June 27, 2015 "Feeling much better"

Saturday-(June 27)-We were able to get a room at the Ronald McDonald House for the remainder of Rayden's stay. We arrived this morning to a bright eyed little fellow! Two nurses were surrounding him admiring his beautiful eyes. When he saw his Daddy he smiled so big. They all said "Awww." But when he saw his Mommy he cooed real loud! My heart just melted!!! He continued to coo loudly over and over! What a relief to see him feeling so much better this morning. 

The culture taken in the ER has been confirmed to be Staphylococcus epidermidis (Staph) so they discontinued one of the antibiotics. He is on Vancomycin. It is a very strong antibiotic so his blood has to be drawn every day to check the level in his body. If it's too high it could make his kidneys shut down. Today his Vancomycin (Vanc) levels are low so they are increasing the dosage. 

So far the first culture after surgery has been clean for 24 hours! It has to be clean for 72 hours to be declared negative. 

With his CSF draining outside of his body he is not absorbing the needed sodium it contains. Therefore they check his sodium levels as well. Today it is perfect. 

Rayden continued to be energetic and playful the entire day. He cooed and talked to everyone that came by. When he was playing with his papa he got real loud. All the doctors wanted to come see the "happy baby." They said they "don't get to see happy babies very often up here." If he didn't have this tube coming out of his head (EVD) he could go to the floor instead of the PICU. It's hard to believe he had brain surgery less than 48 hours ago.

By the end of the evening Rayden had a hard time resting. Michael stood by his bedside for about 45 minutes rubbing his little head until he fell asleep.