Kara
New member
Some of you have probably already heard this on FB or on my blog, but we've had another setback with baby Timothy. With the exception of a few random fevers, he had been doing wonderfully and was set to be discharged yesterday. He's 2.5 months old now and we were so excited to finally bring him home.
On Tuesday, a different doctor came on duty and just didn't feel right about discharging him without knowing what was causing the fevers. Other doctors had ordered tests, but nothing ever showed up. So she ordered a new battery of tests and it turns out that he has MRSA, an antibioticesistant strain of staph in his blood.
This is not good.
It gets even worse if the infection gets into his spinal fluid or heart. So he had a spinal tap and a heart echocardiogram to see if this is the case. We're praying hard that it is not.
The good news is that he's not really acting sick. He's content, interacting and charming the socks off the nursing staff. His fevers don't last long, just an hour or two and they come down quickly with Tylenol. But if the infection is allowed to progress, things could go downhill very quickly.
So, the best case scenario is that he'll need to have IV antiobiotics for at least 7 days. He'll need to have a PICC line put in because babies' veins often can't tolerate extended IV therapy. Depending on how advanced the infection is, he may need IVs for 14 or 21 days. All of this will be done in the hospital, so his discharge has been postponed indefinitely.
I don't want to even think about the worst case scenario. This is nasty, scary stuff.
I thought I'd update you all because many of you have asked how he's doing ... and this is the latest.
Kara
On Tuesday, a different doctor came on duty and just didn't feel right about discharging him without knowing what was causing the fevers. Other doctors had ordered tests, but nothing ever showed up. So she ordered a new battery of tests and it turns out that he has MRSA, an antibioticesistant strain of staph in his blood.
This is not good.
It gets even worse if the infection gets into his spinal fluid or heart. So he had a spinal tap and a heart echocardiogram to see if this is the case. We're praying hard that it is not.
The good news is that he's not really acting sick. He's content, interacting and charming the socks off the nursing staff. His fevers don't last long, just an hour or two and they come down quickly with Tylenol. But if the infection is allowed to progress, things could go downhill very quickly.
So, the best case scenario is that he'll need to have IV antiobiotics for at least 7 days. He'll need to have a PICC line put in because babies' veins often can't tolerate extended IV therapy. Depending on how advanced the infection is, he may need IVs for 14 or 21 days. All of this will be done in the hospital, so his discharge has been postponed indefinitely.
I don't want to even think about the worst case scenario. This is nasty, scary stuff.
I thought I'd update you all because many of you have asked how he's doing ... and this is the latest.
Kara
I will definitely be praying for your baby!!!!
I hope the best case scenario plays out and y'all can leave as a whole family in 7 days!
