP02 low 70s

1:30ish – low 60s

Cardiologist stopped by, she continues to suspect blood clot in the lung. Causing right side to be stressed and have oxygenation issues. They are not going to do blood thinners right now, but will take it minute by minute and make any decisions if needed. She told the nurse the EKG looks a little better than yesterdays EKG.

Neurology Dr said that brain wise, he’s within pressure ranges and IF everything continues to be stable, the bolt can come off in 24 hours.

This morning’s X-ray doesn’t show too much improvement but report shows stable.

Everyone was pleased with the SPO2 numbers being so high @ 98% which was described to me as 9 out of 10 blood cells are being saturated with oxygen. It must from all those that are each praying for one cell at a time. Interesting fact: There are over 200 different cell types, each with specialized functions, building tissues, organs, and systems to keep the body functioning. God certainly designed our bodies with such great care and attention!

The ventilator is still assisting 100% to breathe for him.

The Artic Sun machine came back again to regulate his fever.

Specific prayer for today: Pray that there is no blood clot or that it goes away. That the antibiotics work on overdrive to clear up the lung and that brain pressure numbers remain stable.

A big shout out to friends Sammy, Anika and Drew who have been the waiting room crew. They have been a huge blessing to our family. I can’t thank them enough for making sure we have what we need and have go above and beyond everyday to take care of us. Thank you.

The Dr sat down with us late last night. Seth wasn’t able to tolerate the CT scan because his oxygen saturations were too low, so there were no definitive results regarding pulmonary embolism. Seth has severe ARDS -Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. He is fighting multiple issues and the lung issues makes the brain issue worse. Dr said he has “no miraculous intervention” which made our hearts drop. But we know that Jesus intervenes for us both on earth and in heaven.

“Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them” Hebrews 7:25

1:30 am- Chaplain stopped by for prayer and reassurance of Easter’s promise. The nurse, Alyssa, has been wonderful and caring.

5:01 am Nurse able to clean him, she removed the Artic Sun temperature system since he no longer has fevers, but if he did get one, there are other ways to treat it. SPO2 (% of oxygen in the blood that is bound to hemoglobin) 96%, ICP 4-6 (went down a lot after the CT drama).

5:31 am HR 113 CPP 60. PO2 18 BP 111/47 SPO2 98

5: 46 am Pupils stable, ICP 6, he’s off pressers (med to squeeze to different vessels to help make blood pressure higher) for now but may need them later. An X-ray was done around 4 am, no result yet.

6:20 am- Surgery Dr that attended the attempted CT last night was impressed that the SP02 was higher 98% as it had tanked to 25-45% last night. Hearing this news gave me a bit of relief.

For now, Seths numbers are stable. But as we’ve experienced, things can change in a breath.

Today’s specific prayer request is that the antibiotics work faster to help clear out the lungs.

– Darcy

PS, We’ve added Michael to the prayer board. He came in after motorcycle accident and his brain stem is bleeding.

The night nurse was concerned about the PO2 being 16 but the neurocritical team’s primary concern were the ICP & CPP #’s. Those numbers were stable throughout the night. He is currently on 4 different pain meds: Fentanyl & Oxycodone are given for pain management, Propofol for sedation (relaxation and sleepiness) and Versed for sedation (usually given before surgery or medical procedures). Interesting fact: Fentanyl is 100 x more potent than morphine and 50 x more potent than heroine.

Xray still showing fluid in lungs. Because of everything they are giving him, it’s hard for him to keep up. He will get 2 shots today of Lasix (yesterday he only got one). Interesting fact: Lasix got it’s name because it “lasts six hours.”

He’s still requiring a lot from the ventilator. They need to replace a part that was frozen. His pneumonia is pretty bad, but the mucus is thin and not sticky. They will increase the ventilator pressure.

Dr from neurology said pressures went well during the night and that no intervention needed to happen like yesterday. If things continue well for the 48-72 hours they can remove the bolt so they can do an MRI. The MRI will see what kind of damage there is.

They are adding milk of magnesium & suppository. The nurse just told us he did have a bowel movement so thank you all who were praying for poop! 🙂

ICU trauma team has decided to decrease the Propofol because his trigylcerides were getting too high (785). Yesterday it was in the 500 range. Ben thinks the level was already high because of the double cheeseburgers Seth loves. Versed has been increased. New range for CPP is now >55. Left chest tube will be taken out. The right chest tube will be water sealed (which what I understand is there is no draining of fluid or air happening). Every tube is a source of infection so having one and hopefully both be removed is good.

A friend shared with me that while it’s not apparent the healing that happens, it does happen cell by cell. Interesting fact: There are an estimated 37.2 trillion cells in the human body. If we can get 37.2 trillion people to pray for one cell each, that would be awesome!

