kshell
08-26-2009, 07:13 PM
Not sure where to start, copied what I'm going to put up on Nat's carepage. Keep her in your prayers.
This is a hard update to write because Natalie has been doing so well. Right now Natalie is in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at CHOP.
Not sure what to say or where to start so I’ll just tell you the events.
Natalie has had a very mild cold for a few days. Last night we put her to bed and she sounded great, really she has done well with this cold. Some time after 4 am our night nurse began screaming for us. We went down stairs and Natalie was blue and not breathing. The nurses stated that her sats just started dropping out of know where. We changed her trach asap and David began chest compressions (CPR) and we bagged her. We called 911 and Natalie came around by the time they arrived. She was transported to Pottstown ER (no fun there but won’t go into detail) and she was airlifted to CHOP.
No one is sure what happened. The best guess is that she had a mucus plug below her trach and could not breath. Normal people who have a broncho spasm (terrible coughing fit where you can’t catch your breath is the only way I can explain it) can eventually cough up the mucus. Unfortunately, with a trach, that mucus can get caught below the trach and occlude her airway. When you can’t breathe you all know what happens. She also has a left side pnumo thorax. This most likely occurred because of the CPR and being bagged. But it was what saved her life. This is why just having the trach itself is a danger, healthy or not.
She is currently in stable condition. She is not on the vent, she is on humidified o2 to her trach, but on a high amount. They have not done a chest tube as of yet and hope that Natalie can reabsorb this air on her own. One of the docs said it is a significant pnumo thorax and in seeing her chest xray it looks like she has about ½ of her left lung capacity. They also stated that it is amazing that Natalie is doing as well as she is right now.
Natalie was sitting up and signing this am, looking for Faith. Trying to be a superstar and get everyone’s attention as they walk by. She is now best friends with her nurse because Natty sucked her into playing with her a bit. This is a good sign because as I said, Natalie did not have a pulse when we got to her, The hope is that with how she is presenting, that this episode did not cause significant damage. Her blood work also looked good and it did not indicate issues with her kidneys or liver as this is always a risk when you have to do CPR.
I think we often try to downplay everything that goes on with Natalie and certainly do not update every time she is sick or something crazy happens. But make no bones about this, this was the worst thing that has every occurred, even after 9 months in the hospital.
Please please keep Natalie in you prayers, I can’t even put into words how we feel right now. Also pray for Faith, she starts kindergarten next week and this little girl has also had her world turned upside down through all this over the past few years. I must say that without David this may have been a different outcome, he saved Natalie’s life this am and I can’t even put into words the emotion I feel.
Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.
Karen
This is a hard update to write because Natalie has been doing so well. Right now Natalie is in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at CHOP.
Not sure what to say or where to start so I’ll just tell you the events.
Natalie has had a very mild cold for a few days. Last night we put her to bed and she sounded great, really she has done well with this cold. Some time after 4 am our night nurse began screaming for us. We went down stairs and Natalie was blue and not breathing. The nurses stated that her sats just started dropping out of know where. We changed her trach asap and David began chest compressions (CPR) and we bagged her. We called 911 and Natalie came around by the time they arrived. She was transported to Pottstown ER (no fun there but won’t go into detail) and she was airlifted to CHOP.
No one is sure what happened. The best guess is that she had a mucus plug below her trach and could not breath. Normal people who have a broncho spasm (terrible coughing fit where you can’t catch your breath is the only way I can explain it) can eventually cough up the mucus. Unfortunately, with a trach, that mucus can get caught below the trach and occlude her airway. When you can’t breathe you all know what happens. She also has a left side pnumo thorax. This most likely occurred because of the CPR and being bagged. But it was what saved her life. This is why just having the trach itself is a danger, healthy or not.
She is currently in stable condition. She is not on the vent, she is on humidified o2 to her trach, but on a high amount. They have not done a chest tube as of yet and hope that Natalie can reabsorb this air on her own. One of the docs said it is a significant pnumo thorax and in seeing her chest xray it looks like she has about ½ of her left lung capacity. They also stated that it is amazing that Natalie is doing as well as she is right now.
Natalie was sitting up and signing this am, looking for Faith. Trying to be a superstar and get everyone’s attention as they walk by. She is now best friends with her nurse because Natty sucked her into playing with her a bit. This is a good sign because as I said, Natalie did not have a pulse when we got to her, The hope is that with how she is presenting, that this episode did not cause significant damage. Her blood work also looked good and it did not indicate issues with her kidneys or liver as this is always a risk when you have to do CPR.
I think we often try to downplay everything that goes on with Natalie and certainly do not update every time she is sick or something crazy happens. But make no bones about this, this was the worst thing that has every occurred, even after 9 months in the hospital.
Please please keep Natalie in you prayers, I can’t even put into words how we feel right now. Also pray for Faith, she starts kindergarten next week and this little girl has also had her world turned upside down through all this over the past few years. I must say that without David this may have been a different outcome, he saved Natalie’s life this am and I can’t even put into words the emotion I feel.
Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.
Karen