Benscoter Family: July Videos & August 1-14, 2012

Now it's time to pick up where we left off. On August 1st we were told that Tyler's echo revealed a narrowed left pulmonary artery (LPA) which is the major artery that supplies blood to the left lung. If that artery remains too narrow for too long it may result in Tyler's left lung being underdeveloped. While this would not be fatal to Tyler, it could potentially limit his already compromised cardiovascular endurance. Unfortunately, an echo cannot determine the degree to which an LPA is narrowed so the doctors wanted Tyler to go to the cardiac catheterization lab the following day. The cardiac catheterization procedure is where a small tube, or catheter, is put into Tyler's femoral artery and coursed up to his heart. The tip of the catheter has a camera which takes pictures and helps the doctors determine how small his LPA is. Depending on the size of the artery, the doctor explained that he may inflate a small balloon to enlarge his LPA by making micro tears in the artery wall. So, on August 2nd Tyler was taken in for his cardiac catheterization where he was sedated and intubated/put on a ventilator. The doctors were able to get the catheter in his femoral artery on the right leg but his blood clotted and covered the end of the catheter sheath. Unfortunately they attempted once more in both the right and left legs but the sheaths again were clotted. During their third failed attempt, Tyler's heart went into atrial flutter and required a small shock to get back into a normal heart rhythm. After this occurred, the doctors decided to stop the procedure altogether. We were notified of these issues immediately and were able to see Tyler as he recovered in the CICU. Tyler was put on blood thinners and his legs were elevated as both of his lower extremities were a deep purple color from the procedure. Tyler also had an ultrasound of his head to make sure he did not have any bleeding on his brain. Thankfully, the ultrasound was normal and there was no insult to his brain. After he was monitored in the CICU for a few hours he was sent back upstairs to the CPCU. However, since the sheaths clotted off 3 times which is very unusual, the doctors wanted to run a series of tests on August 3rd to determine if Tyler had a blood clotting disorder. On August 4th a hematologist from the hospital visited us and notified us that all of Tyler's lab values came back normal...Thank God! However, an ultrasound of his legs revealed that he had blood clots in both legs which occurred from the trauma of the procedure. Due to this fact, Tyler will need to be on a blood thinner called Lovenox for three months.

The night of August 6th Tyler had a brief, low-grade fever of 100.4 degrees which resolved itself without medication. However, the morning of August 7th the doctors decided to draw blood and begin to treat Tyler with an antibiotic for 48 hours just incase he was starting to fight a bacterial or viral infection. That day was difficult for both Tyler and Mommy as the nurses poked Tyler in his head, neck, and all extremities in order to draw blood and attempt to place an IV (which was unsuccessful). The afternoon of August 8th we were told that all of his tests came back negative and he did not have an infection. On August 9th Tyler was taken early in the morning to have a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) line placed in his right arm prior to his cardiac MRI at 9:30. Tyler was sedated and put on a ventilator since the MRI takes several hours and he needed to be completely still for them to get the pictures. Around noon that day our nurse told us that Tyler's MRI was finished but he had difficulty coming off the ventilator so he was put back on the ventilator and was sent to the CICU once again. One of his doctors explained to us that his temperature had dropped so drastically while in the MRI machine that he was having difficulty recovering and was close to having a heart attack. In order to avoid him having a heart attack they needed to put him on the ventilator, give him heart medications, and warm his body with several heated blankets. As his temperature increased he began to get much more medically stable and required less medication. Since he bounced back quickly, the doctors decided to move forward with his G tube surgery. So, on August 10th Tyler had a G tube placed in his stomach. The procedure lasted less than an hour and I'm happy to report that he had no complications! He started getting small amounts of food through his G tube on August 11th and we were moved back upstairs to the CPCU that afternoon. That evening our friends Dan, Amanda, and Hunter Rappa came up to the hospital to meet Tyler and visit with us. We were so thrilled they made the trip from Clovis! August 12th was Joe's 29th birthday so Joe, Sophia, and I met up with the Rappa family at The Museum of Nature and Science in Denver while Grandpa stayed with Tyler for a few hours. After the museum we went out for lunch at a local bar which proved to be an interesting adventure with two toddlers...they had really good food though! August 13th was a quiet day as Tyler continued to do well with being fed through his G tube. He was able to tolerate the increased calories in his diet over night so today, August 14th, the rate of which he gets food through his G tube will be progressed. As long as he tolerates that well, we hope to finally be discharged from the hospital either Wednesday or Thursday of this week! We will keep you posted! In the meantime, here are the videos we took in July...