3/9/09

I almost go to hold him again today however the nurse was concerned about his drain and got called away to check on her other patient. She left his cover on his incubator open for a long time today and unfortunately his temperature increased too much. She wrapped him in a blanket however left the warmer on since she was called away. I went to get some dinner and when I came back the top was still open and his heart rate was almost 200 (this is high for an infant). She un-wrapped him however he was very active with his hands and feet. She put socks on his hands to prevent him from pulling out his tubes (he still tried to wrap his wrist around it). He was alert and did not seem to be very comfortable. I stood at holding his feet until the night nurse could re-organize him. She got him much more comfortable and discovered why his drain/shunt had an issue (the collection chamber had an air bubble). Once he was comfortable she advised me that the roads might get icy so it's best that I head home. He will probably have a permanent shunt placed his week. I am not impressed with the neurosurgery nurse practitioner. I get the impression that she wants to get in assess him, check his chart and get the heck out of there. I understand that she is busy however having studied to be an NP myself I find this very disappointing. Next time I won't ask her any questions. I will ask the neonatal team and have them relay the questions. I will however demand to talk to the neurosurgeon directly, prior to the next surgery, so that I am not left out of the loop on his medical care. After all I am his mother. What's interesting is the neuro NP knows that I also studied to be a family nurse practitioner so I am not an idiot. I feel for other families that have no medical knowledge or experience. I might ask the attending physician the NP's role, maybe it's not in their job description to education/update the family on changes in their child's medical care. Other this time I am impressed with the care that he is receiving.