Prayers for Landon - UPDATE

With preemies things change on a dime...

We knew Landon didn't feel good for the last couple days, but the doc's just couldn't put their finger on it. Last night (Friday) we stayed at the hospital until 12:30am because something new kept happening. He has one of his favorite nurses taking care of him, she loves him like he's her own and we know he's in great hands. Even though he was maxed on his Dopamine (bp med) his blood pressure was fluctuating quite a bit. It'd go from a MAP number of 35 (ideal pressure) to 19 to 46 - really bouncing all around. He'd desat (his oxygen saturation percentage would lessen) and his heart rate was also high. This isn't a good combo. He already has Pulmonary Interstitial Emphysema (PIE for short) (along with Brooklyn), which adds stress on the heart and lungs. (you can click on the link for more info on PIE). Our Rocky fighter has been trying to breathe over the ventilator which makes him not receive all the benefits from the vent and tires his body out so while we were there they gave him a respiratory paralyzer so he would relax and use the support of the vent. His lungs aren't ready to function on their own without the vent, but some kids try to breathe on their own anyway. This worked for awhile and his oxygen saturation improved, however his bp got really high (50's). Unsure why, they ordered a chest x-ray. This showed worse PIE in the other lung so they rotated his body. We decided he was stable enough and went home for much needed rest. At 1:30am the doc's called letting us know he has pneumothorax, or collapsed lung, (again click on the link!) and they were going to remove some of the air under his lungs with a needle. They didn't think we needed to come up and promised to call if he got sicker. We got back to sleep. Called at 6am saying there was still air, and more of it, so they are going to insert a chest tube drain to try to get rid of the air, (same drain they used after their PDA heart surgery). He is doing well, they just need to get this air out. Again, they have promised to call if conditions change and didn't feel we needed to come to the hospital. We are confident in the doc's and know God is watching over him and guiding their hands. Please pray for Landon's recovery from this and that he gets much needed rest. Will update you if anything changes. I just wanted to get this info out for all you early morning prayer warriors!

----- UPDATE -----

Landon is doing ok. He's stable and his blood gases (measures oxygen levels, acidity and carbon dioxide levels) look surprisingly good! When they laid him on his side yesterday for the PIE, the lung hyper extended and allowed the PIE air pockets to burst, causing the pneumothorax (leaks in his lungs). During his last chest x-ray, it looked better, but his lung seemed overinflated. They lowered his ventilator settings which helped improve his blood pressure and heart rate. It's kind of a wait and see situation. It may take a couple weeks for his lungs to fully heal, but in the meantime they are monitoring his blood gases to make sure the rest of his body is receiving the right amount of oxygen and his organs are oxygenating well. Keep him in your prayers, we don't want him to get too worn out!