Dean's Fight, Kansas City, KS (2026)

03/31/2026

DEAN UPDATE — Monday, 3/30
Dean showed some encouraging improvements today. His chest tube was removed, and they were able to drain well over 100 mls from his lung. I asked for a total amount, but that was the closest estimate the nurse could give.

His PEEP has been lowered to 8, and he’s tolerating it well. He has also begun initiating some breaths on his own. His ventilator oxygen remains at 35%, and he continues to receive breathing treatments every four hours.

This evening, a PICC line was placed in his arm while he was under sedation, and his central line has been removed. His arterial line is still in his left wrist. He remains sedated tonight.

Your prayers and healing energy are making a difference. Please keep Dean in your thoughts and continue sending strength his way.

03/29/2026

DEAN UPDATE #2: Sunday, 3/29
The PICU doctor said Dean could come off the ventilator in a few days or it could be a week or more. He's still not breathing over the ventilator (the ventilator is breathing for him, he is not initiating breaths on his own). He is still on a very high level of help but the oxygen is down to 35%. They're gonna lower the PEEP *(see the definition of this below) to 9 to see if he tolerates that ok. It's currently at level 10. She said his lungs look better but he's still having trouble with getting oxygen into his blood. Additionally, he will be sedated & have the PICC line placed tomorrow.

*The PEEP (Positive End-Expiratory Pressure) is a ventilator setting that maintains positive pressure in the lungs at the end of exhalation, keeping alveoli open to prevent collapse, improve oxygenation, and increase lung volume. Typically a healthy individual will have a PEEP of 5, Dean is at 10. Please continue to keep Dean in your prayers & sending him good, healing energy. Thank you all so much.

03/29/2026

DEAN UPDATE: Sunday, 3/29
Quick update, the doctors decided to replace Dean's central line with a PICC line. However, vascular was unable to do this due to his veins being bad, so they will sedate him & have a specialist place the PICC line. He does still have the artial line in his wrist, as well. We will update more soon.

03/27/2026

DEAN UPDATE: Friday, 3/27
Dean is on day 9 for this hospital stay, day 7 on the ventilator. The oxygen he is receiving from the ventilator was lowered from 50% to 40%. The tape that is used for the ventilator is changed every couple of days, alternating sides to try to keep his face from being too irritated. The PICU doctor said they aren’t needing to use suction any longer to drain his lung, it’s draining on its own. That’s a good thing. And he’s on the same settings. The doctor didn't say how much longer the chest tube would need to stay in his lung. They are stopping his water feed for now because he looks like he might be retaining the water. Please keep sending the prayers & positive, healing energy for Dean. Thank you for all of the love, support & encouragement.

03/25/2026

DEAN UPDATE #2: Wednesday, 3/25
Dean needed a chest tube placed in his lungs today or a thoracostomy. The tube has already drained 75 mls off of his lungs. He will need this chest tube for a few days to make sure all fluid is removed. The doctor said Dean will most likely remain on the ventilator until sometime next week. Please continue to pray for him, send him good & healing energy, anything you can. We will continue to give updates. We appreciate all the love shown for him. He feels your love. Thank you, everyone.

03/25/2026

I forgot to mention something BIG in my update about Dean. Children's Mercy & Sunflower reached an agreement! This means Dean's insurance is still going to cover Children's Mercy & we don't have to find new insurance for him. Thank you, God!

03/25/2026

DEAN UPDATE: From Tuesday, 3/24
I didn't post an update yesterday, simply because of exhaustion. Yesterday was day 4 on the ventilator for Dean. He was on increased oxygen yesterday, going from 30% on Monday back to 50% yesterday. The doctor said he thought Dean had diminished lung sounds in the lower lobes. They did a chest x-ray, but we haven't heard the results of that yet. The only meds he is receiving now, besides his many, usual daily meds, is a light sedation & antibiotic. They have stopped all of the others for now. I think he continues to look little better each day. We will update more later today, most likely. Thank you for all of the comments & messages. I am so sorry if we can't respond to everyone immediately. This week has been a lot. Thank you for everything.

03/23/2026

DEAN UPDATE: Monday, 3/23
We have had some small wins today! First, his eyes have been opening & he has been a little more alert! They did the small procedure today to swap his g-tube & place a gj-tube. This will bypass his stomach & go into his small intestine to try to prevent him from vomiting while on the ventilator. They plan to begin a feeding this afternoon. The photo of his crib shows the nitric oxide machine has been removed, they stopped that this morning. There is a whole row of med boxes off his med tower. He is has been weened off many of the meds, another win! His heart rate has been a little low, that is being monitored. The IV in his head blew at some point this morning, so that will be removed & placed elsewhere, maybe, or they may just use his central line since they have fewer meds now. Cardiac arrest risk is also a bit lower today, but still there.

From the condition he was in Saturday to were he is today, that is nothing short of a miracle. I have never in my life seen anyone fight like my grandson. He is amazing. Radiation conpromised his immunity & everything hits Dean harder anyway because of damage from the tumor. The rhinovirus indeed caused this. He isn't in the all clear yet, but we are closer. Hopefully he will be able to come off the ventilator in a few days. Thank you for the prayers, good energy, encouragement...for everything. But please do continue with all the prayers & encouragement because it's all working. He feels your love. We feel your love. Thank you.
💙🩶

03/22/2026

DEAN UPDATE: Sunday, 3/22
I will start by saying Dean is very sick. There may be more than one post today. He has many lines feeding several meds. Last night, his blood pressure med line became kinked when they rolled him a bit to his side & his blood pressure dropped to 30/13. After the flow was fixed it raised, however he is still having wonky pressures. Laying him on his stomach yesterday did improve his lung collapse so today he is able to be on his back.

They have begun to ween him off of the Paralytic medicine to see if his lungs & body will react well. They are also turning the oxygen on the ventilator back to see how his breathing functions. They are basically gradually "chipping away" at keeping Dean under heavy sedation.

He just had an echo cardiogram. If his heart looks ok, they will begin weening him off the nitric oxide. He is still at high risk of cardic arrest.

They are going to swap out his g-tube for a gj-tube. This will be able to give him nutrition while bypassing his stomach, going into his small intestine to try to prevent him vomiting while being on the ventilator.

By the way, today is the 2 year anniversary of finding out about his brain tumor, meeting Dr. Kaufman, beginning this nightmare & our lives changing forever. We are in the same PICU room as we were 2 years ago today. Out of all the rooms in the PICU, Dean landed in this one.

Today he looks a little better than he did yesterday. He still has a very long road. His situation is extremely tenuous. We anticipate he will be in the PICU for sometime. Please continue to pray for our Dean. Thank you, all. 💙🩶

03/21/2026

DEAN
The situation with Dean is bad & we need every prayer, every good thought you have to give him. He was put on a ventilator today because he can not breathe on his own today. They took him off for a few minutes to do a breathing treatment. His oxygen dropped into the low 70s & they had to bag him (help him breathe with the mask/bag compressions). They couldn't stop bag compressions long enough to get him back on the ventilator because his oxygen was dropping into the 60s. His upper right lung has collapsed, as well. They rolled him to his stomach to try to open the lung. He has a massive amount of secretions in his lungs. They just did get him back on the ventilator. Please pray for Dean. He isn't breathing on his own & this is bad.

03/21/2026

WE NEED PRAYERS FOR DEAN NOW! I will update more soon. I can't right now

03/20/2026

DEAN UPDATE #2: Friday, 3/20
Dean remains in PICU, and he is on a BiPAP machine. He has improved since this morning. His sodium levels are teetering on the high level. We will have more of an update later. Thank you for everything, friends.

Dean's Fight

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