The Rollercoaster Week

I have to tell you we have been on a bit of a rollercoaster this last week. Are you ready for the play by play??? Ok here goes.... first I will list all Health Care Personnel as NICU.

Day 33 I come in to find out little Bridger HAD (past tense) a fever for a couple hours at night so they want to check for infection. And they are going to suspend his feeds until further notice.

NICU: We are going to check a bunch of different tests including an LP to see if he has an infection in his body.
ME: What's an LP?
NICU: Spinal Tap, We will pull spinal fluid to see if there is any infection that may affect the Central Nervous System.
ME: Ummm, can I refuse this test?...... (I'm feeling super uncomfortable about this).... But, I went ahead and gave consent for them to do the test.

They do the LP...........12 hours Later

NICU: We have found a bacteria in the Cerebral Spinal Fluid (CSF). We will start some heavy duty antibiotics and do another LP tomorrow to see if it is real and if there are signs of Meningitis.

DR GOOGLE: Bacterial Meningitis- treat with antibiotics-  Prognosis- brain damage, seizures, hearing loss, hydrocephalus. YIKES!!!! (I was starting to regret looking to Dr. Google).

ME: What kind of bacteria did you find?
NICU: Staph (found in skin and in hospitals, strange to be found in the CSF, the sample could just be contaminated)
DR GOOGLE: Staphylococcal meningitis (SM)- even with treatment there is a very high risk of death.
ME: YIKES!!!!!!!!  (We start praying really hard for a contaminated sample)

Day 34
They try to do another LP they poke him 2x but they cannot use the samples because they have blood in them. They will try again the following day. Still no signs of a fever or any other signs of meningitis.

Day 35
They don't think they will be able to get a clean LP so they will try the following day.

Day 36
Again, They don't think they will be able to get a clean LP so they will try the following day. However they will let us start again on feeds since he seems to be doing just fine.

Day 37
NICU: Today is the day we are really going to do the LP today.
ME: OK, I want your most experienced person to do it and to get it right today.

The first time they tried he was moving too much (If he moves during it and they hit a bad nerve he could become paralyzed).So they decide to sedate him and try later. I left to go play with Carter for a little bit, I told them to call me after the LP and when they get the initial results.

Hours pass, NO CALL. So I call them.

ME: Um... did you do the LP
NICU (nurse in training): Oh yeah sorry I forgot to call you and then we went to lunch. Im so sorry.
ME: OK, well any results???
NICU (nurse in training): Yes.... Hesitation..... they don't look good... they have been reported "CRITICAL"

My heart drops, I was so confident the initial test was bad. He seems perfect how could this be. I ask further questions but she doesn't have any answers. She will have a Dr call me back..... I was freaking out... The Dr called and I missed the call while dropping Carter off at Grandmas. I call back and we decided they will review the results with both Jordan and I when we arrive. Jordan and I rushed back to the hospital in complete silence with a pit in our stomachs.

Not long after we arrived we spoke with the Dr and found out that the critical label on it was only because it had a little bit of blood in the sample.  He is just fine. NO INFECTION. WE ARE SO HAPPY.

ME (TO TRAINEE NURSE): I could throw my shoe at you right now. I'm so glad it wasn't as bad as you made me think it was on the phone.

Of course she totally apologized for freaking us out. I forgive her, we have a mutual friend so we can be friends after this and we can now laugh about it all. But yikes.

Day 38 (today)
Culture is still looking good. We are thrilled. They placed a feeding tube today so he can get more food, since he is not eating as well as he was last week.  But that is totally manageable and not a big deal.

Bridger's Steps of Progression
✔️= done ➖= in progress

✔Intestines put in Silo (day 1)
✔Closure Surgery (day 12)
✔Off the ventilators (day 21)
✔Held by mom and dad (day 21)
✔Weened off sedation (day 23)
✔Weening his pain meds
Off paid meds
✔Weening his oxygen support
Off oxygen support
✔Hear bowl sounds (tummy grumbles)
✔Poop
✔️Introduce food(day 29$
➖Tolerate food (digest food)
Increase foods to full feeds (60mL)
Remove Wound Vac
➖Nursing
Take our baby home