Thanks to everyone for all of your kind words and support - we really appreciate it!
We're back up in Sacramento now with Cassidy. We drove up this morning and are staying at The Sharing Place, which is a residence for families of patients currently in the hospital. It's right across the parking lot from the hospital, which is great - it's easy for us to walk over and visit him.
Today was a good day for little Cassidy. The doctor remarked on his alertness, and was impressed that he had his eyes open and was following her movements - this is unusual in any newborn, especially one that's also being pumped full of phenobarbitol.
We were able to hold him for quite a while, which was great for a lot of reasons. First off, it means that there's no concerns about infection. Second, he needs lots of love and encouragement right now. And, of course, we've been waiting for that for a really long time.
He also ate his first meal today. They've fed him twice so far - 10ml at a time. First colostrum pumped by his birthmom, then a combination of breast milk and formula. This is also a good thing - being able to eat on his own is one of the milestones to coming home, and another neurological skill he has.
He also had an EEG - we won't know the results until tomorrow. Holly nearly eviscerated the tech when she was cleaning his head rather roughly afterward. He's got an MRI scheduled for tomorrow morning. These might provide some useful data, although I think that they'll mostly rule out bad things.
We also ate lunch at a restaurant named Cassidy's, which seemed auspicious.
So overall we're getting lots of positive signs, and no one has said anything too scary in the last day or so. But he's not out of the woods yet. His head is still very sore and swollen, and he's still on phenobarbitol to prevent further seizures. The doctors are (wisely) being very cautious with this, as seizures in newborns are a very serious thing. If the EEG and MRI look reasonable, they'll start weaning him off the phenobarbitol and seeing if any seizure activity returns. If everything continues to go well, he might go home early next week. We're still in day-to-day mode at this point.
Once again, thanks so much to everyone for all of your thoughts and prayers and good wishes. It means a lot to all three of us, and little Cassidy needs as many people in his corner as he can get.
Here's some more pictures, including the first appearance of his guardian panda, provided by Grandma Rachel.
2 comments:
Hello Chris and Holly,
We are very sorry about the difficulties that you are experiencing. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and Cassidy.
Uncle Bill and Aunt Marilyn
(Mustain)
Hi guys,
I'm sorry to hear about the drama, and I hope he's continuing to improve. Just an anecdote for you: my sister had her first baby in May this year, and had exactly the same scenario--trauma during birth, lack of oxygen, followed by seizures and a transfer and further seizures, phenobarbitol, and the same warnings you've had. She was in the hospital about a week, maybe? The upshot is she was weaned off the pheno slowly and has had no further incidents. She's 8 months old, happy, healthy, and developing completely normally. Those little guys are resilient!
Hang in there, we're thinking of you......
Laurie
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