We met with the Pediatric Pulmonary Specialist today. She is a lovely woman and treated Noah in the hospital; she was also the one that said we could handle his needs at home and allowed us to be discharged from the hospital. Apparently, he does not have asthma per say, but he does have a respiratory disease that I can't remember the name of. In essence, we will treat him as if he has asthma and this should prevent further hospital stays. So for the next month, Noah is on Pulmacort twice a day which is a steriod and then he will switch to one a day for the next year. Because of his age he can't handle an inhaler yet, so we will have to see and we may find he grows out of it. Currently, it is brought on by seasonal allergies. So the goal is to be able to take him off the steroid for a couple of months next summer. We shall see.
Because life is not enough if you can't have two crisis, we now have problems with our dog. About four days ago, Willie could not bend his back legs. We tried walking him around the block and he couldn't make it, same with playing with the ball. So of course, we rushed him to the vet. They tell us that he has gained 10 pounds in the past month and he has to have a bland diet, due to a three day diarrhea explosion all over the house. Thank god for carpet cleaners. So needless to say we were panicked. After blood tests and x-rays, it has been determined that Willie has hypothyroid issues. So he is now on a daily medication as well and soon should be feeling better. Our biggest hurdle is keeping Noah from feeding him. Noah likes that Willie gives him licks when he is fed.
The bright spot is that everyone will be okay with some handy drugs and a lot of TLC. My munchkin has regained his speech and is back to climbing like a champ. Still doesn't walk, but honestly he doesn't seem very interested in it. Very much the way Stephen and I were according to our mothers.
Speaking of mother, Chips came for a visit after Noah got back from the hospital. It was great. She cooked meals for us which tasted fantastic and the house is clean with the laundry done. I will never keep this up until summer, so I am enjoying it as long as I can.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
New Appreciation
We arrived home Saturday and it took until today to get myself together enough to recall the events of the past week and a half. I feel like I have entered a surreal nightmare and am only just coming back to reality. Here are the events of the past week and a half.....
Thursday, May 8 - Noah's nose had been running for a day or so and the mucous was getting thick, so we quite milk products and decided to take him to the doctor, since he was breathing a little harder than usual and was uncommonly fussy. When I left for work at 5:45am, he was sleeping soundly and I thought maybe it was a rough night, but told Stephen to take him to the pediatrician anyway just to check it out. I get a call from school at 9:30am that Noah is no longer able to breath on his own and has been taken to Landsdowne. I immediately leave school and everything a mess to go to the hospital. After I am there for about 15 minutes, they determine that they cannot handle his situation and the drugs they are giving him aren't working. Noah is placed in sedation and transfered by helicopter to INOVA Fairfax Hospital for Children.
Friday, May 9 - After a long night of working on his breathing and the right combination of drugs and testing, it is determined that Noah has had an acute asthma attack combined with a strep infection in his lungs, so they are continuing the breathing tube and placing him on helium to see if they can get air into the lower parts of his lungs. They basically are sealed shut and the doctor is trying to avoid another numathorax issue which would require a chest tube as well. He is also put on an opiate drug so that he remains sedated and without pain.
Saturday, May 10 - clearly we are not going to the zoo and life at the hospital is still wait and see. I have taken to massive hours of playing Sims, since it does not require a lot of my thoughts.
Sunday, May 11 - Happy Birthday to me, but still no significant improvement in Noah. At this point he has not been awake since Thursday morning. He is also diagnosed with a heart murmur. The pediatric cardiologist is not too concerned. We will see him again when Noah is three.
Monday, May 12 - That evening we are able to take out the breathing tube, since he has loosened up enough to breath on his own. Did I also mention that they had to adjust the respirator because he kept fighting it? Oh goodness!
Tuesday, May 13 - Happy Birthday, Sue. :) Noah is in a significant amount of discomfort, so we are continuing with the sedatives, but they are being reduced slowly. He has the shakes and is suffering from a certain amount of withdrawal, so they are contemplating placing him on a morphine which is a lower opiate than he is currently on. He is also on round the clock albuteral.
Wednesday, May 14 - Still sleeping quite a bit, but his able to stay awake for two hour stints. He is almost ready to change to albuteral every hour. By the late evening he has been placed on oxygen continuously, but albuteral every hour.
Thursday, May 15 - We are changing to albuteral every two hours and they are placing him on a nasal canula. At about 5:00 pm, our Noah returned. We played pull mommy's glasses off and get out bingy back. He has trouble getting his fingers to his mouth and he can not support his own weight on his legs, but he is smiling and laughing. Late that night he is moved to intermediate care.
