Monday, February 18, 2008

Here is the latest on Aidan:

1. Seizures: They have him on a very high dosage of Versed (sedative) and an anti-seizure med (can't remember the name). As a result, any seizures that were noticable before have "subsided". We'll know more about those once CT results are in. That brings us to ....

2. Tests: The hour-long EEG they ran on him this morning came back with brain activity and "looked good". There is a CT Scan with Contrast scheduled for 6PM Eastern Time. Results will be known later this evening. An MRI is scheduled tentatively for tomorrow depending on how he reacts to his drugs (more on that in a moment). That will show more about the deeper funtions of the brain. MRI Results will show if there is any damage to his brain stem, which controls the communication between the main part of the brain and the rest of the body (breathing, heart rate, etc.). Think of it this way: the main part of your brain is like an electrical power plant. Your body from the neck down is your house. The brain stem is the electical lines running from the power plan to your house. If one of the lines is blocked, cut, etc., you have no power to your house.

3. Drugs: They are continuing to wean Aidan off his BP meds (Dopamine and Epinepherine). Dopamine is down to 11 and was being lowered as I left. They want it to 8 by tonight and 5 tomorrow. Epinepherine is down to 0.6. They want him off of that completely by tomorrow in order to do the MRI.

4. Other Body functions: All organs are functioning properly at this time. There is still some pneumonia, which is expected when somone is pretty much laying in the same position for a long period of time. The nurses have started repositioning him to help the situation.

5. Prognosis: If the MRI comes back with little to no abnormalities, they are planning to wean Aidan off the ventilator on his birthday (Thursday) or Friday. At that point, we'll have his birthday party back there for him, per Dr. Black (the Pediatric Intensivist -- he is essentially in control of Aidan's health) He also said that Aidan's age is a huge benefit to his complete recovery, as well as the water temperature (for those new to the updates, the water was in the mid to upper 40s at the time of the accident). Best case scenario: he walks out perfectly normal. Worst case scenario: he would have multiple developmental (speech, learning, coordination, etc.) delays that would require therapy.

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