riding the rollercoaster
Well, the “relaxing” part of the ride ended with a bang and we’re back into rapid ups and downs. Last night, Nolan had a very difficult night. He was stable when Kara and Ronan left for the night, but sometime in the middle of the night, his oxygen saturation dropped and they were unable to control it. By the morning, when Kara and Ronan got a phone update from the nurses, they had turned his oxygen up to 100% incoming, and even at that level he was only able to maintain 80% saturation. Kara and Ronan went to the hospital, and phone calls went out and a number of family members rushed to the hospital as well to wait for news. By the time people started arriving, Nolan was back down to 40% oxygen and holding.
Apparently, this rapid improvement came about partly because they sedated Nolan pretty heavily. He was very agitated last night during the crisis time.
This sort of crash is “normal” and they expect it will happen again. They don’t know why it happens, though the consensus seems to be that it’s probably not an infection (they won’t know for sure until tomorrow). His lung x-rays continue to show very unhappy lungs, but there may have been a slight improvement in today’s x-ray image.
Nolan has continued to stay stable for the last 4 hours or so, so we hope that this will hold for a while. They were able to turn his oxygen all the way down to 35% at one point, but then they had to do a heel prick to get blood for blood gas tests, which caused him to desaturate enough that they had to turn the oxygen back up. I think it has stayed in the 40s since then.
They have given Nolan his last dose of steroids now, so we are at the stage where we pray that he doesn’t backslide. While he’s had a lot of ups and downs on the steroids, they have been able to keep his oxygen lower since he started the steroid course. Keep your thoughts focused on helping him maintain those improvements.
I will give another update later today, even if it is just to say that all remains the same. Thanks for all of your attention and love and caring. I know it means so much to Kara, Ronan, and Nolan. It certainly helps the rest of the family to know that so many of you are out there thinking of our little bug all the time, checking for news regularly (I wish there were more to offer!). Over 100 different friends have now left messages on this website, and we know that so many more are quietly holding Nolan in their thoughts. Thank you so much.
-Maria
Monday, October 2, 2006 at 4:59 pm
Hang in there Nolan, your parents are two of the sweetest people you will ever know. You’re a lucky boy to have such a wonderful family. Take care - Much Love - Robert & Laurie Chiarito
Monday, October 2, 2006 at 10:53 pm
Wow. I can’t imagine how you folks can hang on during such a roller coaster ride. Remember that losts of family is sending love and support from Alabama.
Tuesday, October 3, 2006 at 4:08 am
Hey kids, I don´t know what to say except that we´re thinking about you all the time. The first thing Paco asks me every morning is “How’s the baby?” And then again if I even walk by the computer. We’ll be sending Nolan finely tuned lung healing vibes and praying that the rest of y’all are getting restful sleep and feeling comforted and supported during the journey.
Peter
Monday, May 2, 2011 at 1:45 am
Incredible! This blog looks just like my old one! It’s on a entirely different subject but it has pretty much the same page layout and design. Great choice of colors!