Monday, August 3, 2009

The Good, The Bad, & The Worried

The good news is Ethan's last blood gas was good. So we hope it stays there. Looks like he has avoided being intubated (for now). Other good news is that he had an echo today and his heart function looked good. Greg and I were glad to hear that, however we are sick to our stomachs over some other test results. They did a BNP to day. It detects a chemical your heart muscle produces when it is stressed and having heart failure. Under 100 is a good reading. Ethan's BNP was over 7,000. The doctors are a very confused by this. With that high of a number his echo should show signs of heart failure. And it doesn't. The good news is they can usually correct heart failure with meds. But it still has us worried to death. They will check it again tomorrow now that they have him on a med that should help it. The other bad new is he is still uncomfortable and having fevers between 102 and 104.8 degrees! Ugh! The roller coaster continues.

Tomorrow Ethan will be on of the main topics at their Tuesday morning conference. ALL OF THE DOCS and surgeons affiliated with this unit attend, put their heads together, and try to form a plan for their complicated patients. Lets just say Ethan has been the topic in way too many of these conferences!

Love-
Heidi

4 comments:

The Tams Family said...

Hey Heidi,

I know nothing at all, but I remember Addie's BNP being like 6000 once when she was readmitted with a fever and labored breathing in between surgeries. I freaked cuz the number was HUGE! Her ECHO looked fine too. She ended up being fine, I can't remember what ever came of it, but I do know she came thru it! Hang in there!

Katie said...

Keeping your family in our thoughts and prayers.

Pete, Ali, Charlie and Rosie said...

So glad that Ethan is doing better in many ways, but I'm so sorry to hear about his elevated BNP. You must be so worried for your little man - especially because it's not really making sense with his good echo findings so you've been left wondering. Hoping and praying that it's just a little blip, and that the next test will show much better figures. Thinking of you all the time and sending love and hugs your way. X

Ryan and Shannan Hoffman said...

I'm so sorry for the stress and the worry you are going through. You guys have been so strong and continue to be strong. We'll be praying like crazy that everything will be okay. Love you.