A week in PICU

I'm sure most of you have heard by now, but Shane decided that he would give his mommy and Daddy a big scare. It all started on saturday (2/20). The other kids had been sick, Aiden had broncitis and the biggest kids colds, well Shane started coughing a tad but nothing major. Sunday morning he woke up with a temp and when I gave him his bath I noticed that he was really working to breath and his chest was retracting. So I called our Pedi and took him straight into the ER in leominster. On my way I picked up Memere for support. Boy am I glad I did! We waited what seemed like forever for him to even be seen by the triage nurse and to be honest the only reason we got seen when we did is because the nurse came out to triage a patient in a wheel chair and noticed Shane having issues. There were several people ahead of him but she brought him right back. We were wisked right into the ER when they saw how sick he was. HE had a temp of 103.6, his heart rate was at 254, his Oxygen level was at 60% (it should be 100%) and he was taking 113 breaths per minuet. I don't think we were back in the ER more than 10 secounds before we were surrounded by dr's doing their thing trying to get an IV started, chest x-rays, and what not. One Dr started talking to me about a possible heart issue (which thank goodness wasn't the case). They tested him for RSV and it came back possitive, but because he was so sick they wanted him transported out to Worcester because they don't have a critical care unit for kids. SO Shane got his first (and hopfully last) ambulance ride!

Once we arrived at UMass Worcester we were brought into the ER were we were assed again. Matt met us there..and we found out that we were indeed going to be admited. We figured as much. We were brought to the regular Pedi floor were we spent about 6 hours before they decided that Shane was just to sick to stay on the regular floor and promptly moved us to the PICU. He needed to be placed on the highflow machine, which is oxygen pushed at a higher rate. on the regular floor he was 100% oxygen but only at 1 liter. On the highflow we started out at 70% oxygen but pushed at 7 liters. He was touch and go for the next few days and there were several times were he scared both Mommy and Daddy and the Dr's. Let's just say several Dr's said he was their "critical" patient. A few times he came close to being intabated, but thank god it didn't come down to that. He was hardly ever awake and because he was so sick he wasn't able to feed. Plus he had spiked a fever that they couldn't control. By wed they felt that he should have turned around, and when he hadn't and was only getting sicker they re-ordered a gambit of tests including another chest x-ray. Turns out he had bacteria in his blood and Phnemonia. Well, at this point Shane either had pulled out the IV in his head or it just blew. At either rate it was no longer in his head so they were desperatly trying to get an IV back in him. Thankfully a great nurse finally got one in him and they stared an anti-biotic. With in 12 hours we started to see him turn around. Thank goodness. They allowed him to start taking mommy's milk from a bottle. Friday we were finally able to nurse again and that evening we were taken off the high-flow and put on regular oxygen and moved to the step down unit. That night he pulled the oxygen out of his nose and although the oxygen was 'on' he was never getting any. His stats never dropped so Saturday first thing the took the mask off. He continued to do great and by lunch time we got to go home. Thank goodness it was the longest 6 days of our life.

Here is Shane finally home and hang'n out with his Dragon!!!! We were all so happy to have him home and be back to our big happy family. I don't think any of us have ever been so happy to see Shane smilling!

Thank-you to everyone who came to visit us, thought of us and prayed for us. A extra special Thank you's go out to Memere for taking such good care of the big kids, Missy (Baker) for thinking of us and bringing Mommy some clothes, snacks and Shane's now beloved dragon, Papa for visiting and bringing food. It sure was better than hospital food...and Auntie Jocelyn who visited every day even during her lunch breaks and on her day off! We love you all!