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Update from Yvette Klimes on Brandon
3/26/09:
Hello everyone! First off I would like to thank all of you for your prayers.
Brandon is 5 1/2 weeks old & still in the NICU. It has been a long & busy 5 1/2 wks, too. Since the last update, Brandon did end up going to surgery to have a gastric tube placed & also had a cystoscope to check out his bladder & ureters. During that surgery they discoverd he had some severe inguinal hernias but were unable to repair them at that time. He had those repaired this past Monday. All in all he has undergone multiple tests & 5 surgeries. We are hoping that will be his last one he'll need until his transplant next year. Brandon finally got over 6lbs this past weekend. It sure has been tough. He has required extra calories with my breast milk & assistance with feeding through the gastric tube to get there. He is finally starting to fill out some. He sure does burn through those calories though. I wish I could! Another problem we had faced a week or so ago was severe anemia. His blood count fell to 21 (norm >35) He was close to needing a transfusion but they kept holding off until some medicine to help increase his red blood cells (RBC) kicked in. Because his kidneys are in failure he is unable to produce a chemical in the body that makes RBC's. The reason they did not want to do a transfusion was to keep from introducing antibodies into his body which could cause transplant rejection down the road. Speaking of transplant, as written before, Brandon will need to be the ideal weight of 22# before he can have it done. Kidney transplants have been done in an infant as small as 13#, though. He has been on dialysis every 4 hrs & tolerating it well. The plan is to keep him at Childrens Hospital of East TN until April 6th & then transfer over to University of TN Med Ctr. There he will be placed on a cycler, a machine that will do dialysis over 6-12hrs at a time. Dialysis nurses will teach me how to do this so we can eventually take him home if all goes well. We will be in touch with the transplant team there to prepare for next year or sooner if need be. I have tons of homework to do, in searching for the best hospital for transplant to be done. They do them at UT but I want the "best". If anyone has info on infant/children "kidney" transplant hospitals please let me know. My parents are flying in from MI Easter weekend to see him for the 1st time. My father has pancreatic cancer so it has been difficult for him to travel. It took an act of congress to get him to agree to come. A bit risky but worth it, considering we do not know how long my father or Brandon, for that matter will be around. We hope Brandon will be home. However, he will be baptized either way Easter Sunday. Please continue to keep Brandon in your prayers & of course my father. May God Bless all of you my friends!!! Yvette PS I have posted some recent photos of Brandon, too PSS If you would like to keep up with closer updates & photos visit www.carepages.com/carepages/ourlittlevalentine (become a member at login to gain access & recieve emails when new news is posted)
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