07.02.08
Posted in Logan at 11:20 pm by lance
Logan had another bad day today. 
His oxygen requirements kept going up throughout the day and the doctors had to keep increasing his vent settings. Kim said that by the afternoon he was at 100% oxygen and they even had to adjust the vent hertz for a little bit… something that they’ve never had to do before.
Dr. Neal, the neonatologist that’s on-duty, talked to us tonight about starting Logan on a much stronger steroid that will hopefully give him a boost so that he can get past this plateau that his lungs seem to be stuck at. Logan will be on a 10 day course of the medicine starting tonight. Dr. Neal says that it’ll take about 3 days before we notice any significant gains. We’re all crossing our fingers.
After shift change, Aunty Allison, his nurse tonight, changed all of Logan’s lines and he seemed to perk up a bit. His oxygen saturation actually went into the 90s for a bit. She did her assessment of him and he handled that pretty well too. After she finished her assessment, she started the first dose of his steroids.
When we left for the night, Logan was actually high enough on his oxygen saturation that Allison was able to wean him down a little. Hopefully, he has a better night…
Sheeesh… Only 32 days old and he’s already taking “Vitamin S”… Hope this doesn’t become a habit…
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07.01.08
Posted in Logan at 11:48 pm by kimi
Okay . . . everybody has been subjected to an embarrassing photo by their parents. Logan is no different! Aunty Pam was his nurse the other day . . . she’s hilarious! Since he was resting happily on his tummy, Aunty Pam decided not to rile him up by flipping him onto his back just to change his diaper . . . instead, she chose to put his diaper on backwards while he laid on his tummy. This gave us the first good look at his itty bitty butt! We couldn’t resist . . . we HAD to record the moment with a photo! I’m sure he’ll thank us for this later! 
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Posted in Logan at 11:41 pm by kimi
I found this super cute puppy at Makana Mother & Baby the other day and thought it would be the perfect friend for Logan (even though he already has 3 real dogs waiting for him at home)! Marcella, one of Logan’s nurses, told us about a NSCU mom who had taken a picture of her preemie next to a stuffed animal to show how small he was. We thought that was a great idea!
Since Logan was born in the year of the rat, Lance wanted to take a picture of him next to a fake rat . . . needless to say, mommy quickly vetoed that idea! Â We compromised & decided to look for a Ratatouille stuffed animal at the Disney Store, since Remy (the main character in the movie) is a rat. Before ever making it to the Disney Store, however, I laid eyes on this cutie!
Logan’s new furry friend is 15″ long . . . Logan was 11 3/4″ long when he was born. I think Kassie (Logan’s favorite nurse) said that he’s now 13″ long, but I’ll need to verify that . . . after soo many hours in the NSCU, my brain is just a little fried! 
We were worried about whether Logan would tolerate being photographed with his new friend . . . he’s not exactly fond of people messing around in his isolette! Since Logan loves Aunty Kassie & always behaves for her, we waited until she was on duty. On the night we took this photo, he was resting comfortably on his tummy (his favorite position) & sucking happily on his pacifier . . . the conditions couldn’t have been better! Luckily, Logan decided to cooperate & posed nicely for daddy!
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06.30.08
Posted in Logan at 9:51 am by kimi
Despite the major setback Logan faced on Saturday, he reached another milestone yesterday . . . our itty bitty baby is one month old (or negative 10 weeks old if you consider his gestational age!). It’s hard to believe that we’ve already spent 4 weeks in the NSCU. Since we’re there every day, we’ve gotten to know all of Logan’s nurses quite well . . . the NSCU staff has quickly become our second family. We’re so grateful to all of them for taking such good care of Logan . . . although it’s still hard to go home at night without him, we’re comforted by the fact that he’s in such great hands.
Logan has definitely won the hearts of all of his aunties at the NSCU . . . we lost count of the number of concerned aunties who stopped by his isolette to check on him during his yucky day on Saturday! They all had words of comfort & encouragement for us . . . Jilayne gave us some hugs and Nadine & Jaymie brought me a box of tissues to wipe away my tears. They are all so amazing . . . we definitely couldn’t get through this journey without them.
We also couldn’t get through this without the love & support of our family & friends. We’ve lost track of how many phone calls, emails, cards, & gifts we’ve received . . . every single one means a lot to us. I’m trying to keep up with my “thank you’s”, but if I ever miss someone, please know that we are very thankful.
We’re happy that so many of you have already had the chance to meet Logan. We enjoy bringing visitors to see him . . . we want him to know how many people are cheering him on. For those of you who haven’t been able to meet him in person, we hope that Logan’s Looking Glass & our blog help you to feel a bit closer to him. We always talk about how feisty & active he is . . . now you can see too…
Happy 1 month Birthday Logan!
