28 Feb Update
Keegan’s being a trooper, as always. We’ve had some interesting developments over the last day or so. Keegan had a CT scan of his abdomen and pelvis yesterday that showed his spleen is very enlarged and some other general problems going on. His belly is getting more distended, and he has gained over a pound in the last four days. That’s a twentieth of his entire weight, so about the equivalent of a grown man gaining almost 10 pounds in 4 days. Obviously not good weight gain, especially since he is not getting his feeds and with no changes to his TPN. Also, they have put him on daily GCSF to bring his white count up, but he is not responding to it at all. In fact, his counts have gone down every day.
The blood culture from his port drawn in the ER showed another staph infection. However, nothing since then (not even one taken less than 24 hours on antibiotics) has grown back. That makes me fairly confident that it was a contaminated sample, but we’ll have to wait for more information on the exact strain to see if I’m right. Until then, they have him on three different IV antibiotics, which makes his diarrhea that much worse. I don’t think the fever was from an infection because it broke too quickly. His heart rate has come down, although he seems to be maintaining a slight arrythmia. His transplant doctors are not concerned about it at the moment and are planning to watch it over time. His respiratory rate is much higher than normal, but his oxygen saturations are still good. It may just be harder to get a deep breath with some of the other organs being bigger than normal.
We were told yesterday that contacts were being made at several hospitals to get him transferred quickly. Although, we haven’t heard anything today. We’ll be sure to let you know as soon as we know. For now, please continue to pray for guidance and wisdom for Keegan’s doctors in his current treatment and in finding the best place for him to be right now. Also, please pray that Keegan stays stable and without too much discomfort as we await the next step in our journey. I feel it must seem shallow to end every post with “thank you for…” because that just does not begin to encompass how humbled and grateful we are for the continued support, love, and endless prayers of our family and friends, not to mention those we don’t even know. Keegan’s fight is far from being over, and we draw so much strength and renewed energy from your encouragement and concern. We are so blessed. Although it might not be enough…thank you.