Trevin's Home!

Trevin is back home and doing well! We are so grateful that he is well on the road to full a recovery and doing great at home now. Thanks to everyone who prayed for our sweet boy. We know that our prayers were answered.

February 13th, Evening

After ten loooooong days, Trevin left the ICU today. I think he was ready for a change of scenery--see how bored he looks in his picture today? We're very grateful for all of the nurses, respiratory therapists, doctors and staff in the Primary Children's ICU. What a wonderful team and group of people. Thank you for taking such good care of our sweet boy.

Also, thank you to Teacher Linda for visiting last night and to all of those at Jordan Valley School who signed the big, happy get well card for Trevin and have otherwise sent their well wishes. The card brightened Trevin's day and our outlook.

February 12th, Afternoon

Today is Trevin's 9th day in the Intensive Care Unit. What a ride it has been.... We're hopeful that his ICU stay won't exceed 10 days, but we'll see. Trevin has a way of marching to his own drumb beat.

But, we're happy to report he's doing well right now. As you can see from the pictures, he is completely off of any breathing support and has been since 9 a.m. The nurses thought he would at least need a nasal canula to provide some oxygen, but he's doing well enough with out it so we're seeing how long he can go breathing on his own. He's still working really hard breathing on his own, though, because his lungs are still weakened and he gets tired.

Trevin had another X-ray today, which looked good. The pneumonia appears to be gone now! The plan is to monitor his breathing today, and if he does well enough on his own, he'll likely be moved to the main floor (non-ICU) in a day or two. From there, once he demonstrates that he can maintain his oxygen levels and keep his airway clear, he'll be able to come back home!

These pictures were taken just a few minutes ago. In the top picture, Trevin is giving us a little smile. It's so wonderful to see him getting back to himself.

February 10th, Mid-day

Today has been a very good day! First, Trevin's X-ray from this morning shows that both of his lungs are almost completely clear now. Just two days ago both lungs were full of infection. Second, although Trevin is still on BiPAP, a breathing apparatus similar to CPAP that helps Trevin get more air into his lungs, he is breathing so much better and easier that the respiratory therapist has orders to slowly move down the BiPAP settings to ween him off of it over the next day or so. Third, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate and heart rate all have been within normal range for last 24+ hours. And, fourth, and best of all, Trevin has been awake and happy today! He's been watching Barney a little bit, and he smiled a BIG SMILE when we sang the Barney train song! Chug-a-chug-a-chug-a-chug-a-chug-a-WOO-WOO.... Here's a picture of Trevin today with his eyes open. Thank you everybody for your thoughts, prayers and support.

February 9th, Evening

It's 6:30 p.m. and Trevin is resting soundly and comfortably. It seems Trevin has something structural in his throat or mouth that's obstructing his upper airway. He has struggled to breathe on his own since he was taken off the ventilator. The doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists spent much of the last two days trying different things to help Trev breathe better. Amazingly, Trevin began to breathe fine when they moved the bed down from 30 degrees to 10 degrees. We hope that's the magic pill and Trevin can continue to breathe on his own. It makes me wonder if the doctors will want to do a procedure to remove the obstruction. Just speculation on my part....

For now the hope is that he'll continue to breathe like he is now through the night and we'll see more improvement in his lungs on the X-ray in the morning.

February 9th, Morning

The doctors removed Trevin's breathing tube and took him off of the ventilator yesterday, which represents progress. However, Trevin's post-extubation progress didn't go as well as everyone hoped it would. In sum, he still has an extraordinary amount of junk in his lungs and throat and he's having to work very hard to breathe. As he works harder to breathe, he creates more and more secretions, which need to be suctioned out. The suctioning progress agitates him, causes him to breathe more rapidly, and puts him right back in the cycle.
It's good that he's coughing up the junk and getting it suctioned out, but Trevin is very miserable as he does it.

Trevin is still on a CPAP machine to help him breathe and to provide some oxygen, but fortunately there hasn't been any talk of re-intubating and putting him back on the ventilator. We're hopeful that that will remain the case today. Please keep Trevin in your prayers. We are specifically hoping and praying that the mucus and phlegm in his lungs and throat will clear out and that it will become easier for Trevin to breathe.

February 8th, mid-day update

Last night and today have been very good. Last night Trevin's nurse removed his central heart line, arterial line and catheter because he's doing some things well enough on his own and doesn't need them anymore.

Trevin's still on the ventilator, but not for long because he's been breathing on his own all morning and most of the night. So long breathing tube!

Last night the nurses made this poster for Trevin. We'd say it perfectly captures our sweet boy!

...And here's a picture of Paul just because he's so cute and we miss him while we're with Trevin at the hospital.