Friday, October 16, 2009

CT scan results

Well, today we had another sit down with the doctors. This time it was to go over the results of the CT scan. They did not find any evidence of a brain bleed on the right side which is wonderful because as of last weekend, we were told there was something suspicious on that side also and that wcould have been potentially devastating for Benjamin. Today they did confirm that he had a bleed between the brain and the skull, which they had suspected. The good news is that it is not significant enough to require surgical intervention or any type of reservoir or shunt...this should resolve on it's own over time....He does however have evidence of damage to the brain on the left side that may result in motor and sensory issues for him. Since the damage is on the left side of his brain, this will affect the right side of his body...this is the area that presented most of the movement when his seizures occurred. He will most likely be requiring a lot of therapy to help him with his coordination....but we are still very positive about this news. Considering how bad the results could have been, we feel very blessed that more area isn't involved. There is a great resiliency about babies that we as adults do not have...they can recover much more from injury like this that an adult could ever hope to. We are hoping for the best possible outcome for Benjamin, and still praying for a miracle, (because as any true believer knows, God can intervene at any point), but we will not know how Ben will actually be affected until he is older....seems that will again be determined by God and Benjamin as they seem to call all the shots...(and a lot of help from us). His blood gas after his move to the CT scan was actually the best he's had since being taken off ecmo last Thursday. He is also in isolation currently as of today. There is bacterial growth in his endotracheal tube that could potentially be dangerous to the other babies in the unit....he is and has already been getting treated for this. We should know more about this in a few days when the full cultures are back. For now, the plan is to continue to keep him stable and then provided no other major hurdles present their ugly heads, we should be able to start talking about surgery to repair his CDH soon. As always, please keep him in your prayers....he is such a little fighter.

4 comments:

  1. Glad to hear that overall things went well for Ben today. I know it was not great news but it sounds like it could have been a lot worse. I will continue to pray for Ben and your family. I hope his bacteria clears up quickly too. Keep fighting Ben! May god bless you and continue to watch over Ben.

    Love,
    Christine B

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  2. Happy One Month Birthday! Our prayers and thoughts are always with you.

    Love Always, Great Auntie Donne and Unka Dale

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  3. Happy Birthday Baby Benjamin!!! It was so great to finally see you, you are even more precious in person!! I am sooo glad to hear the good news about the CT results, you are quite the little fighter. Kell, it was great to see you and Dave, I miss you much!! Benjamin is going to change so many peoples lives without even knowing it. I surely appriecated my children much more after seeing what all of you are going through!! You said it best Kell when you said to me " next time you kids upset you, just be gald that they are able to"! I love you all and will con't to pray for you.
    Love Ya
    Holly
    xoxoxoxox

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