Ben caught some sort of bug last week and over the weekend, his condition worsened. Whatever he had moved into his chest and made it very difficult for him to breathe. He was requiring a lot of oxygen at night, needing constant suctioning and was having these really hard, raspy, wheezy coughing fits. We were told from his Special Needs Pediatrician to take him to the ER at Childrens. After an exam and chest Xray, they diagnosed him with pneumonia/partially collapsed lung. We were then told he must be admitted to the hospital... which resulted in a horrendous experience at Children's.
An hour after being there, Mike and I insisted he be realized ASAP. The pulmonary floor was full as was the trach floor, so we were admitted on a general floor. That floor was not able to give someone of Ben's numerous/complicated health issues the attention/care he needs in a timely manner. He was much less at risk at home. There I can 'immediately' give him oxygen, 'immediately' hook him up to his oximeter (machine that reads oxygen levels in the blood and displays the heart rate) and 'immediately' give him breathing treatments, medicine, etc. Not to mention we were having to use all our own supplies and machines to feed him, suction him, and so on. We stayed long enough for him to get one antibiotic shot, an oral antibiotic started and a trial on a cough assist machine.
Ben, with the help of two kinds of breathing treatments and two antibiotics is doing much, much better (hasn't required oxygen throughout the night the past three nights) and unless something should change over the weekend, he'll be heading to school Monday morning. I am so thankful to have had the help of my mom and husband during this very difficult time. It so happened that our night nurse has been on vacation for 8 days. It made all the difference in the world having my mom there to help with Ben in the mornings and Mike in the evenings because Ben's care was really a two person job during this illness (he was fighting the treatments and wearing the Oxygen).
2 comments:
Glad Ben is feeling better, Amy. I hope he gets to go to school tomorrow!
So glad he is past this... and that you are, too.
(Will get you the info on the vest Gracie's getting when we get home. It is going to be a different make/model than the giant one in the hospital!)
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