Friday, May 16 - He continues to improve and has his first meal - French toast. He loves it. He is able to sit up and we are working on fine motor skills. They have reduced his oxygen to the point that they decide to place him on room air and see if he can maintain his sats. We are moved to the "floor."
Saturday, May 17 - The pulmonary specialist says his lungs are clear and we can take him home with specific maintenance instructions which include two different oral medications and nebulizer treatments every 4 hours. We go home and collapse.
Sunday, May 18 - Stephen's mom arrives from Houston an Noah naps for the first time in 4 days.
And then there is today. I went back to school. My kids were thrilled. Noah saw the pediatrician today and he is doing well. I found out he turned purple. They are unsure about any long term neurological damage done, so we get to wait and see and work on prevention for the future. After all the stress, coming down from it has been a trick. I am exhausted and unable to sleep. But my baby is home and breathing like a champ. He has fallen behind in crawling and pulling himself up until his leg muscles gain some strength, but he is getting there. Today, I just held him and cried. The doctor's were wonderful, but I could have lived my whole life and never met them.
Thursday, May 8 - Noah's nose had been running for a day or so and the mucous was getting thick, so we quite milk products and decided to take him to the doctor, since he was breathing a little harder than usual and was uncommonly fussy. When I left for work at 5:45am, he was sleeping soundly and I thought maybe it was a rough night, but told Stephen to take him to the pediatrician anyway just to check it out. I get a call from school at 9:30am that Noah is no longer able to breath on his own and has been taken to Landsdowne. I immediately leave school and everything a mess to go to the hospital. After I am there for about 15 minutes, they determine that they cannot handle his situation and the drugs they are giving him aren't working. Noah is placed in sedation and transfered by helicopter to INOVA Fairfax Hospital for Children.
Friday, May 9 - After a long night of working on his breathing and the right combination of drugs and testing, it is determined that Noah has had an acute asthma attack combined with a strep infection in his lungs, so they are continuing the breathing tube and placing him on helium to see if they can get air into the lower parts of his lungs. They basically are sealed shut and the doctor is trying to avoid another numathorax issue which would require a chest tube as well. He is also put on an opiate drug so that he remains sedated and without pain.
Saturday, May 10 - clearly we are not going to the zoo and life at the hospital is still wait and see. I have taken to massive hours of playing Sims, since it does not require a lot of my thoughts.
Sunday, May 11 - Happy Birthday to me, but still no significant improvement in Noah. At this point he has not been awake since Thursday morning. He is also diagnosed with a heart murmur. The pediatric cardiologist is not too concerned. We will see him again when Noah is three.
Monday, May 12 - That evening we are able to take out the breathing tube, since he has loosened up enough to breath on his own. Did I also mention that they had to adjust the respirator because he kept fighting it? Oh goodness!
Tuesday, May 13 - Happy Birthday, Sue. :) Noah is in a significant amount of discomfort, so we are continuing with the sedatives, but they are being reduced slowly. He has the shakes and is suffering from a certain amount of withdrawal, so they are contemplating placing him on a morphine which is a lower opiate than he is currently on. He is also on round the clock albuteral.
Wednesday, May 14 - Still sleeping quite a bit, but his able to stay awake for two hour stints. He is almost ready to change to albuteral every hour. By the late evening he has been placed on oxygen continuously, but albuteral every hour.
Thursday, May 15 - We are changing to albuteral every two hours and they are placing him on a nasal canula. At about 5:00 pm, our Noah returned. We played pull mommy's glasses off and get out bingy back. He has trouble getting his fingers to his mouth and he can not support his own weight on his legs, but he is smiling and laughing. Late that night he is moved to intermediate care.
Friday, May 16 - He continues to improve and has his first meal - French toast. He loves it. He is able to sit up and we are working on fine motor skills. They have reduced his oxygen to the point that they decide to place him on room air and see if he can maintain his sats. We are moved to the "floor."
Saturday, May 17 - The pulmonary specialist says his lungs are clear and we can take him home with specific maintenance instructions which include two different oral medications and nebulizer treatments every 4 hours. We go home and collapse.
Sunday, May 18 - Stephen's mom arrives from Houston an Noah naps for the first time in 4 days.
And then there is today. I went back to school. My kids were thrilled. Noah saw the pediatrician today and he is doing well. I found out he turned purple. They are unsure about any long term neurological damage done, so we get to wait and see and work on prevention for the future. After all the stress, coming down from it has been a trick. I am exhausted and unable to sleep. But my baby is home and breathing like a champ. He has fallen behind in crawling and pulling himself up until his leg muscles gain some strength, but he is getting there. Today, I just held him and cried. The doctor's were wonderful, but I could have lived my whole life and never met them.
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