June 30, 2008

Today was a pretty good day. Camdyn slept more of the day, than he was awake (which we are happy for him to be getting his rest, but so sad we have very little awake time to play with him and talk to him). Camdyn ate a few bites of pancakes and eggs for breakfast (a little more than the day before... so that's an improvement!). He didn't have much appetite for lunch. Although when he woke up around 4pm - our little man was craving pizza! so, he had a slice of pizza for dinner. He has been keeping most all of his fluids down. Still we have not seen any tinkle or b.m. in his diaper. The rough spot of the day was this evening. We decided to give him a sponge bath, to help relax & refresh him - while the nurses placed new sheets on his bed. He was less than thrilled to be given a bath right then, he really just wanted to sleep. While we were finishing up with his sponge bath - the nurse looked at the area on his chest where the catheter is (from surgery) and she stated we needed to take the old bandages off an replace them.. to avoid any infection. Camdyn was miserable while the nurse was struggling to pull away the taping/bandages from his sensitive skin. We know it was hurting him - we could almost feel the pain as well. His little face was bright red, an tears were flowing. He was squeezing mommy's fingers as tightly as possible. Once the bandages were finally replaced with new ones - he started complaining about how badly his neck hurts. We look at it, and can see why! The incision the dr. made to insert the catheter into his neck - had a small bandage over it (used to be white, now was mostly dark reddish black) and on top of the small bandage is a larger bandage - almost like a waterproof tape. We looked closely at this area and began to become quickly concerned. It looks as if it may be infected? it is bright red around the incision and seems to be worsening. We showed the nurse who called a dr. in to examine. He stated we needed to give him an antibiotic tonight, in case it is becoming infected (he also mentioned it could just be serious chaffing on his neck from the constant movement he makes). He can not take the bandage off because he is not a surgeon. A surgeon has been requested to come to our room in the morning to further examine. Please pray this is nothing but sensitive skin needing a little TLC. We hope no infection has begun to set in.
Thank you again for all your love, time, efforts and prayers. We love you and thank you for showing such great love to us and our little Camdyn Michael Racer Slack :)

June 29,2008

We were moved from the 3rd floor down to the 2nd floor - which is also known as I.C.U.. the doctors feel like this is best for Camo.. since his vitals have not shown any improvement and his blood pressure has risen. Camdyn is now on a 24hour dialysis and he has been given 2 blood transfusions today. This is in hopes to increase his red blood count - to improve his oxygen level (it dropped to 43!!! should be between 95-100). He hated the oxygen tube placed in his nose, but we explained to him he needs to keep it in, so he can feel better soon. He is so darn sweet. He trusts us and simply says"okay". It breaks our heart now, every single time a nurse comes in - Camdyn asks her "you going to hurt me?". Most of the time they are only coming in to check vitals..which does not poke or stick anything in/on him.. so most of the time they can simply explain what they are going to be doing - and that they promise this won't hurt. Each nurse has been wonderful. Very attentive and kind.
He ate for the first time today, since (6/20). He had some mac-n-cheese and jello. yea!! still no "tinkle" yet though :(
Camdyn had another extremely emotional incident this evening... lasting almost 2.5 hours. His nose was bothering him so badly that he almost rubbed it raw.. he could not stop scratching all over his head and tummy.. and his eyes became so swollen he could barely see us. He was more irritable than we had had ever seen before. We asked the nurses to explain to us all the medicines they had recently given to him.. and one of the medicines was a pain medicine semi-related to the codeine family. Needless to say, we panicked!! the nurses quickly gave him benadryl and a sedative.. it took a little while for this to kick in but once it finally did, Camdyn was so exhausted and overwhelmed - that he passed out.

Thank you again for your prayers. We greatly appreciate it.

June 28,2008

We have a 3hour dialysis scheduled for this morning at 9am. Before the dialysis, we gave Camo a bath. He loves water so much - we knew this would feel good to him, and hopefully relax him as well. Camdyn did well through the dialysis process today; they were able to take out a little more fluid that he has been retaining. When he came back from the dialysis.. he was almost acting like the fun little Camdyn we have always known. He stood up and tried to walk (for the first time since Tues.,6/24).. we needed to hold his hands while he took a few steps, but that's okay! at least he is walking :):):) We took him for a ride around our floor in a wagon - loaded with lots of blankets, pillows and toys.. he liked to have daddy or whomever was pulling him in the wagon - to "race" others walking down the hallways. He took "1st place" every time :)

Camdyn had a good day today until we noticed something odd. Mommy was lying in bed next to him - while he napped.. and after sleeping a little over 3 hours.. he would open his glazed over eyes and reach out into midair and try to say something. We briefly thought he was just in a really good deep sleep.. but then began to worry when both mommy and daddy tried to sit him up and talk to him - and he could not focus his eyes on either of us. He even had a hard time holding up his own head. We immediately called for the nurse, who rushed over to our room. By this time, Camo had been acting delirious for almost 2 hours. We followed the nurses who took him down to the 2ND floor - to have a Ct Scan and X-rays.

Nothing extremely out of the ordinary appeared on the x-rays or scan.. which was good.. but the blood samples showed a very low blood count. This worried us quite a bit, since the red blood cells carry oxygen. The dr. told us he wanted to start a dialysis in the morning for at least 24 consecutive hours.

Camdyn slept okay this night.. but did require a sedative and some children's Tylenol for discomfort. Still hard to believe that our sweet angel baby Camo is here - in the hospital. We know we are at the very best possible hospital for our child. The doctors and nurses have been fabulous. Thankfully we all (family an friends) live nearby.

