David's Space - djweichelt.net

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Jonah got his ventilator removed today.  They weened him off his pain medication to do this successfully, and so he was more active and agitated than the last couple of days.  It was a very stressful day for both Jonah and Dad at the hospital (and Mom at home until the evening).  I was at the hospital watching him struggle without pain medication with a vastly increased blood pressure.  It went high in an area that was not good, according to at least one doctor I talked to.  Fortune he calmed down in the evening but was given a bit more pain medication (and some other sedative he gets every day for seizures).

I did hear from the Neurologist and he confirmed the results of the cat-scan with the MRI.  Jonah had a stroke in his left side of his brain.  The Neurologist says he will be affected but he doesn't know how much, from mild to severe.  Jonah will probably be on anti-seizure medication and will need to go to neurologists and various therapists to deal with his symptoms.  His speech will have to be re-routed to the right side of the brain the doctor said, but he thought this would or at least can happen.  We hope that he surprises his doctors and we would give God the glory for that.  As to the cause of the heart attack, the Neurologist thought that this stroke could very well have caused it, bases on other finding in adults that have had similar strokes. 

Otherwise, his eyes look good, as he had an uncomfortable eye examine.  His blood levels are a concern as he is anemic because of all the blood drawn, but he doesn't need a transfusion yet.  It will take him up to a couple months for him to recover from all this loss of blood.  One doctor said he may be able to go after a minimum of ten days.  That was positive because we really didn't ever get any answers like that before, that we could go home with him soon. 

Julie and I have been too tired or recovering, busy with keeping up with the doctors and medical stuff or distracted by other things to pray for Jonah much.  So we do appreciate the prayers for Jonah very much!  It is as much a ministry to Jonah as it is to us.  It has been so encouraging to hear about all the people praying.  When God's people pray in faith to Him, He can move mountains and the sick can be healed by his hand.  We hope for a complete recovery still, in spite of the latest reports, and have faith that God loves Jonah even more than any of us, and he is present and involved in this whole event sovereignly.  He doesn't tell us the future (as I would often desire) but we are comforted by the progress and support we have (including the medical staff).  Also thanks for all the gracious and kind Guestbook entries and messages.  I have read them all and Julie has read many.  It was encouraging to hear stories about other infants/children recovering from strokes and brain damage.  That reminded me that the Neurologist said that if we can get beyond the acute injury, infants/children usually recover well.  Thanks again for your kind words and prayers during this trying time! 

Enjoy the new photo's and videos. 
Video link to my Youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/crucified220

See updates at CaringBridge: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jonahweichelt1

Grace, love, and peace,
David and Julie 

Jonah is looking stronger physically and has improved in some remarkable ways.  The Cardiologist said his heart has improved since Friday and will check him again on Friday with another echo-cardiogram.  Yesterday he was very active (see the You Tube videos for the 22nd). He is much quieter and perhaps in less pain today but just became more active (but perhaps he has had more sedative / pain medication). 

Also Jonah was weened from Dopamine and is being weened from Nitric Oxide (NO is to be cut off for his long ride to the MRI machine).  Today he had his first feeding (breast-milk) that was successful (seemed like his stomach processed it actually).  He even he got to rest on Julie bosom today for over an hour (photo posted).  Tomorrow we have an MRI for his brain, which will help us diagnose the extent and type of the brain damage.  A prayer request would be around the time of his MRI as it is a very long procedure (over an hour I think) and I believe the transportation will take him far from the NICU and his doctors.  When Johan was transported for the Cat Scan he could have been harmed or killed because of some problems and potential problems with transporting his medication stand. 

Julie and I have been too tired or recovering, busy with keeping up with the doctors and medical stuff or distracted by other things.  So we do appreciate the prayers for Jonah very much!  It is as much a ministry to Jonah as it is to us. It has been so encouraging to hear about all the people praying.  When God's people pray in faith to Him, He can move mountains and the sick can be healed.  We hope for a complete recovery and have faith that God loves Jonah even more than any of us, and he is present and involved in this whole event somehow.  He doesn't tell us the future but we are comforted by the progress and support we have (including from the medical staff). 

Also thanks for all the gracious and kind comments on CaringBridge, Facebook, and email.  I have read them all and Julie has read many.  It was encouraging to hear stories about other infants/children recovering from strokes or brain damage.  That reminded me that the Neurologist said that if we can get beyond the acute injury, infants/children usually recover well.  Thanks again for your kind words and prayers during this trying time! 

Enjoy the new photo's and videos. 
CaringBridge site: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jonahweichelt1/
Video link to my Youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/crucified220

Grace, love, and peace,
David and Julie  

Jonah was born to Julie and I after over fourteen hours of induced labor at 4:46am on Wednesday, Nov. 18.  He was induced because of meconium (baby poop) in his amniotic fluid which was shown at 2pm on Tues. (immediately after an ultrasound at the OBGYN).  We drove across the street to the hospital and got a room very quickly.  After the hours of waiting through the non-pushing labor, around 1:15 am, the pushing phase started and lasted extremely long for this type of situation (3.5 hours vs. maximum of 3 hours).  The delivery looked to be very difficult and rough to me as the doctor used forceps while Julie pushed extremely hard and long.  The baby was delivered and taken to be suctioned to make sure he didn't have meconium in his lungs.  He appeared stressed from the delivery, as the doctor said, and he was given a mask for oxygen.  Julie got to hold Jonah for a minute or two before he was sent to the nursery.  

