Despite the pain of last night, Cassie has been in reasonably good spirits today. She went for a long ride with Mom in the wheel chair and when they came back she wanted to stay in her chair. Pushed up against the table she amazed us by unwrapping a straw requiring two hands, see above. We like to see the progress with her using her left arm. A short time later she was all smiles as she entertained herself and us throwing Gold Fish crackers off the table.The Infectious Disease Physician just came in to tell us that they have test results to indicate that the PICC line that goes up her arm to deliver the antibiotics to her heart has become infected and needs to be removed. Apparently plastic tubing is attractive to bacteria. Good news if that turns out to be the only problem. Bad news is that she has to receive her antibiotics through a traditional I.V. which will take twice as long to pump in and will likely cause a burning sensation as it goes in. We'll be watching carefully to see if her white blood counts drop, that will tell us if that was the only problem.
I had a request to provide some more specifics on the type of Staph infection and the antibiotics being used to treat it, most of you can tune out now. The Staph infection in her neck and in her blood is "most likely" Staphaureus and they are treating her with Nafcillin if that burns too much in the traditional I.V. they will switch to Cefuroxime.
It was so incredible for Gramma ans Grampa Sandberg to see Cassie actually laughing and happy for the first time in many days Wednesday night. It did our spirits good to see the light and happiness back in her eyes. We are fasting and praying today with many friends and family for the purpose of getting these infections knocked down so as to get Cassie home, also to give Steve and Ali an extra measure of strength and courage to carry on. We love you!
ReplyDeleteAli-
ReplyDeleteMy mom has been giving me updates about Cassidy's condition. Just today, she told me about your blog. I am so sorry that you are having to go through this. But, I want you to know that I work in the hospital with all of the heart patients. Many times our patients have gotten Staph infections after surgery. And as awful as those infections are to deal with, all of the patients do really well... and all of my patients are really old :) Cassidy is so young and has a much stronger immune system. Plus the antibiotics they have these days are amazing. I also feel very confident that her arm will be just fine in time. Unfortunately, it will take time- which is so hard when we want instant healing. Hang in there. Keep trusting your instincts. You know your daughter better than anyone and you have that gift of revelation concerning her needs. We will keep her in our prayers.
Kori (Little) Hyde