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06.29.08
Posted in Logan at 9:00 pm by kimi
Logan suffered a huge setback in his recovery yesterday (6/28/08) . . . after waiting so long for him to move to the jet ventilator, he’s once again back on the oscillator. Lance & I stayed at a time share hotel in Waikiki from Wednesday, June 25th through Saturday, June 28th (courtesy of his parent’s time share points!). At 5:40 in the morning on Saturday, Lance’s cell phone rang. When I checked the caller ID, my heart plummeted to my stomach when I saw that the call was coming from the hospital. I quickly woke Lance up & put the call on speaker phone so that we could both hear what was going on. Pam (one of the nurse practitioners in the NSCU) was calling to tell us that they had been having a lot of trouble keeping Logan oxygenated on the jet ventilator. They made the decision to put Logan back onto the oscillator at 5:30 in the morning. Pam told us that the doctors suspected that Logan was suffering from some kind of infection in his lungs. She assured us that blood samples were being cultured & observed in the lab for any signs of infection . . . she also assured us that Logan was already being treated with several different antibiotics to help get rid of any infections he might have.
After receiving the call, I couldn’t stop the tears that welled up. As usual, Lance was my rock & hugged me while I had a good cry. Once I got that out of my system, we rushed to pack up our things & check out of the hotel. We arrived at the NSCU at 6:55 a.m. It was hard to see our baby back on the “monster” (aka oscillator) & at such high settings . . . Logan hasn’t been on vent settings like that for a while now. He spent most of the morning on those high settings, with his oxygen saturation level bouncing up & down.
Being back on the monster also put a lot of pressure on his heart, which in turn made his blood pressure drop. He was put back onto the Dopamine to help bring his blood pressure up. He was also given a blood transfusion early in the morning to help him. They also started him on stress doses on Hydrocortizone to help him deal with the trauma his little body was going through. In order to get all of these medications into him, Aunty Carol (his night nurse) had to put another IV in Logan’s head. Ouch.
Despite how sick Logan was on Saturday, he remained feisty through it all! They gave him a small dose of Pavulon (a paralyzing drug) to help calm him enough to allow the oscillator to begin working. True to his stubborn nature, Logan refused to go quietly! He kept his eyes open & looking around the whole time he was supposedly paralyzed . . . he also twitched his fingers occasionally to let us know that he wasn’t going without a fight!
At some point in the day (I can’t remember when), I asked Deena (his day nurse) if Logan could have another pacifier . . . his old one fell out of his isolette several days ago & was never replaced. As soon as she put that paci in his mouth, he began sucking away! I’m sure he was thinking to himself, “It’s about time those grown-ups listened to me! I’ve been trying to tell them that I want my paci for days now!”. He happily sucked on his paci for a loong time . . . it really helped to soothe him, which helped him to bring his sats back up into the 90s. With his trusty paci in his mouth, he was able to tolerate whatever his aunties were doing to him . . . changing his diaper, drawing blood MANY times for his MANY blood gases, moving him, etc.
Lance & I were at the hospital for a whopping 14 hours yesterday! We arrived at 7 a.m. & didn’t leave until about 9 p.m. We had lunch & dinner at the hospital cafeteria so that we could remain close by. We didn’t leave until we felt that Logan was pretty stable. By the time we got home last night, we were POOPED! We were both in bed by 11 p.m. and slept in pretty late this morning. I had to get up twice to pump & called to check on Logan each time. We were relieved to hear that he was having a much better night & that he was still pretty stable.
Today, Logan is still on relatively high settings on the monster, but they are slowly weaning him down. By this evening, he was able to get his oxygen support percentage into the 60s. After getting another blood transfusion, they stopped his Dopamine & he’s been able to maintain his own blood pressure. We were all (especially Logan) happy to hear that Aunty Kassie would be back on “Logan duty” tonight! Before we left for the night, Kassie assured us that she would “have a talk” with Mister Logan to let him know that all of this nonsense & monkey business was not appreciated! We know he’ll have a better night now that he’s got his favorite aunty back!
Hopefully our next post will bring MUCH better news on Logan!
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06.28.08
Posted in Logan at 10:15 pm by kimi
Logan learned how to yawn a few days ago . . . he has a pretty big mouth when it’s opened all the way!
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Posted in Logan at 10:00 pm by kimi
I’ve been keeping a journal for Logan . . . trying to record the ups & downs of his time in the NSCU. We want to share this with Logan when he’s older. In my journal, I talk about Aunty Kassie a lot . . . she’s one of the wonderful nurses in the NSCU. Logan has a lot of different aunties who take great care of him every day & every night, but Aunty Kassie is definitely his favorite! We think Logan saves up all of his good behavior for the nights that she’s on duty! Luckily, Logan has won Aunty Kassie over too because she signed up to be his primary nurse . . . so whenever Kassie’s at work, she’s always in charge of Logan’s care. Aunty Kassie’s a bit of a rascal herself, so we think that’s why she & Logan get along so well!Â
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06.27.08
Posted in Logan at 10:32 pm by kimi
All day today, Logan would only peek and didn’t want to open his eyes. But after I picked up Lance from work, Logan decided to open his eyes really big. Lance says that it’s because Logan loves him more…
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06.24.08
Posted in Logan at 6:52 pm by kimi
Lisa stopped by today for another photo session… The last time Lisa came to photograph Logan, he was in a different location in his wing of the NSCU. His overhead exam light wasn’t working in that spot & he was far away from the windows . . . not good lighting at all… even for a pro like Lisa! She did the best she could, but she didn’t have very good conditions to work with. Logan’s new “home” in the NSCU is next to a window & has a very bright exam light overhead. Also, his isolette can be raised & lowered now since he’s back on the jet ventilator. All of this made for a much easier photo shoot for Lisa! She was very excited to be able to photograph such a itty bitty baby like Logan . . . shooting a preemie is a first for her! We can’t wait to share her photos with all of you . . . keep checking Logan’s Looking Glass for new photos. We’ll be sure to give Lisa credit for her photos! :o)
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06.22.08
Posted in Logan at 1:50 am by lance
Lots has happened since our last update . . . here’s a summary of what’s been going on with Logan . . .
