Hooray for negative blood cultures! So far no bacteria has grown in Brett's blood culture from Monday. This means 3 good things. One, we got to be disharged and go home yesterday. Two, Brett can keep his Broviac central line for right now and doesn't have to undergo a surgical procedure to have it removed. Three, we are off IV antibiotics! Woohoo!

Now our schedule is not quite as demanding as in last week's post about our daily schedule. We still have LOTS of daily medications to administer, breathing treatments an chest PT, but the schedule is a lot more flexible and we don't have to wake up 4 times during the night.

Today is a day at home, regrouping and spending time together. We go back tomorrow as outpatient for Brett to have a bronchoscopy and his infant PFTs. Please pray that all will go well with the procedure and we will remain on outpatient status! In the past, Brett has always tolerated general anesthesia well, but it is always a risk!

Student of the Month

We are so proud of Mark for being selected as Student of the Month in his 1st grade class for the month of February! A child is chosen each month for exhibiting the character trait the class is studying each month. We are proud that Mark was selected for Love. Below is what Mark's teacher wrote about him to present him with the certificate during Chapel that day.



"The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13 that love is patient, kind, not easily angered...these words describe this student. There is always a sweet, gentle smile on his face.  This student was the only one who befriended a new student by sitting with him at snack and played with him on the playground. He tries hard to obey and follow rules.  This loving boy is a joy to have in my class!"

Mark Reasoner

Ms. Mull's First Grade 2010

Hospitalization #6

We're back again with Brett to start hospitalization #6. This one isn't that much of a surprise to us. Over the past 5 days or so we have noticed Brett not feeling quite as well as he normally does. He was scheduled to do the infant PFTs (pulmonary function tests) today, which would mean general anesthesia. I emailed his doctor yesterday and let him know about Brett's subtle change in behavior, and how I wasn't sure what he would think when he saw Brett. That way, he had a heads up on the situation. When we got here, he already had Brett on the list for a bed, just in case he needed to be admitted. This was wise, because they did end up wanting Brett to stay. There is just no point in performing a test (pft) that is designed to provide us more information, but might set him back quite a bit if he is ill in some other way we're not sure about now. We are working on testing various immune function in Brett, and we already know he is compromised in that area. We postponed those tests to stay on the safe side.

Brett is on contact precautions until the results of his viral panels come back. At that point if they show no virus, we will be able to stop wearing the gloves and the gowns. Although I am wearing a mask in the photo, he's not actually on droplet precautions yet. These precautions are not for Brett's sake - they are supposed to help protect other people in the hospital from any virus Brett's body might be harboring. Mark and Gantt both have stuffy sinuses and runny noses, so there is a good possibility that Brett might have some of the same virus. They will be drawing blood to test whether he is still negative for that infection in his blood or not, and then they will decide whether he can keep his Broviac central line or not. We hope we will only be here for 48 hours for observation and testing. If all the tests come back great, it is possible he would do the infant PFTs on Friday. 

No pulmonary function tests for Brett today. Taking everything into consideration, we all felt he might not be stable enough for the general anesthesia today. Being admitted now for observation - maybe 24-48 hours- long enough to get the results today's blood cultures, then maybe PFTs and a bronchosopy later in the week.