by Yesterday we were at the hospital for appointments. He’s been battling a cold that he likely picked up from his sister, but largely handling it fine. Over the weekend he started to drop his numbers and struggle to maintain his baseline. Sunday he took a four hour nap and went to bed only a few hours later. Monday, while we were at appointments (endocrinology, ophthalmology and hematology) he did just fine again. But last night he started to work harder to breathe.
He had a trach change and nebs, we turned his oxygen up, he was suctioned, repositioned, sensor changed and moved, and he just couldn’t hold his numbers in place. So we called cardiology and headed off on our way to the ER.
Verdict (so far) is that he has rhinovirus (aka a cold) and his hemoglobin was low – best guess so far is iron deficiency.
After waiting quite a while we had some fun moments in ER making friends with the resuscitation bag. After that they decided we really would be better managed in the PICU and got us admitted pretty quick. First order of business was a blood transfusion.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – “THANK YOU” to everyone who donates blood. THIS is why it’s so important, and so appreciated. At one point he was up to 10 liters of oxygen, struggling to stay awake, breathing was difficult and he was getting set up for cpap/bipap. After moving to the floor and getting situated he was 3/4 of the way through the blood he was being given and we were able to get him back down to his normal 2 liters, with comfortable breathing again. I know most people think of accidents and bleeding out when they think of blood donation, but it helps in so many other situations too. So thank you. Thank you so much to those of you who are able and willing to donate.
In other news, there’s still some debate as to whether it’s the blood transfusion or the dancing to Meghan Trainor that has him feeling better
