brain injury due to suffucation

Hi,
My seven month old son had a very bad event happen two weeks ago.  To keep it short, because this could quickly turn into an essay, my son had a closure of the airway which resulted in the stoppage of the heart.  CPR was immediately started and he was resuscitated in the hospital.  He is now awake and breathing without any air support.  We know there is some brain damage from the MRI, but to the extent we do not know and no one can tell us.  Most people say it will take months to find what his new baseline will be.  When he first came to he could not focus his eyes and made very little movements.  Since then he has made small progress every day, he is now moving all limbs and can at least focus on a object, although tracking an object is still not there    I know it will be a slow road and no one can predict what will happen, but if I knew about other children and what there recovery was like that may give me a better understanding in what care he needs and what to expect from the recovery process.  My underling question is concerning what studies and research is there on hypoxia types events in young children.   I can find information on traumatic brain injuries, but that seems more related to blunt trauma to the head and not due to a lack of oxygen.

Thanks for your help,
Chris (Ukiah's dad)

[momfriend]

I am sorry your son suffered this injury--  a friend's child suffered a similar injury, but unfortunately, after being revived, never came out of deep coma or breathed without the ventilator, and died after a little while. Sadly, it must be problem frequently encountered by trauma specialists with drownings, accidental strangulations, & chokings. Meanwhile, in trying to help my friend get info, however, I encountered the same issue you have, with most articles focused on physical trauma rather than hypoxia. However, I did make some progress.
Here is what I came up with:
1. If you are not at one already,find the best childrens research hospital you can and consider a transfer there for evaluation and a rehabilitation prescription if it is possible -- Boston Childrens if you are in the Northeast is a good one --maybe even talking to them will help.
2. If you are not at one or headed for one already, find the best childrens research & rehab facility you can -- near Boston Childrens the one we found was Fransiscan Childrens, but surely there are other good ones in other locations.
3. Engage or keep engaging with your trauma physicians, primary care provider, therapists, family, spiritual and community for support
4. To find info on the topic, Google terms like:
a. anoxia - here's a basic article from NINDS http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/anoxia/anoxia.htm
b. cerebral ischemia -- here's one article for nurses http://classic.aacn.org/AACN/jrnlci.nsf/0/a522e8311772eca188256576007821ab?OpenDocument
c. anoxic-ischemic brain injury -- here's an abstract with a lot of references to look up as well http://www.uptodate.com/patients/content/topic.do?topicKey=medneuro/7367
d. cognitive neurorehabilitation
5. A note: I was also  just curious about whether hyperbaric medicine was applicable to healing anoxic-ischemic brain injury, but found no direct discussion of it, and wondered if it wcould be helpful, harmful or neither -- http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/HBOT/hmindex.html and http://www.hyperbaricmedicine.org/
6. And...get copies of your child's EEGs, MRIs & medical records. Review them and ask questions of the MDs evaluating them.  Make appointments if necessary.
I wish your son, your family and each person involved in this, an optimal recovery and healing.