Blood Level

First off, let me say I am sorry that I did not update this earlier in the day. I spent another 12 hours at the hospital today. Jon decided to go to work today for a little bit, so that he could spend more time with Brayden when he gets released from the hospital. So of course before Jon could go to work, he had to visit with him at 8 this morning. I decided to stay the whole day to try to get Brayden on a regular schedule with feedings.

They took his phenobartibal level early this morning to measure the amount of seizure medicine in his system. The goal range is between 25- 40. Brayden was at 26.2!! Great news. We were waiting for this level to go down from the initial loading doses so that we could start him on his maintenance dose.

Dr. Ritacco (the neurologist) stopped by and checked him out again today. He was very happy with the progress of Brayden. He checked out his muscle tone and thought that he was very even between the right and left side. We discussed his future treatment and where we are going to go from here. The initial plan is to start him on the maintenance dose, which they did today. The dosage is based on his current weight. It could take a week or two before the level is stable, but according to his weight this is a good level to start him at. If we notice any seizures at all then we will have to up the medication. He is hoping that Brayden will only have to be on the medicine for about 3 months and just outgrow the dosage. As he grows over the next 3 months the dosage will stay the same as it is today, so over time there will be less and less of the medication in his system. He is hoping that during this 3 month period, his brain will start to take more shape and compensate for the loss in the area. Therefore the likelihood of having seizures will diminish over time. Definitely a good report to hear from him, but we will still not know what sort of damage is done until later on.

They are also going to do a slew of blood tests to see if he has any problems with clotting or any gene markers that we should be aware of. The doctor actually said it will be a blessing if they all come back negative. The reason being, if they come back negative then we know that the stroke was a fluke incident. On the other hand if there is something there, then he would be more apt to have another stroke in the future. And for our peace of mind, having nothing there would be much easier to deal with going forward from here.

We still don't know exactly when he is coming home, but the nurse was hopeful that it will be in the next few days here. They will probably wait another day or two to measure the blood levels before he gets sent home. Definitely another good thing to hear. Overall it was a great day. I got to bond with Brayden all day and got good reports from all the doctors. Hopefully I'll have more good news to post tomorrow.