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Junko (惇子) Elizabeth Dreisbaugh
16 July 2002 - 30 August 2002 WEIGHT: ~ 1.43 lbs (653 grams) LENGTH: ~ 12 inches (31 cm) LOCATION: Kitasato University Hospital, Sagamihara City, Japan
Updates 02 September 2002 Sorry that there has not been an update. As some of you may know, we have been very busy. Please read the following update for all the details. As some of you may know others may not. On Friday, 30 August 2002, Junko Elizabeth Dreisbaugh passed away at 18:42 (6:42 pm) JST (5:42 am EDT). She died of complications of infection and heart failure. She lived a total of 45 days, not long enough for us to really know her, but long enough for us to really miss her. We wish that we had more time with her. I will be changing her web site in time to reflect her short, but meaningful life. If anyone has a message that they would like to have posted on her memorial page, I will be asking for those thoughts shortly. I just have to figure out how I want to do the page. 24 August 2002 Well, I am sorry that I have not had an update in a few days, but here it is. Well, she is on the line. She has gotten worse in the last day or two. The doctors are not really sure of everything that is going on, but as of right now, it does not look real bad, but it does not look good either. We are just hoping that she will be able to get better real soon. More information on this as I get it, also see note next line. I am heading to Japan, again. I will send an update as soon as I get one directly from the doctor on exactly what is going on. 20 August 2002 Good news! She finally urinated. She was very swollen from all of the fluid that was in her body, but she has been gradually urinating it out. The one thing that we are still not completely sure of is if the kidneys are going to fully work. We hope to know this within the next day or two. They are still monitoring her brain and breathing, but this is a great step for her. 17 August 2002 Sorry that I have not updated you on what is going on, but between trying to recover from the return trip from Japan and trying to get a good comprehension of what is going on has caused the delay. For now I am back in the states, and I will continue to update you with information as I get it. Here is the update: Well, as I was on the plane flying back from Japan, she took a little turn down hill. She has not urinated in the last five days. They think that her kidneys may either not be working properly or not at all. This has caused some great problems for her. She is on peritoneal (sp?) dialysis for her kidneys. This helps to remove all of the toxins in her body, but she is retaining a great deal of fluids which is causing a great deal of other problems. We are supposed to be getting an idea if her kidneys are working on Tuesday. We are hoping that her kidneys are just being overwhelmed at this point, but I do not even know if the doctors are sure exactly what is going on. I will keep you updated as I get the information.< 12 August 2002 I have some more pictures, but will not be able to post them until my return. I even have pictures of me holding the twins. Here is the update: She is doing alright. She is still battling the problems of the kidneys and the bladder, along with possible pneumonia. Now for the interesting news. They were doing an ultrasound of her head and they found something in her brain. They do not know if it is a hole or if it is blood. The only way that the would be able to tell for sure is to do a CT scan, but she is not stable enough for that yet. The doctor says that the area of the brain that it is located in controls balance. If the area increases in size, it could possibly effect her speech and maybe fine motor skills. They are going to monitor the area. They are not really sure about it right now. It may be going away or it could be growing. Nothing can really be done for her now, as it is not really urgent. If it remains the same size, she may need surgery to try and fix the problem at about 4 or 5 years of age, but if it gets worse it could be within the next year. As I find out more, I will let you know. Other than that she is doing good. My next update will be from the states. I do not look forward to leaving my family here, but sometimes you have to. I will send another update as soon as I can. 08 August 2002 Well, we have had a few good days and a few surprises. Here is what is going on: She is getting better, but continues to have a few problems. She is now up to 7cc of milk every three hours. Her weight is now up to 563 grams (~ 1.23 lbs). Her breathing was a problem over the last 36 hours, so they took the respirator tube out and inserted one that is a little bit bigger and that helped to take care of that problem for now. Her newest problem is that a part of her kidneys are a lot larger than they should be (should be ~ 1mm but at ~ 6mm). The doctors however do not know the reason for this. The kidneys are working, she is urinating and there are no kidney stones or anything detected in the urine that shows any problem. I will have some new pictures up of the twins soon, but I do not know when at this point. I am hoping to have them up before I leave to go back to the states. I will have one more report before I head back to the states next week. I will continue to do the reports based on the information that I get from Naoko and the military doctors. 