Two Emergency Room Visits in Two Days

We told the hospital personnel at the Omaha Children's Hospital to go ahead and reserve us a permanent spot in their emergency room.  They laughed at us thinking we were making jokes (which we are known to do), but this time we were kind of serious.  Jett and I had only been in Omaha for three days when we had our first scare.

Visit #1  

 

Jett has been recovering from a bad cold and ear infection.  He has been on antibiotics, but when we got to Omaha, it just seemed like something wasn't quite right.  His breathing became labored and he was gagging/choking more than usual.  I woke Cody up at 5:45 a.m. on Memorial Day because I had been up with Jett for three hours and just couldn't get him comfortable.  I could tell that he wanted to sleep so badly, but for some reason, had trouble doing so.  Cody came in Jett's bedroom and we did everything we could to help him.  We suctioned his nose and throat out, we vented his feeding tube, we held him and kissed him.  NOTHING.  That is when the wheezing started.  We usually don't take Jett to the hospital if we can help it.  Our house has become a mini hospital...all of the equipment could probably use its own living space.  Seriously.  However, when the wheezing started we knew that even our oxygen tank would probably prove worthless at this point.  

A breathing treatment, chest x-ray, and blood work were performed.  As we waited for results,  Jett was put on oxygen because his saturation levels were dipping too low.  The doc came back and informed us that Jett's x-ray showed some pulmonary edema...aka fluid in his lung.  AWESOME.  All I kept thinking is that Jett CANNOT get pneumonia.  If a PCH child gets pneumonia, it can be fatal.  We were told that we were going to have to be admitted to the hospital.

Cute little dinosaur breathing mask

Jett must have heard the docs talking about keeping him overnight.  He started to breathe better...he obviously didn't want to stay at the hospital!  The doctor said that the fluid in his lung was minimal and would probably be absorbed.  (I had no idea fluid could be absorbed into the lung...hmmm)

Anyway, we were sent home to enjoy the rest of our Memorial Day.  Jett celebrated by taking a four hour nap.  We celebrated by getting stuff done while Jett took a four hour nap.

Oh, and we now have an additional piece of equipment.  A nebulizer.  We can now do our own breathing treatments on Jett.

Visit #2

Fast forward to the day after Memorial Day.  Jett was having a pretty good day and just chilling on his little pad when all of a sudden, he let out the most painful shriek I have ever heard.  He got more rigid than usual and was shaking because he was in so much pain.  I immediately vented his tube because I could tell this was stomach pain that we were dealing with.  That didn't help.  Cody picked Jett up and took him for a walk.  That ALWAYS helps...well this time it didn't.  Cody returned and Jett was still in extreme amounts of pain.  I pulled out some tylenol and put it in a syringe.  Right as I opened Jett's port on his feeding tube, BLOOD comes spilling out.  Cody and I (obviously) freaked out.  We ran outside to get into our car.  It was gone.  That was when I remember that my parents had just barely left to run some errands.  AWESOME.  

My new neighbor is amazing.  I ran up to her door and frantically asked if I could borrow her car.  She quickly got the keys for me and we were off to the emergency room again.  Luckily we knew where we were going this time.  

We got to the ER and they all remembered us from the day before.  They began running tests and x-rays on Jett.  Four hours later, they determined that it was an ulcer that had caused the bleeding.  AND...we didn't have to stay at the hospital.  I thought, for sure, we would be staying overnight.  We now have some antacid medicine to help Jett when his tummy gets sore, but unfortunately the tummy pain will never really go away.  A lot of other kids with feeding tubes experience this similar pain.  Poor kiddos!

Nothing like two visits to the hospital to get your adrenaline going!  The last few days have been peaceful and quiet.  Just how we like it!!