Westfall Web

So I haven’t been very good at sending any pics, or updates for that matter.  But I think this picture is worth waiting for.  Monday was a huge day for Greyson.  I’m sure you all are aware of the hole that developed in his intestine/bowel.  That was the end of the day, and certainly not a postive thing.  Before that happened though Greyson had some other big events that didn’t get much discussion due to the hole issue.

On Monday Greyson opened both eyes.  We saw one little eye open on monday night, today we saw both open for a little bit and it seemed as if at different times he was trying to look at both Stacy and I.  Monday Greyson also had his first bowel movement.  This is a very postive event although it doesn’t take away from the seriousness of the intestinal hole.  He also got his PICC line, which is basically an IV line that is more permanent.  This is good because it gives them an access point that is less prone to infection than the ones in his belly button (although he still has one line in his belly button right now).

Anyway not much to report even up to today.  He is still handling normal oxygen (21 percent which is room air), the brain scan came back normal (Praise the Lord) his sodium level has come down to 5 (it was up at 7 which is way to high.  Ideally it would be below 4).  He is still draining quite a bit out of his belly drain.  They said not to make to much of that at this point but if everything is going well it should taper off to basically nothing.  If it doesn’t over the next few days they will have to find out why and something more might have to be done.  We are of course still waiting for the PDA (heart artery) to either close itself or be surgically closed once we get through the belly issue.  Not much else to report other than he loves all of you and wants you to know how much he appreciates all of your love and prayers for him.

Enjoy the picture!

Bob

PS–The gross looking stuff on the tape is from Monday night, in the midst of everything he was throwing up some.  It’s a bit tramatic to change the tape so they just leave it for awhile.

Just thought I’d type out a quick update before I go to bed.  Stacy and I just got back from Tacoma.  The Dr. called about 10:00PM and told us that Greyson had developed a hole in his intestine.  They had to do a surgery to put a drain in.  Greyson did well with the surgery but all it was is the drain, the hole will need to heal on its own.  Apparently he is just to little to risk doing anything else for it at this point.  Because of this they had to take him off the medicine to shut the heart artery, so that will have to close on its own or wait until he pulls through this other, more pressing issue.  They also put him on two more antibiotics as there is a very large risk of another infection now.  We went over and hung out for a couple hours and prayed with/for him.  There isn’t anything else we can do now but wait and see what happens.  We will try to get some sleep and head back over in the morning. 

Bob

OK so I’m mean but you’re not getting any new pics till tomorrow.  That’s just the way it is!  Today we talked to the Neonatologist while we were in Tacoma about the whole heart thing and learned more about it.  Basically it is a blood vessel, not a valve.  It causes all kinds of problems when it is open because the heart tries to pump blood in two directions.  They will go another day or two seeing how he does and if it doesn’t close on its own they will give him some medicine (motrin) which sometimes stimulates the body to close off the vessel and then it scars over so it can’t open again.  If neither of these options work, they will do surgery to clamp the vesel  closed.  It is not open heart surgery, and in their world falls under the more routine type of surgeries.  Obviously it would be much better if it closed on its own. 

They started giving Greyson a little bit of food today.  Not really food but initial breast milk stuff.  They give him only a tiny amount and then see how he does with it.  As of the time we left it looked like his stomach was processing it which is good, next comes the intestines and bowel.  This needs to begin working as well and is a source of infection/problems that can be very serious if things aren’t working right.

Well that’s all for now.  Pray for his digestion system to start up ok and for his little heart artery to close up.  We are not going over tomorrow but will call and get updates throughout the day.  We felt it would be better to take a day and allow Stacy to rest more, as well as get a couple things down in town that we really need to get a jump on. (adding Greyson to our insurance, which needs to be done right away since he is a premie, and stuff like that). Thanks for your e-mails and prayers, they both mean a lot to the three of us.

So a Dr. just called and Greyson is doing good but has a condition where a heart valve that is supposed to close at birth hasn’t closed.  They can give him medicine to see if that kicks his system into gear to close it but are not going to give it to him just yet because he is doing well.  If it doesn’t close on its own and the medicine doesn’t cause it to close then he may be looking at surgery to close it.  I’m only sending this to you as I’m just responding to your e-mail.  WE are heading out to go to the hospital so can you have people pray that his little valve closes? 

Well I know I didn’t get an update out today, but here is a brief recap.  Greyson had his first blood transfusion today.  He seems to have handled it really well.  He is now off his dopamine completely (drug to help regulate blood pressure) and as of tonight his other blood pressure drug has been reduced in half.  He is down to two antibiotics (from four) as they know exactly what bacteria they are working with and what antibiotics can best attack it.  He had one of his lines taken out tonight because apparently it was deemed they didn’t need it.  Basically he continues to do really well.  His greatest need right now is to gain weight.  It is normal to lose some weight after birth for all babies, but he doesn’t have much to lose so we would really like to see that number begin to creep up.  The nurse did say that with the blood transfusion he was given some medicine that might make him pee more, so that could be part of why his weight is where it is.  I have lost track of what pictures I have sent and which I haven’t so we are going to work tomorrow on setting up a snapfish account and uploading all the pictures to it.  From there you all can view them, and print which ones you want. 

Stacy is doing well.  She got a bit light headed at the hospital before we left to come home.  She had been up adn walking quite a bit and we had just went to lunch (outside the hospital) so I think she just did a lot more than she realized before her body told her it was time to take a break.  Once we got home she settled in and we both ended up taking an hour nap.  She looks pretty good tonight.  It is amazing to see how much she improves every day. 

Tomorrow we will be going in to the hospital for the noon and 4PM care sessions.  That should allow us time to sleep in (hopefully we will be able to) so I will probably not send an update until we get home tomorrow night.  I think that is about it for now, we love you all.

Bob—for the three of us.

Here are pics of Greyson’s isolette.

Greyson was born 7:23pm today.  He weighs 1 lb 9 ounces (700 grams) and is 12.5 inches long.  He is 23 weeks and 6 days based on an 19 week ultrasound.