-Darcy

PS, Update on Jesse Jr on our prayer board: Jesse Jr was on motorcycle and hit by a UPS truck. Today he was extubated and is breathing on his own. A neck collar was was put on as a disk is bulged out. He will need surgery for his knee for sure, he is awake and asks for water and to ask what happened. Praise the Lord for those improvements!

Every time it seems like Seth is on the highest dose of something, it’s raised again. The ICP was of concern and given 2 bolus of 23% saline today. Precedex was discontinued as it didn’t seem to be doing anything. He’s been started on a 7 day antibiotic for bacterial pneumonia.

Seth’s on/been given so many things I wonder how his body can handle it all. I’ve always been amazed at how God created all of our parts to work together as one well-balanced system. Now I’m even more amazed of the extreme and delicate care that is made to manage medications, fluids, oxygen, temperature and stimuli to protect the organs.

11:07 pm Neurocritical team paged as PO2 is 16. Their primary concern is that ICP and CPP #’s stay within range.

11:31 pm ICP 19 CPP 66 HR 97 PO2 20 BP 143/66

Specific prayer tonight:

1) Having a bowel movement (when he wakes up and reads this, he’s going to be so embarrassed)

2) Better ICP and PO2 numbers

Here is a beautiful song sent by Anika, one of his best friends since preschool.

Pictures are of the little corner of his room that we are allowed to put things up.

-Darcy

Today was a positive day!

For those following his numbers: ICP 11 CPP 64 BP 112/63 HR 88 (yay!) PO2 15 (yay!) ventilator 60% (he was at 100% this morning and 40% is the goal)

They were able to decrease his sedation while his cranial pressures stayed within range. They were able to suction and turn him which he tolerated on the lower sedation.

His left chest tube was taken out and is doing well. He still has the right chest tube in. No fever so he seems to be responding to breathing treatments and antibiotics.

CT scan is tomorrow at 4 am (prayers needed from those that are early risers!) This will be the first CT scan since the morning he came in.

Some awesome acts of love today was a prayer circle at Crosswalk and a prayer vigil put on by the ladies at Emmanuel and Lamb of God Lutheran Churches. The picture below shows some of us watching the live stream in the hospital courtyard. Note the many handprints of well wishes from 24 Crosswalk kids! We love the personal artistry of them and they are hanging in his room right now. It was truly touching and we constantly feel the wave of love pouring over us.

We again had friends and family support us by visiting the hospital bringing food, gift cards and other generous gifts, fun activities, a super soft blanket, and a book of poems written by friend, Emma Indahl who actually works here at this hospital.

Today we ask everyone to pray for a few specific things.

1) ICP numbers to go down

2) Sodium levels to go down

3) PO2 numbers to go up

4) A much improved CT Scan!

Love you all!

PS, Pix attached of his meal today.

These are the numbers that Seth’s doctors wants him to hit. You can keep these in mind when you read the updates.

ICP (intercranial pressure): <20

CPP (cerebral perfusion pressure): 60-70

P02 (oxygen to brain): >20

Heart rate: 60-70 bpm

Sodium: 145-155

The Neuro ICU DR came in and did an ultrasound of his heart. It’s pumping good.

He was however concerned about the CPP being low. They sat him up which helped drain fluid and the CPP changed a bit. Seth is still in the holding phase but has a bad pneumonia. Plan of the day is to back off on sedation to see how his numbers go. Currently ICP:4 CPP:59 HR:130 PO2:4

Yesterday, moments of silence and prayers were made at a kickball tournament and wrestling banquet. The outpouring of love is tremendous and keeps us staying positive. I know all of your fervent prayers are being heard.

I slept for 7 hours in Seth’s room and when I woke up I found out he had a bath during the night, sheets changed, and neurosurgeon and other doctors came in to see him. The neuro critical team will do their rounds later and asses what the plan of the day is.

Sodium level is 155 and they’ve increased water flushes again. X-ray of lung show about the same as yesterday but very slightly better. Prelims show bacterial growth so a broad range antibiotic is being given and when the lab results come back conclusive they will adjust as necessary. Because he’s not moving, they started him on a prophylaxis to prevent blood clots. For those that are keeping close eyes on numbers like we are: ICP 19, CPP 60, PO2 6, BP 120/55 HR 129. He’s being given more potassium and magnesium and increased tube feedings. Pupil reactions are good.

Nurse practitioner, Ashley, says the good news is that the oxygenation status is better so they just decreased the ventilator from 100% to 90% and hope to taper it down more.

Ive already received a couple prayers this morning and hearing of more prayer chains he’s on. Please also pray for 2 other people whose families we’ve met here. Trey came in with TBI after his horse fell on him and Danita has major internal injuries after a motorcycle accident.

Boots were ordered to keep him from getting “foot drop”- basically to keep his foot in a flexed position to keep his muscles stretched.

Yesterday we were given a devotion book and a “Giving Bag” by my sister’s church’s women’s group. Attached is a fitting devotion from the day before about the hope we have in all of this.