Update from Toni 1-5-2009
He is doing great!!! I don?t know how much I have told everyone, so I just go with all that I know. The Monday before Christmas, Steve went into Bowen?s room and he had his eyes wide open and was watching TV. Steve called his name and he turned his head and looked at Steve. He is ?helping? the nurses with the bandaging by lifting his arms so that they can wrap him easier. He was trying to talk, but because of the vent., he wasn?t able to make any noise.
As of last Monday, they have taken him off of the ventilator, and reducing his pain meds. I don?t know if he can talk/make noises now but, once they have him completely off of both with no problems, they will then transfer him to the burn unit in the same hospital. I believe the long term goal is to get him to the Shriners Hospital in Galveston. They were originally talking about the one in Cincinnati, but since Galveston is now taking new patients, they are hoping to go there.
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Update from Toni Dec 12, 2008
Bowen at the moment has had an infection for a few days now and he is swollen with fluid. He has lost pieces of his nostrils and the outer edges of his ears. Bowen has been with a TV and a CD player since his arrival in the hospital and has turned his head towards both. They both, however, are on his left side. Steve and Eva went out and bought him a snow globe with a light for Christmas to put in his room. Steve turned on the light of the globe and put it in front of Bowen’s face. He moved it around (left and right) and Bowen was moving his head with it. They aren’t sure if he can focus because of the medicine they are keeping in his eyes to keep them from drying out, etc… They are still doing skin graphs… I believe the only places they have left to do are his forehead, upper back, neck, and his upper left arm. They have gone up on his ventilation because of the swelling, but everyone is still very upbeat.
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Update from Toni 10-16
As of this morning at 9:00 we received an update that he is being given a total of 2000 cc’s of fluid every 24 hours and he is passing 1800 cc’s of it! The rest of the fluid is going to the places on his little body that lost fluid before the graphs. They are now giving him potassium because his body is filtering it all out. They finished the graphs yesterday on his back and on the back of the legs. He came through the surgery great. He is running a mild temperature which they think is because of the graphs – not to worry, this is normal. He is breathing for 8 hours by himself and then gets tired and will let the machine take over for the other 16. An x-ray was taken yesterday of his lungs and found out that he has no fluid in them!!
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Update from Toni 10-15
We found out last night that Bowen did not have to go through dialysis. He is now producing 50cc’s an hour of urine (which is 2 ½ times what they were shooting for.) Because of this, his potassium level is starting to come down little by little. Everything else is still looking very good. They are going to try to do skin graphs on his shoulders and back today.
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Update from Toni 10-13-08
They took him off of the oscillator (which is a machine that breaths for you) and put him on a regular ventilator. So he now has to work for his breaths.
If they have to take the fingers, it is a possibility that instead of taking them at the base of the finger, they might be able to take at the first knuckle, depending on prosthetics.
We found out that he may not be blind. There is a possibility that the corneas were not burned great! The only thing his kidneys aren’t doing is filtering the potassium out of the body.
We can touch his toes on his left foot and also touch his head behind the left ear where hair is starting to grow back. It’s not much, but it is much better being able to actually touch him now instead of just talking and singing to him. It’s another way for him to know that we are there trying to help him through.
Steve (his dad) is only burned on his hand. It does not go up to his elbow like I first thought. He is going down to the burn unit every morning to get it re-dressed. He does have 2nd and 3rd degree on his hand and the worst part is on the outside of his palm.
All of the family is very thankful of everything that everyone is doing for him! They wanted me to send out a BIG THANK YOU AND HUG to everyone doing anything to help!!!
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