After recovering from the surgery to close his PDA vessel (which happened last week Tuesday), Logan had several good days in a row. His blood pressure improved & they were able to take him off of his Dopamine (the medication to help stabilize his blood pressure). We were all relieved to see that the surgery, despite how rough it was on him, really seemed to help Logan to improve.
Things were going smoothly until this past Monday . . . out of nowhere, Logan decided to have a yucky day. Aunty Nadine (one of his nurses) called it a “punky” day. Something was definitely bothering Logan & he was not a happy camper. His blood pressure dropped & stayed pretty low, which made the doctors decide to start him on Dopamine again. He started on a low dose, but by Monday night he was up to 20 (the highest dose). He also had some swelling on his neck, chest, & back (all on his right side).
This setback took us by surprise because he seemed to be doing so well after his surgery. His doctors began to suspect that his problems were being caused by his PICC line . . . they thought that his PICC line was leaking fluid into his body. Initially, they were giving him the Dopamine through his PICC line . . . once they began to suspect that it was not working properly, they decided to switch it to his IV. Unfortunately for Logan, he needed a new IV for this because he was already getting Morphine through his existing IV. Aunty Nadine worked hard to get a new IV going, which left Logan with no limbs free. :o( Ouch.
In addition to moving his Dopamine to an IV, they also gave Logan a dose of Hydrocortizone to help him deal with the stress his body was going through. One of those things seemed to do the trick . . . by Tuesday afternoon, they were able to take him off the Dopamine completely.
On Tuesday, the nurses removed his PICC line. On Wednesday, they did an ultrasound of his chest to look at the fluid surrounding his lungs. Since the swelling was starting to go down, they decided not to use a needle to drain the fluid from his chest . . . doing so would have been too risky since the pocket of fluid was small.
Wednesday was another hard day for Logan because Aunty Janice & Aunty Pamela tried to replace his PICC line . . . they worked on him for 2 1/2 hours, without any luck. While they were working on him, his 2 existing IVs infiltrated & had to be replaced. They got a new IV started in his right arm & were forced to start another IV on the top of his head.
Getting a new PICC line started was the #1 priority . . . they use this line to give Logan his Hyperal (his main source of nutrition) because the Hyperal is too harsh for his IV. Without his PICC line, they had to reduce the nutritional content of his Hyperal to allow it to be administered through his IV. Aunty Delight tried again on Thursday to put in a new PICC line, but was also unsuccessful. We’re proud to say that through all of this, Logan was a real trooper!
Since the 2 attempts had failed, Logan’s last option was to have a Broviac catheter placed in his chest. On Friday morning, Dr. Johnson (a pediatric surgeon) came to Logan’s bedside to surgically implant the catheter. The procedure lasted about 45 minutes & Logan pulled through without too many problems. His Broviac was placed on the left side of his chest . . . hopefully this catheter will last him until he outgrows it.
Logan now has a Broviac catheter in his chest, an IV in his head & right arm, and an Arterial line in his left foot . . . this leaves his left hand & his right foot free (although his aunties do have to put his pulse ox sensor on one of those 2 limbs). Logan LOVES having his left hand back . . . he can finally touch his face again, which makes him quite happy. The other day, he had his thumb in his ear! :o) Although the IV in his head looks horrible, it’s actually okay because it frees up his hand . . . plus, it doesn’t seem to bother him too much.
Although it seems like a lot of bad things have been happening, Logan did tackle one huge obstacle . . . on Friday, after his Broviac procedure, the doctors decided to put him back on the Jet ventilator!! This was what we have all been anxiously waiting for . . . on the Jet, Logan can work on growing bigger without having to worry about too much damage to his lungs (since the Jet is a much gentler system than the Oscilator). He also has more freedom to move while on the Jet (because the tubing is much more flexible) & can actually face the front of his isolette! It’s now much easier to see his little face! :o) We’re hoping that Logan doesn’t decide to abuse his new-found freedom & move around soo much that he gets himself into trouble. Mommy, Daddy, & all of his aunties & uncles in the NSCU are keeping a close eye on this little monkey!
Whew . . . that was a looong update. In case you haven’t checked out Logan’s website recently, Lance uploaded new pictures for his third week.
http://logan.shinsato.info/logans-third-week/
Thanks again to everyone for all of the positive vibes you’ve all been sending our way . . . Logan is a fighter, but he can definitely use all of the positive energy you’ve been sharing with him!
By the way . . . today is Sunday, June 22nd & Logan is officially 3 weeks old!
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