05 August 2002 Well a few good days have passed for both Junko and Tamiko. Overall, they are both getting better. Here is the update: She is getting better. She was removed from the respirator that was removing the carbon dioxide from her body and returned her to the normal respirator. Her breathing is starting to stabilize again. They have increased her milk intake to 4cc every three hours. Also, her weight is increasing. She now weighs 535 grams (1.78 lbs). 31 July 2002 (1cc = 1ml) Well we have had a few good days for both of them. Overall they are doing very well, but it is still uphill for a little bit. Despite everything that is going on with both of them, they look a lot better than they did a week ago. Without further ado, here is the update: She had about four good days. We went in on the 30th and they had changed equipment on Junko. They took her off of a normal respirator and placed her on one that helps to remove the carbon dioxide from her lungs. She had fluid in her lungs and this was making it difficult to get air in and get the bad air out. Her urine output also significantly dropped. She is now urinating a lot better and this is helping to take the fluid out of her lungs and allowing her to breathe better. They have delayed the possibilities of removing her of the respirator by a week or two. She also has an extremely high white blood cell count, but she does not have any signs of infection, so the doctors are confused about that for right now. Her milk input was stopped to allow her body to keep the energy to help clear the problem. She has since restarted the milk, but is only getting .5cc eight times a day. 27 July 2002 Sorry that a few days have passed since the last update, but I have been busy trying to get stuff done for the twins. We are doing OK, but just trying to get answers for some questions that have not been asked as of yet. Thanks for all the messages of support and hope. Without further wait here is the update: We have had a few scares with her over the last few days. She was having some breathing problems and the hole between the heart and lungs closed with thanks to the medicine, but then started to reopen, and the doctors also thought that there is/was an infection; however, all of this has cleared up. The doctors think that she had some fluid on the lungs, but it seems to have cleared up without the need of any medication (which is very good). They are working on lowering her respirator settings again and hope to have her off maybe by the end of the month(?). She is also now being fed 3cc of breast milk three times a day. Her condition is slowly improving, but still has a long way to go. That is about it from Japan for now. Until next time.... 23 July 2002 Here is the information that you are waiting for: She was given medicine on last Friday to close a hole that should exist, but close by time of birth. This hole is allowing blood to flow into the lungs. While not a lot of blood is flowing in, it is a problem that they are trying to fix; however, after the first dose of medicine, which does have strong and bad side effects, the hole did close for a day or two, but now it is opening again, so they may have to give the medicine again. She also has jaundice, which is very high and may require them doing a blood transfusion or replacement. Now the good things. Her breathing is getting better and she is using the lowest setting on the respirator and her eyes are open. She is also getting stronger and they have taken her off of the morphine. She is also being given Naoko's breast milk via a tube into her stomach. Over all she is doing good and is kicking around and working on getting better. Over all, it has been a week, so their odds keep increasing to their favor. They are doing good despite the few things, and the doctors are very pleased. That is all that I have for this update, I will update in a day or two or as I get important information. 18 July 2002 Well here is some information for you. Some of you already know this information, but just bear with.....If you did not know, we found out in February that Naoko was pregnant. In May we found out that it was going to be twins. Well the original due date was in October. Naoko traveled to Japan to visit her family. I got a call Monday night that she delivered the twins three months early. I am heading to Japan for a month. I will try and keep you all up to date as I know more. As of right now they are still in Japan in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and will be for 3 to 4 months. We are hoping that we will be able to get the back state side as soon as possible, but no idea of time frame. Please pass this information on to anyone that I may have not covered or may want to know. For those of you in Japan, I will see you guys soon. |
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