We thank you again for all your continued love and most of all for your sincere prayers. We need it!

June 27, 2008

This morning we were moved from the 4th floor (the '23 hour observation floor ) to the 3rd floor, since we were now admitted...
Camdyn was able to sleep quite a bit today. His little face and entire body has swollen a considerable amount.. due to all the fluids his body is retaining (since his kidneys are shut down - he has not been able to "tinkle" since last Tuesday 6/24). At times he has barely been able to open his eyes. His body needs alot of down time - just to rest and try to recoup.
He had lots of visitors come by to show their support and love. Thank you to all for the fun balloons, pretty flowers and cute toys that have been brought/delivered. Camo is too cute - when he has a gift bag in his lap.. he is so excited to pull out the tissue paper and see what his 'prize' is. He is just as excited to find a little $0.50 toy, as he is a $$$ toy. He is so precious and so sweet. He has been through so much already, and still does not hesitate to give kisses and tell you he loves you sooo much!
Tonight was a nightmare :_( It all started around 5pm... we noticed Camdyn's eyes were extremely puffy and he could not stop scratching his little nose and his head.. something was really driving him crazy. We immediately concluded that these symptoms were a result of a severe allergic reaction to Tylenol codeine. We called the nurses into our room - to check his condition. After calling the dr. to explain his symptoms.. the nurses brought in a medicine to place in his i.v. that should reverse the effects of the Tylenol with codeine he had been given earlier in the day. As soon as the doctor walked in to check on Camdyn - the nurse inserted the medicine, Camdyn immediately vomited and became extremely irritable and restless. Camo's mommy and daddy had to physically hold him down and give him a tight bear hug.. until he finally settled down.
The doctor scheduled an immediate Ct Scan and blood to be taken, to send to the labs. We waited about an hour and the nurse came in to let us know the Ct Scan was normal and the blood samples were unchanged (no better or worse). All of Camo's symptoms were caused from the codeine in the Tylenol. So! no more of that will be given to him, ever again.
Camdyn fell asleep around 11pm simply from pure exhaustion.

June 26, 2008

Surgery was scheduled for 7am today, then was changed to 8am. Fortunately, several of our family members came in to the hospital to sit with us in the waiting room. The love and support was much needed. We gave Camo "XO's" and then the sedative kicked in and he fell into a deep, comfortable sleep... it was surgery time now. This was such a scary time... to just sit and wait... the nurse had told us they would call the waiting room to let us know that they had started the surgery.. and would call again to let us know the surgery was complete. We waited and waited for the first call - to let us know the dr. had begun... after over an hour they finally called the waiting room with an update - the surgery had been successfully completed.

Camdyn came out of recovery very well and really has been such a trooper. He is a tough little cookie :)

His first dialysis was scheduled for this afternoon. The dr. initially requested this first dialysis to be a 3 hour process... but once he had completed about 2 hours.. the dr. decided that was enough for his first day.

Camo rested on and off for this rest of this day.

June 25, 2008

This morning we were admitted into a hospital room on floor5 (the "23hour observation floor) at @ 5am... Camo had only slept a total of 5 hours in the past 24hours.. he was extremely tired. The nurse woke us up (after only sleeping about 1.5 hours), the doctor had ordered additional x-rays and an intense sonogram for him. The doctor had requested the sonogram, due to Camdyn having complained for several days and now non-stop of his belly button (that is what he refers to, when speaking of his tummy) hurting. He really seemed to be in severe pain at this time.
At this point, Camdyn had not eaten anything since the previous Friday (June 20th).. and almost every time he would drink, it would immediately be thrown right back up.
With these symptoms, all the doctors and nurses seemed to be convinced that Camdyn had Gastroenteritis. It was only later in the day, after reviewing recent labs that the doctor came in to our hospital room and told us the bad news...
The radiologist reviewed the x-rays, and found that Camdyn's large and small intestines as well as his kidneys were enlarged. This is not a symptom or sign of Gastroenteritis. The doctor came in to our room and began to explain to us that this is a much more serious situation. He told us that he would be sending in a kidney dr. to our room, to talk with us.
A few long hours of waiting for the news.. a kidney specialist walked into our room and explained the following... Camdyn has been diagnosed with Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (also known as HUS). He told us that more than likely, this was caused from exposure to E.coli and that this had caused his kidneys to completely shut down. We, of course, were heartbroken to hear our angel had been diagnosed with such a painful and cruel disease. There is not any way to pinpoint where he picked up the E.coli; it could have been from a lake or pool.. or from some foods he had eaten - any time within the past 3-4 weeks. There is no known cure for this disease. We can only hope and pray that his body can regain full function again of his kidneys, on his own.
The dr. told us that he had scheduled a surgery for Camdyn the following morning (6/26) to insert a catheter, which would allow for dialysis.
Needless to say, this was a very restless and tearful night..

June 24, 2008

This morning Camdyn was taken to the hospital - due to possible food poisoning. He had been sick (diarrhea & vomiting) for a couple of days by this point. This morning we checked him in the emergency room around 8am and the dr. placed an i.v. in him - due to slight dehydration. The dr. dismissed us around 2pm to go home. Camdyn slept for about 3-4hours and woke up with the same symptoms. We immediately knew something was more serious than we originally had suspected. We took him back to Cook's at 9pm and after waiting for a few hours we were taken to an outpatient room and they inserted an i.v. to begin hydrating him again and took a few x-rays. After the dr. reviewed the x-rays and blood tests from the lab, Camo was admitted around 4am, Wed. 6/25.