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.
1 comment:
Welcome home, Noah!
Having your baby home has to be the best birthday and Mother's Day gift there is. I can't even imagine the fear you and Stephen had to live through.
Lots of hugs to you both.
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