Another Battle!!!

The third Monday in the NICU Luke was up for his next surgery.  The plan was to just change the wound vac with new tubes and dressings and check if it was doing its job.  Unfortunately he ended up getting a debridement.  Debridement is the medical removal of a patient's dead, damaged, or infected tissue to improve the healing potential of the remaining healthy tissue.  His feces ended up getting into the wound because it was so low to his bottom.  They changed all the dressings and sent him into recovery.  Once again he wasn't able to start feeding right away.  It didn't take him long till he was up and alert though.  Man, he is the strongest person I've ever known.  We were told by his plastic surgeon that he would need a skin graph due to the width of the opening on his spine.  They would remove skin from his tummy below his belly button and place it on his back.  If this is done he would be very delicate until he heals and would have to be in isolation to avoid any infections. Later that week we receive the blood work back that the surgeon requested during his debridement,  It came back positive with two different types of infections that he needed to start antibiotics right away which were major and could cause problems with his hearing.  He took the antibiotics all the way for 10 days by IV plus the amoxicillan by mouth.   Another week of sitting in the hospital wondering whats next.  I received notice from the nurse that the doctor ordered more ultrasounds of his bladder and it started to retain small amounts of urine again.  I had to start cathing once again during this week once every 6 hours.  They had people come and talk to me about home health care because they wanted to send Luke home with the wound vac and needed to instruct me on changing the dressing.  I couldn't do this, I was so scared and asked them to keep him until it was fully removed.  Thank God the head nurse agreed and insisted that if I didn't feel comfortable that it would be best for him to stay.  Another Stressful, scary week to indure, and still had an upcoming surgery that following Monday.  I really wanted my baby boy home but it was best to keep him where I knew he was safe and in good hands.  Thanks to all the nurses in the NICU at Methodist Children's Hospital they were one awesome team!