Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Mommy slept great last night but she was also starting to slow some flu symptoms. But poor Daddy couldn't even make it out of bed this morning so she was off to UCD on her own.

When Mommy left last night, I was doing so much better that the news this morning came as a shock. Just 1/2 hour before she showed up, the doctors had to do an emergency trach change when I went into respiratory distress after developing a plug. Basically, a plug is just secretions that are too thick and block off the bottom of the trach so I can no longer breathe through it. The nurse said that she was trying to change my diaper and I became very agitated and my numbers started to drop. She tried to suction me but couldn't pass the catheter through my trach. She started bagging me and they got the ENT in quickly to change out the trach. Immediately, my numbers jumped back up and I fell asleep. Not only was Mommy surprised by the quick change of events but so were the doctors so they did another chest xray. When they showed up a few minutes after Mommy arrived they let her know that based on the current xray they actually don't think I have pneumonia at all. In fact, the cloudiness in my lungs is more consistent with the run of the mill viral URI I have experienced in the past. Mommy was actually a little relieved to hear that but still concerned about the plug I developed. It made more sense later in the day when she realized that my trach mist heater wasn't working (that's right, it hasn't been working at home for the last week either). Apparently there was a problem with the bottle of water and it would work for a few minutes and then stop. Mommy had noticed several times yesterday and had the respiratory therapist fix it but she's pretty sure that it probably wasn't working all night. In addition, without Mommy sitting next to me all night suctioning like she did during the day, she's guessing the the two events combined resulted in a plug that couldn't be suctioned and I couldn't cough up on my own.

After the initial excitement the rest of the day went well. I started working back up to my full feedings and my fever was finally beat. We watched lots of videos today and also spent lots of time coloring and playing with stickers. Mommy pointed out my flowers through the window and every time she asked where the flowers were Daddy had sent me I would point them out to her. The doctors let Mommy know later in the afternoon that the first test had come back negative for swine flu but there was a second test that would take longer. Until that came back I would have to remain in isolation. The doctors also decided just to be on the safe side they should get some blood work. As in the past, it wasn't a quick process. We went through three different nurses before we finally found one who could get a vein. When my parents say I am a hard stick they aren't kidding as these nurses are finding out!

After another 12 hour "shift" Mommy was ready to head home for some rest. She got me lying down like she did last night and a nurse ready to rub my back and then she was home to Daddy and my brothers. Another day over in the PICU!

Peyton Nicole Smith