Today was the perfect day to let Cannon hang out with me ALL day at the hospital! It was perfect because Ethan SLEPT ALL DAY (and all last night too)! Thus I could play games and hang out with him the whole time. It seems the worst of Ethan's withdrawls are over. He sleeps and just wakes up for his assessments or when we move him. He looks around (looks stoned) gives a half smile and goes back to sleep. Seems those high doses of methadone and ativan are working.
The other beautiful thing is that at the exact time he finally started relaxing and sleeping, his FEVER went away. Whoohoo! So, we cannot help but think that this whole time it has been a withdrawl fever. It makes sense, because the fever came on a few days after he was reintubated through the nose. And as mentioned before, once his ET tube was out of his mouth he was soooo much happier, took his paci, and could self soothe. So with in a 36 hour period his Fentanyl was cut from 10mcg/kilo to 5mcg/kilo, and his Versed drip was turned off. Plus his IV PRN meds (morphine, ativan, etc...) were only given 1-2 times per shift instead of 15 times a shift. So basically that is when the withdrawls first started (and so did the fever)! Of course I could say all this and tomorrow his fever could be back for some unknown reason. But for now it is gone and we are thinking it was a withdrawl fever. My insurance is just glad they tested everything else under the sun 20 times over to make sure it was nothing else!!!
Just a side note to mention my love/hate relationship with insurance. Love them cause we have a five million dollar a person benefit that includes transplants, but hate them cause I have to fight them over everything, and they end up paying, but it is just a pain! The other week when I was losing it with a "customer service" rep, she said "Well, I am sorry you hate that we keep bothering you, but if your CLAIMS WEREN'T SO HIGH we wouldn't have to bother you". I quickly replied, "Well okay then, take all my time you need, I love having the 5 million dollar baby that I can't hold and have to watch suffer day after day" She was quiet for a minute, quickly got to the point, and hung up! (Did I mention this call was during the time when Ethan was so critical we weren't sure if he was going to pull through). So much for "Customer Service" rep!
5 comments:
I'm so grateful to hear the good news. He must be feeling so much better if he is sleeping and the fever is gone. What a rollercoaster ride you have been on! Let's hope that the rest of the ride is up and out of there!!!
I am glad he had such a good day. I was getting worried because you hadn't posted, but now I see that you were just busy playing ;) I wondered if the fever was related from withdrawals, but I wasn't sure what he was still getting. Keep the good days coming.
Thank goodness for a relaxing day. No fever and sleep, Hooray! I bet Cannon just loved being with his mom and brother for the day. Glad Ethan enjoyed some much needed rest.
I can't believe the insurance rep was giving you that much hassle! Seriously, they should have someone who can just review the charts. Why should she have to bother you? Like you can just skip a test or treatment your son needs just to save them a few bucks. I can't believe she doesn't look at his age and all of the things being billed and realize, HELLO, this mom has enough going on right now!!! Hope you have no more issues like that.
Oh my goodness.. I love how you told off the insurance rep! I can't believe she could be so insensitive. I am so glad that Ethan is doing so well!
So glad he is feeling better!
And I too have lost it with a ins rep. Mine was over the $15000 Life Flight bill, that ins only paid $400 dollars of. Yup, $400. The rep said something like "we don't feel it was necessary for him to have been life flighted" and I said, "Well, when your 6 hour old baby is in heart failure then you can decide!"
Kills ya how rude they can be. Glad you got to spend some time with your other son too!
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