Garrett

Garrett remains at Riley Hospital. Unfortunately I had to return to work on Monday the 30th. I headed home Sunday night. He was doing well. Smiling and giggling. When I left there were still some feeding and stool issues and they were planning on running a sleep study the following day.
Rylynn got picked up Monday night and she will go to daycare on Tuesday. We are hoping that we can all be together again sometime this week.

You have no idea how much we appreciate all of your support, love, prayers, thoughts, kind words, and money. It has truly blessed our family during this time.

Good Day!

Garrett had a great day. He was full of smiles and laughs today. He is still having feeding and stool issues. Rylynn got to stay with papa and mama Jackson last night and go shopping with Mama Jackson and Aunt Jo tonight. She is staying with Kayley.

Mom and Kevin stayed with me tonight and I snuck mom back to see Garrett. She got to hold him while he ate. We are hoping or a good day tomorrow and I will be heading home tomorrow after supper then Ryan will be here.

No more ICU!

We got out of ICU today! We are thrilled! We are on the 3rd floor and have our own room which is very nice. Our nurse today was Darby, whom we have had the last time we were here and she is AWESOME. We are hoping to have her the next two days.

We are still waiting on 2 tests to come back. And will have a sleep study and a swallow study. Garrett is eating from a feeding tube at this time and is off the IV. He was very cranky tonight and somewhat horse and congested, but we are hoping he has an ok night.

Ryan went home for a couple nights to get a break and so hopefully we can be together again Sunday before I head back to work. The neurologist did look at Garrett and is going to continue to check on him for his tone. Thank you for the prayers.

Thanksgiving Day

We are spending Thanksgiving still at Riley. Garrett is still in ICU. Last night he had a rough night and wasn't able to focus or track with his eyes. I stayed with him until about midnight and then came over to the Ronald McDonald house and Ryan, Rylynn, and I were able to be together in a room.

This morning we waited for rounds from 9am-1pm and still no doctor due to emergencies. We came over and ate lunch with my dad and one another. Then went back and talked to the doctors. They are concerned about his tone. (muscle- he clenching his fist alot ) The neurologist will look at him tomorrow and have to do more tests on him once he is off of oxygen and awake. They will be making sure we are not going to have any long term consequences due to this event.

Rylynn got to ride home with Papa Cows and is staying with my sister Mirissa for the weekend. We will be staying down here all weekend and going from there. Thank you for the continuing prayers.

Yeah!

Well to start with we got into the Ronald McDonald House! That means we are able to park for free, and stay there for a small fee until Garrett is discharged. It also means that Rylynn and I can go down Wednesday night, spend the night as a family and have Thanksgiving together. We are thrilled to be chosen to stay in the Ronald McDonald house. We got a tour tonight and we will all be there tomorrow! We are so thankful that God has blessed us with a room.

We also have had several people praying for Garrett and the doctors. And we have been blessed to have our pastors visiting us through this. I was able to spend a few minutes with Garrett this evening and even change his diaper! Though he slept through it all!

Last night was a rough night for Garrett his oxygen and heart rate kept dropping and they are not sure why. Therefore the ventilator is still hooked up. They are hoping to continue to decrease how much he is on the ventilator though. He saw the genetic doctors and had blood work done today. He is also having a 24 hr heart test ran. We are hoping for answers tomorrow. And we are thrilled to be able to have an actual bed and be together tomorrow night. Though my arms are aching to hold my baby I am thrilled I got to change a poopy diaper tonight...that was the highlight of the day!

Monday evening

It has been a long day. We haven't figured much out. We did participate in rounds today with the doctors. They decided to do a MRI, MRV, and another heart test (I forget what that is called). We decided I would go back to work Tuesday and Wednesday, return to the hospital for Thanksgiving, and then work Friday and return for the weekend.

It was very hard to leave him, but we need to work so it can help with bills. I left as soon as he was taken to do the MRI and MRV. I spoke to Ryan tonight and he reported that the MRI took longer because Garrett didn't want to cooperate. The plastic surgeon came to see him, but unfortunately he was having his MRI and MRV. Therefore he will come tomorrow. The heart test will also happen tomorrow.

Ryan will be staying at the Ronald McDonald House on site. We are waiting to see if we get a room and we are waiting to see if we also qualified for Special Needs Insurance for Garrett. Please pray that he will receive it that will be a blessing to our family.

Oh yeah! One of our prayers was answered...Rylynn just has a little cold and the doctor gave her cold medication.

Monday update

Garrett still sits in ICU. His heart rate did better, but today it has been jumping around again. Therefore the cardiologist is going to do a 24 hr test on him to see if this is normal for him. The neurologist also wants to preform a MRI. We will know something from the MRI tonight. We are comfortable with the staff doctor today.

We are still not allowed to hold Garrett and sleep comes and goes. We are trying to use the Ronald McDonalds house as much as we can - PRAISE THE LORD FOR THEM!!! They are wonderful. We have applied to stay on the onsite house tonight and are trying to get into the main Ronald McDonald House as soon as we can.

I will be going home tonight to work Tuesday and Wednesday. Then I will return Wednesday night and stay Thanksgiving here. Rylynn might be getting ill, she is going to the doctor today as well. Please keep her in your prayers, we don't want her to be sick.

Thank you for the continued prayers I will update this evening after the MRI results.

Sunday night update

Nothing new has progressed. Our night nurse seems to be very efficent already. She has noticed that his heart rate is jumping around and has continued to drop. He has not had to be bagged tonight, thank God! We are hoping to talk to the doctor sometime tonight. Ryan will be trying to get some sleep in the lobby while I try to get some sleep in Garrett's room. The only bad thing is Garrett is in isolation which means I have to wear a gown, gloves, and a face mask...it should be an interesting night.

Garrett Update

Garrett has received no results. All tests have come back negative. He has had a CT scan, EEG, ECG, lab work, and an Ecogram. Everything has been ok. We are still unsure what has happened other than he stopped breathing on us while we were driving Friday night to get his 3 month pictures taken. He did turn blue and I gave him 3 breaths and a few compressions as Ryan was driving, once Ryan got pulled over he gave him another breath while I called 911. We were transported to Howard emergency. He received a ventilator there as well as medication to medically paralyze him through the bone. We think he had a seizure as well. He was then lifelined to Riley Hospital. He was immediately put in ICU where they continued the ventilator and started chest X-rays (which they do daily).

Saturday really nothing happened. An Ecogram was done as well as X-rays. Garrett had to have a blood transfusion because his blood pressure as well as his HBC count was low. He did swell a lot, so they gave him some meds last night.

Today has been a waiting day. His heart rate has been dropping alot and they have bagged him a few times and ran an EKG. He is no longer medically paralyzed which is good and he did well dealing with that. That is all we know as of now. His swelling has gone down. I have attached two pics that were taken Sunday evening.

A visit from Sandy!

We had a visit from someone from headquarters at our monthly Tastefully Simple meeting in November!

Trick or Treat

We had fun trick or treating with our tiger and princess