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Aug. 21, 2009
URGENT
Noah's broviac has somehow come apart. It has an inner core and an outer core. Think of this like a pencil with the lead inside of it. The inner core has slid out of the outer core - as if the lead were sliding out of the pencil. The end of the broviac is still attached to the inner core that slid out - as if the eraser of a pencil were still attached to the lead, but the lead had slid halfway out of the pencil.
Sooo, we have the outer core (wooden pencil part) coming out of his chest, and several inches of inner core (lead) that has slid out of the outer core, with the broviac end attched to the end of the inner core. (I'm not sure I'm making a bit of sense here.)
I have NO idea how this happened. He hasn't taken a fall, or pulled his line, or anything. There is no blood on his chest where the line goes in, and his dressing is perfectly intact.
I called our nurse as soon as I saw this (was changing his diaper and realized his line was much longer than it was this morning!). She had me see if I could pull blood back out of his line. This is a good way to see if the line is still in place inside Noah. A couple of drops came out, then I couldn't pull any more out. This is bad for two reasons - first, it means the line doesn't work. Second, because it doesn't work, it is dangerous for me to try to flush anything through the line (since we don't know where the end of the line is inside Noah). As a result, the inner line is filled with blood which will clot off VERY fast, foiling any possible attempt to fix the line.
Our nurse has a call into our surgeon, and we are waiting to hear if we need to go to the hospital, surgical office, or ER. Jeff is getting Mary Faith down for a nap (Daddy's girl!), and we are just going to head out as soon as he is through. Our nurse will call us on the road to direct our path - all of the options are over an hour away in the same direction, so if we head out now we will at least be partway there when we find out where to go.
In other Noah news, Noah's hemoglobin has dropped below his transfusion threshold. I asked to have it checked before discharge, but got this reply - "We don't want to have to transfuse Noah since he could have a transfusion reaction, so we aren't going to check his hemoglobin. If we checked it and is was low, we would have to transfuse, so we just won't check it. Have your own doctor check it at home." Well, yesterday our doctor did check it, and it is low. Our doctor said we could stay home for the weekend, recheck on Monday, and then go in for a transfusion if it was still low. Guess maybe we won't be waiting now.
It doesn't seem that there is any way to repair the line. Broviac repairs involve cutting off the damaged part of the line, then splicing on a new end - but there is no damaged part (like a hole) to cut off. The whole thing has come apart. If they need to replace it, it will be VERY EASY and pain-free to pull the line since it is so new, BUT we probably couldn't get a new one before Monday. That means more IV's.
I'm just ill over this. I believe strongly that if this line is ruined, God has allowed it to happen for Noah's greater good - perhaps to spare him from some more disastrous and dangerous way. It's also a really tiny (infant size) line - maybe this is the Lord's way of getting him a more appropriate sized line. (No, we don't know why he got such a teensy line. No one could explain this to us.)
I'll update when I know what is going on, or when we are settled either back at home or in the hospital.
Please pray for wisdom, for safety, that we won't be stuck sitting in the ER, that Noah will be spared from as much trauma and pain as possible, and for these weary, weary little ones at home. Jeff and I are awfully weary as well.
Blessings,
Kate
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Posted by Anonymous 
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Aug. 21, 2009 - praying
love,
Lori & family