It has been over four years now since Holden joined our family. His journey started off bumpy and he's had to overcome some health challenges. But the Little Monkey continues to fight his way to becoming strong and healthy. We are so blessed to have him as our son. He inspires us and melts our hearts every day. Thank you for joining us on this journey. We've appreciated everyone's thoughts and prayers.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

We're back at Scottish Rite

Reece and I made the decision to bring Holden to the Scottish Rite Emergency Room on Monday evening, as his work of breathing and oxygen requirements had increased. And we could just tell that something wasn't right. He has struggled and in my opinion has never fully recovered since his reflux/hernia surgery. Doctors admitted the little guy so they could take the time to try to figure out what is going on. They quickly ruled out RSV, Flu, etc. Based on an echocardiogram, it does not appear that his pulmonary vein stenosis has gotten any worse - of course the cath in January will be much more exact. After discussing things, Holden's specialists think his medication for the pulmonary hypertension may be the cause of his lungs getting wet and thus creating some of his recent respiratory struggles. Although it would seem we could just stop giving him the medication causing the problem, we have to be very careful and mindful as we make changes as Holden is still fragile and sensitive to change. And so much of this is relatively new territory for doctors as pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary vein stenosis are new conditions and certainly not very common. Doctors plan to keep the little Monkey here for a couple more days so they can monitor him as they slowly begin weaning him off this one medication. The hope is that he will respond favorably to the weaning and his lungs will no longer store the excess fluid. This should mean he won't have to work so hard to breath and that slowly we'll be able to reduce his oxygen levels to where they were post surgery.

Holden seemed much more himself today and was flashing his sweet smile at all the nurses and doctors. We were able to wean him a bit more off his oxygen and slowly his work of breathing is improving. Hopefully we'll be home by the end of the week. And in the meantime, I just continue to pray for Holden's healing.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are and remain in my prayers.
Love you bunches.
Rita

Anonymous said...

Christine, Reece, and Holden: Stay strong in both hope and faith. Our prayers continue to be with you. You are all loved by so many. Hope we get to see you over the holidays. Aunt Laura, Uncle Chad, David, and Emily