Parker Brown's 2nd EEG

Parker is undergoing an EEG right now to monitor his brain activity.  Right now the docs want to determine what type of seizures he is having and where they are happening.  Hopefully the meds that they gave him yesterday will wear off and they can catch one seizure while being monitored.  That should give the specific information they need to answer some of the questions in order to properly medicate. Leah and I are doing well.  We are getting to know the folks around here pretty well.

Parker Mason Brown Update

Leah, Parker and I are in the ER at Texas Children's. Unfortunately this is the second time this week for the nurses and doctors to enjoy our company. Monday afternoon we took Parker to the St. Luke's ER in the Woodlands where they performed a ct scan, x-rays, and blood work. After reviewing the results they transferred is to Texas Children's ER. After multiple tests and a true test of patience, we were admitted to the neurosurgery floor. After spending 15 hours in ER it was wonderful to have a room with a pullout bed and our own restroom. They tested for seizure activity on Tuesday night around midnight with an EEG. After the doctors collaborated on all results, they released Parker and told us their was no certain evidence of seizure activity or shunt failure/ infection, so it could just be a stomach virus that was causing the vomiting, lack of appetite, foaming at the mouth and unresponsiveness. Fast forward to this morning. I got a call from Leah as I was driving back from my annual hunt in El Campo, TX and she said Parker was having seizures. Leah's parents, Lisa and Danny, brought Leah and Parker to the ER where I met them. Parker was seizing every 30 minutes by the time he was admitted. The doctors immediately medicated with Ativan to stop the seizures around 2pm and he hasn't had one since. Based on the ct scan and X-rays the shunt hasn't failed, but conversely done a very good job of draining the fluid from the right ventricle. Based on the blood work, no signs of infection are apparent. Initially, the thought is Parker has formed epilepsy, which was highly anticipated by our neurologist. Once we are admitted to the neurology department, they will likely do another EEG and various other tests as well as determine what medication to administer. Hopefully we will have a positive update soon.

One Gazillion Prayers Answered

Leah and I are sitting in the NICU and Parker just finished an entire bottle while listening to Stevie Ray Vaughn's "Texas Flood". I think Parker likes the guitar since he took the bottle down in a record time.

Tuesday the doctors said we would start talking about going home in 7 - 10 days. We ensured them that we will do everything we can to get him home as soon as possible. The Doan's, who we had never met until Tuesday, had graciously offered to let us stay in their garage apartment in West U after hearing about Parker. That allowed us to be at the hospital for his morning and night bottle feeds to install consistency into his eating regiment.

Thursday, the doctors asked us if we would learn how to feed him through the feeding tube in order to go sooner. Leah and I finished all of our classes yesterday, Leah put his feeding tube in this morning which is the last test we have to do before he is cleared.

We talked to the doctors this morning and

PARKER IS COMING HOME TOMORROW!!!!!

We will bottle feed 3 times/ day and tube feed the other 5 until we see more progress. Parker also had his follow-up hearing screening yesterday afternoon since he failed his first one pre-surgery. His right ear passed and his left ear failed, so we will bring him in for detailed diagnostics on his left ear in a couple weeks.

Leah and I are elated! Thanks to everyone for all of the thoughts, prayers, notes, gifts, ect. God is surely listening and answering. I'll try to post some more pics when I get back on my computer and I hope to keep the updates coming as we find out more from the genetic testing, pediatric visits, diagnostic hearing tests, and whatever other doctors Parker gets to meet along the way.

Eye Test

Parker passed his vision test today! His eyes developed normally and no surgery will be required. The doc said we will know more about how well he will be able to see as he gets older. The eye doctor told us not to be pessimistic.

I also received a copy of the MRI and CT scans done pre and post op. I hope to take a look at those and post some of those images to help better explain what is going on in his head right now.

Moving Along

Parker is making the move from Level 3 down to the Level 2 ICU....one step closer to coming home. They want to keep him a while longer to monitor his progress and run a few more tests.

They are running genetics tests, vision tests and hearing tests. He weighs 6 pounds and 14 ounces now that the fluid has drained. He is wearing his first newborn shirt and it's huge!

He pooped on me while I was changing his diaper today, which was pretty funny. He's getting better with his bottle feeding and we hope to slowly ween him off of the feeding tube before we go home.

Leah is slowly walking more and we haven't used a wheelchair today! The hardest part is leaving the hospital without our boy. Unfortunately, he won't be able to watch the Aggies beat OSU with me at home this weekend, but I'm keeping him posted on the latest news and how the team is doing!

Thanks to all of you for the thoughts and prayers! We've come to realize that there are hundreds if not thousands of folks out there that we've never met that are supporting us! God is good.

PICTURES!!

I haven't been able to post pictures from my iPhone, so here are a few pictures through the first few days!

Parker's Status

Dr. Jay performed the surgery last night and we will catch up with him today. After the surgery he gave us a debreif. Parker's head was so large that his skin is now paper thin. That could cause issues with the sutures healing properly because fluid could leak from the incision area. Other than that, everything went flawlessly.

Now we hope to get a more accurate read on the diagnosis. We will speak to the neurologist today and continue to talk to the neonatologist. At this time, the neurology team isn't too optimistic about the future brain developent, but we're happy that he is doing well, breathing on his own and not showing signs of any other issues.

He is adorable and we can't wait to take him to the house and introduce him to a new, awesome world!