Turn for the Worst

Collin took a turn for the worst today. His biliruben/ liver enzyme number is up to 14. This is higher than it was on Monday, March 7th when we thought we had lost him. We are not sure yet what this means.

The ultrasound the doctors did yesterday on his liver showed that Collin's liver is starting to swell back up again. The swelling is actually "back swelling," which means that nothing is getting through the liver. There is still fluid around his liver as well. The doctors are giving him another medication to help with the biliruben/ liver enzyme number and help the trial liver medication (Defibrotide), but they are not sure that is going to work.

The doctors and nurses are also giving Collin Pedialite through his NJ tube (the tube they put in his nose yesterday that goes down into his intestines), and they are going to give him some Miralax through his NJ tube as well to try and get his bowels to move. They want any stool that is in his bowel to move because they do not want his intestines to become infectious, and they also want to try and lower his biliruben/ liver enzyme number by flushing out anything that may need to be flushed. As I mentioned the other day, without regular bowel movements, Collin is not flushing out the enzymes and other stuff, so his biliruben/ liver enzyme number is skewed because bowel movements are how we get rid of those enzymes. They also want to check his bowels for any blood that may be collecting.

We had blood pressure issues throughout last night and day today. They are, of course, still monitoring this closely. We had trouble early this morning with this heart rate going up, so the nurse gave him a bolus (an extra dose, rather than a slow drip) of sedative to help settle him down. They are continuing to decrease one of his sedatives to try and get him to wake up more. We are having a little more bleeding out of his mouth than we have had in the last few days.

His skin has become more yellowish than it was yesterday. It is still healing like it was yesterday, it is just "ICU tan" again, or jaundiced. He is also more swollen again overall than he was yesterday. Julie had planned on leaving the hospital for a few hours today, but changed her plans after Collin took this turn for the worst. Let's hope he bounces back soon.

That is all I have for now. Hopefully I will have more to post later today.

Thank you for your love and support during this very difficult time. As always, call me anytime, for any reason. I'll do my best to respond promptly! : )

Love,

Jenn Wilson
"Aunt Sissy"
317-430-0805
jenndwilson83@yahoo.com