February, 2006

February 2006, you were very agitated and seemed bloated and in pain. The doctors were afraid you had an elias, it is a blockage in the intestines. Because of the blockage you were retaining fluids and later that night you vomited and had to be rushed to the hospital. I got a call at 2 am and it took me an hour to get there so by that time you were already in the emergency room. When I arrived they had drained your stomach and were running tests. I was so scared when I saw you because you were having a hard time breathing and on oxygen. You were moaning a lot and the nurse said your abdomen was filled with fluid. While I was there you vomited violently and it all went in your lungs.

The nurse said it was going to be a long time before we got a room so they put us in a holding area. We were there overnight and waited for Dr. Medina to arrive. You were so sick Aaron and Mom was really scared this time. On Friday evening they moved you to 2 North, when I arrived they said you were having a lot of difficulty breathing and Dr Sarraf the pulmonary specialist was on his way. Dr. Sarraf did a bronchoscopy to relieve a lot of the congestion and look in your lungs. It was decided you should go to ICU and then they put you on a respirator. I remember thinking how sick you were and seeing you hooked up to the machines was devastating. You had come so far and were doing so well and now this.

Dr. Sarraf came in and he said you had a very serious bacterial infection in your lungs and he wanted me to consider re-traeching you. I was devastated at the thought of you having a traech again. That to me would have been a major set back. I decided to give you more time on the respirator and felt you could fight this. The respiratory therapists were wonderful and told me to hang in there and give you the time you need to fight this. I listened to them and followed my heart and knew I was doing the right thing. I prayed to God and asked him to give you strength and get you through this. Nine days later you coughed it out on your own and never had to be put back on the machine again. You are so amazing. We spent 3 weeks in ICU and it was an uphill battle for you but once again you came through.

After returning to Hartwyck you continued to spike temps of 105 and Dr. McCagg said it was brain storming. They would run the usual tests and put you on IV fluids. They also had to put you on a cooling blanket to help bring the temp down. You had to be given morphine and Ativan to help calm you. It was most difficult to watch and not much I could do to help you except to comfort you.