NAVA Vent

Well, Wyatt had a pretty bad day today with ups and downs and some pretty tenuous moments but fortunately, with the help of the physicians nurses and the grace of God we survived another day.    As I know Rachel has told you, one of the added concerns is now Wyatt's heart and the decreased function as a result of the pressure the hyperinflated lungs are continuously exerting on it.  This has been an ongoing problem and because of the recent development of metabolic acidosis its moved to a more immediate concern.  To correct the problem the physicians decided to try Wyatt on a new vent called the NAVA vent.  It functions more like a conventional vent, simulating normal breaths, but the uniqueness of it is in the mechanism.  There is a sensor that measures the neurological impulses that contract the diaphragm to initiate breathing, and the vent initiates breath based on Wyatt's respiratory behavior.  The reason this is superior to the conventional is that often times with a conventional vent it may be trying to push a breath in when Wyatt naturally may be trying to breath out; when that happens in can increase damage to the lungs and puts more stress on Wyatt in general.

The good news is that Wyatt has tolerated the afternoon/evening interventions very well. Dr. Mehta also manipulated the chest tubes a bit to ensure they're in the right position in order to minimize the pneumothoracies that he's acquired.  Along with the new vent and chest tube manipulation, they have placed him on his left side to sleep for now, in an effort to reduce the size of his left lung and push some air into the right to relieve the atelectasis (non functioning lung tissue).  The left lung is much larger than the right and is the primary culprit in the chest cavity pressure battle.  Wyatt has now had three blood gases since the new vent and this last one took place after the other two interventions and resulted in the best levels in 3 days.  He appears to be moving, once again, in the right direction.    Dr. Mehta and the others have been phenomenal and I just want to thank you for all of your prayer support, that the physicians and nurses be given the wisdom and calm to make the best decisions and Wyatt's care and for the Lord to heal what they can't.  We're very happy to be able to bring you news of an upswing and hope that it continues, we just want to bring out baby boy home and we know that won't be possible without the care and compassion of so many of you.

Thank You