A Close Call

Today started out like any other.  Ian was at Gilchrist still finishing up his respite weekend so we took Becca out for breakfast before going to pick him up. Half way through our meal we get a call from the nurse at Gilchrist. She tells me that Ian has taken, as she put it, a turn.  I ask what specifically that means and she tells me his heart rate is irrational, SATs are dropping, very lathargic and hard to arouse and they can't find a pulse.  So I ask what that means and she says you want to come down here.  So Brian gets the check and within five minutes we are in the car and on our way down to the Gilchrist center in Howard County.  During the drive I'm trying my best to stay calm and to make sure Becca is calm all the while not watching the speedometer, yes Brian was driving.  We get to the center, park and run in and to his room not really expecting what we are walking in to. When we enter his room Ian is awake and seems alert. His heart rate is in the 120s, somewhat typical for him, and his SATs are mid to upper 90s and on 4 liters of oxygen.  Ian's Gilchrst doctor and nurse have been called and are on their way in.  While we are waiting and talking to Ian, Brian notices the nebulizer is hooked up incorrectly to Ian's vent tubing.  We ask the nurse about that and are informed as far as she knows it has been that way.  That basically means Ian has not received necessary albuterol treatments most of the weekend.  Without these treatments the chances of Ian going in to distress greatly increase because all of his secretions are building up inside him.  So for the next couple of hours we work to reduce the "damage" that has been caused by this and Ian responds very well.  So well in fact that Gilchrist was able to arrange an ambulatory transport for us to get Ian home.  At this point, here we sit while Ian is resting comfortably at the moment and try not to think about how close we came to losing our precious little man today.  Yes the next few days will be rough as we continue to treat what has been caused but we'd rather do that then not have him here with us.

We had a few good conversations with a few of the staff and they are already working on how to make this situation a learning experience...

Treasure, dream, live...