July 29th
Well lots had been going on since our last update on Damien.Its now been 3 weeks that
he has been here at The Royal Childrens Hospital,when Damien was admitted it was due to his blood not clotting as well as
it should also his liver was not giving out the required protiens that his little body needed.
Well 3 days after he was admitted he caught a virus called "RSV", which is a normal
cold to us,but, not good for little ones.It basically attacks the lungs giving a bronchitis type of cough.He was put
on a special venitlator
(oscillatory ventilator) and full recovery takes 6 weeks(Damien cant wait that long).
Well that and also the condition of his heart really took its toll on the little guy.And
he had few nights there that scared the hell out of us and the staff here at the hospital.He was rushed up to "ICU" where
he has remained since.Damiens condition continued to get worse,to the point where docters werent sure that doin surgery would
help at all.
Then last saturday night he took a real bad turn and had to be given 'cardiac massage
' and a shot of 'adrenelain' to get his heart and blood pressure back up to where it should be.
They were also worried that if he had too many of these 'arrests' there was a chance
there could be one that they couldnt not resuscitate him from.So Damien was put on an artificial lung and heart machine (Extracorporeal
membrane oxygenation-ECMO).He remained on that machine until surgeons gave the go ahead yesterday to take a chance and put
in a new shunt.They needed to get some more blood to the lungs and the new shunt was the only way.Docters are worried that
the condition of his lungs would hinder his recovery.But they needed to do somthing So at 5pm yesterday We wished Damien our
best and watched as he was taken off for surgery.
He emerged 3 hours later all his vitals were sitting just fine and they were happy with
the procedure.The plan was to keep his chest "open" just in case somthing were to happen.And in typical Damien style he has
bounced back aggressively to the point where surgeons eneded up closing his chest today and saying that he is progressing
along alot quicker than they had antiscipated...Whew..
He is still not quiet there yet and has a long road to recovery especially getting over
this "RSV"bug.This is where surgeons have told us will be trying times as he recovers form his procedure and the bug.Damien
as long as things go well could be staying here for at least the next 7-8 weeks.
Thank you for all your prayers
Keep it up he's not home yet
But thank you all the same.