He was in the nursery on an unusually high dose of oxygen while his heart rate and blood oxygen were being monitored.  His heart rate and blood oxygen levels were lower than normal so the doctors were contacted, but there were not any urgent concern apparently.  After the doctors eventually ordered some tests and when the nurses were trying to draw blood from his head, it was suggested I leave the baby (5:45am perhaps).  I believe I heard him crying as I left, and then I checked on Julie and found her very pale but she seemed to be stable.  

I then went back to the nursery and found that they were going to move him to the NICU, but I was told I couldn't come with for a half hour.  When I finally went to the NICU, I found a lot of hospital staff in his small room with a lot of machines.  This is when a nurse told me that after they brought him to the NICU his heart started to beat irregularly, went extremely low and then extremely high.  This was what we now know was a heart attack, where the heart muscle was starved for oxygen and part of it when into spasm and stopped effectively pumping blood.  They used epinephrine on him (not directly into the heart) as an emergency measure to restore his heart function and it worked (they also were using a ventilator, oxygen, dopamine, as well as morphine for pain and sedation).

It was very emotionally difficult to deal with for Julie and I, but with our faith in God, that God loves Jonah and he is in his hand (as we all are) we have been able to cope.  Also we have had some support from friends, the Church and family (who we thank).  Back to the story, actually Julie was still recovering from the labor and was drugged up (but now is doing better and is at home since last night).  By the way: Julie lost a lot of blood and has a lot of stitches, so she wasn't able to recover quickly and is acutely anemic.

The next day I talked to the nurse and she said Jonah was classified as being in "Critical Condition" even after seeming to be more stable with the ventilator and drugs, with his heart rate, blood pressure, and blood oxygen level.  I got to talk to a Cardiologist that said they didn't know why he had a heart attack and and will continue to wait for the results of the outstanding tests (for infection and blood clotting disorders among other things).  They even have drawn so much blood that they were talking about the possibility of a transfusion, but fortunately we haven't had to do that yet.  

Thing seemed to be slowing down a bit until we found out that there was more damage to Jonah than just his heart.  The doctors found he was having seizures in his right hand, arm, and face. I saw these too and they seemed to be repeat a lot.  This was evidence of brain damage we found out.  They took a cat-scan and found that he had brain damage from a stroke (from starvation of oxygen) on a large portion of the left side of his brain.   They were able to finally control the seizures after a day or so with what I heard as a "max dose" of a sedative called phenobarbital (but this does is about half of what is used to put someone in an induced coma).

Here is the latest (as of Sat. 11/22 at 12am):
* His heart has shown improvement from the previous diagnostics.  The right ventricle, where the damage was done, has improved but there is fluid still around the ventricle.  Also the extra valve between the aortas seem to have closed more (as well as another hole, that is closing, that is common to infants).  We are waiting to see if the heart can recover more as we hope it will.  The doctor said infants can regenerate heart muscle in ways that adults can't at all from a heart attack. So please pray that this healing progresses and we'll wait for another series of diagnostics to see if it is.  
* His brain had trauma (swelling) related to the stroke that was causing seizures, but gladly, these are not showing up physically anymore.  We just don't know the extent of the damage other than being told that there is a large part of the left side of the brain affected.  We need to wait to get an MRI to see the full extent and type of the damage.  Perhaps next week when Jonah is healthier and able move easier.  Infants have the ability to perhaps re-route functionality in the brain so this means that he would have a better prognosis than an adult who had a stroke.  The recovery from the acute damage and the actual stroke hopefully will happen, and we should pray for that.
* His lungs are taking on more work (now 33% of the the breaths), which is positive, but he's still on the ventilator.  They are waiting to take him off it until later as this is probably risky with his heart condition.  
* His activity and body movements have gotten better the last two days since he when to the NICU on Wed.  My mom and I saw him really squirm today (with all arms and legs), and he even opened his eyes to see me.  That was the first time I saw his eyes since he was in the nursery on Wed.   Unfortunately, he looks to be in significant pain when he swirms.  BTW: he some strength in him to pull out his ventilator tube, as he just tonight (but apparently he is okay as it didn't come completely out). 
* Otherwise, he has additional medications to help him in his conditions, still takes morphine from time to time when he looks to be in pain or is trying to pull out his ventilator tube or lines.  He may have a skull fracture on his left side of his head but there is debate about that currently (and this should heal on it's own anyway).  There are other concerns that are outstanding depending on blood work but thing are not looking negative so far with those.

We are still not out of the woods yet.  We don't know the future but are glad to have know Jonah the last few days.  We pray that he would be healthy soon.  Jonah needs to be weaned off the ventilator and the various drugs (all with side-effects), and we need to see his heart improve.  Beyond the acute swelling, his brain is another issue and we may not know the extent of the damage for a while, assuming that his heart can recover and he become independent of the drugs and the ventilator.  

Thank you for your support, interest, and prayers.  We would love to see a full and miraculous recovery but we do not know the mind of God and his will for Jonah.  If you have faith that God can and may heal Jonah, please pray for him now.  We can keep you posted.  My sister has setup a Caring Bridge site that we will use to post updates.  This link to Jonah's site is here:<Click here>

God bless,
David