Here We Go Again...



In the ED at PCMC

This wasn’t even on my radar this morning when I woke up.  He’s been really constipated, and so wanting to stave off a hospital stay, I got some glycerin suppositories.  When that didn’t work, we went to his pediatrician for a little “help.”  When we got home, he went really high on his oxygen so I called the nurse.  We figured he was a little shocky from his treatment, which made sense to me.  I wouldn’t like it either.  So I watched for about 30 minutes and, sure enough, he came back down, at least closer to normal. 

But then, at 1 p.m. he started coughing, a lot.  And there was a bloody tinge to the secretions.  And he was getting this really weird spasm with his coughs , kind of like a startle reflex.  We’ve never seen that before.  AND there’s a fever.  Fever – not good, really not good.  It’s not all that high, 38.0 (I think that translates to about 100.5?).  But it’s still a fever. 

I called back AGAIN to the pediatrician.  (They’re so good.  They still talk to me after four calls today.)   They recommended the ED at PCMC.  So here we are.

So far, they’ve given IV fluids, pulled blood cultures, CBC with differential (don’t ask, I don’t know either), a virus panel and trach culture, urinalysis, and chest and abdominal x-rays.  Now we wait for results.  And the plan is to put him in the PICU, because he just looks so strange.  Actually, right now, he’s looking pretty good.  He wasn’t fond of the cold x-ray table, and I can’t blame him, but it may have helped the fever feel a little more comfortable. 

Trying to eat his tag.

Earlier, as the resident and attending were in here, he was looking really off.  He was doing the cough with startle/jerk over and over, and crying.  I was very grateful we were already here, and the RT, who knows him well, also said he was glad we were in.  He was also on eight liters of O2 again as well.  Yeah, I think I would have needed the ambulance.  It was kind of nice to be able to come by car, and without all the extra hoopla that comes with the other. 

It’s been, I think, exactly six months since our last sick admit, and here we are.  So we wait and see.  And hopefully, we’ll get some answers and a bed upstairs before too very long.  I still haven’t even looked at my work files for today yet…