Roller Coaster Ride

All of last week Eli was making a lot of progress with his respiratory status and slowly coming down on his vent settings.  I was getting hopeful that within the next little while they would be able to extubate him.  On Saturday evening when Logan and I were at dinner, Eli had a pulmonary hemorrhage.  Because of all this bleeding, we definitely took a few steps back.  It took some time for them to get him stabilized but after a little while he was doing much better and Logan and I were breathing much easier as well!

The best way to find out where all of Eli's bleeding is coming from is to do a brush of his lungs and send a scope all the way down to find the actual source.  Here's the catch: The smallest scope they have is the exact same width as Eli's breathing tube which would leave him no room to breathe around it.  Clearly this isn't an option.  They will continue to take things very slowly and treat him for everything they can and we'll cross our fingers that the bleeding stops on its own.

In order for Eli to continue the type of dialysis he's on they have to use calcium to help filter his blood.  Unfortunately there is a nationwide shortage of calcium so it has been quite difficult to find enough.  Eli's doctors received word two days ago that every hospital around is completely out and there's none left.  This left us in quite a pickle because the dialysis is what's keeping him going right now.  Luckily there is another type of dialysis that we originally wanted to do but Eli wasn't stable enough to go to the OR to have the line placed so it wasn't an option at the time.  Because the calcium is gone, this is what we needed to try.  Eli went to the OR yesterday to have the line placed in his tummy and did so well!  He handled everything like a champ.  As soon as they brought him back to his room and were getting him settled, the team received a call from the pharmacy saying they had just gotten a 2 month supply of calcium.  Haha.  Typical, right?  His doctors definitely weren't pleased with the timing to say the least!

As ironic as that is, I've never believed in coincidences and honestly believe it was a blessing in disguise.  Had the hospital received the extra calcium before his line was placed they likely would have just continued with what they were already doing and not sent him to the OR because it's always a risk.  Because they assumed they were out of the calcium, they were forced to go another direction and get the line placed.  In the long run, this new type of dialysis will be much safer and better for Eli.  His tummy needs some time to heal but in the next week or so he will be switched over to PD dialysis.  Logan and I are very pleased with how it all worked out!

One sign that Eli is getting healthier: He honestly hasn't slept more than a few minutes at a time in the past 36ish hours!  I think the poor kid is terrified of getting paralyzed again and not being able to open his eyes because he has been wide-eyed and alert since yesterday morning.  I'm sure he's not in pain because he's receiving a constant drip of pain meds and his heart rate is at a good spot so that's reassuring.  I think he's just ready to be out of here and out of that crib!

Fight on, little Eli!

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Since we've been in the hospital, Logan and I have had the opportunity to participate in a few different interviews regarding our situation and more specifically Eli's health.  Today we were interviewed by KSL as part of their special on the StoryCorps project.  It will air on the news sometime next week.  When we have a definitive date I'll definitely let everyone know.