The Journey of a Sweet Little Boy and His Special Heart

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

A visit to the Hospital

I planned on the next big post being about all the fun and parties for Logan's 1st Birthday, not a hospital stay.  Needless to say his birthday weekend didn't really go as planned!  Isn't that how life goes though?  No matter how much you plan or do it is ultimately out of your control.
He had a few good hours of his birthday.  We did get to run the IHH (Intermountain Healing Hearts) 5k Saturday morning.  We had awesome t-shirts letting the world know how proud we were that it was our Heart Hero's Birthday (I will post pictures when I am at home and can get to them).  Logan was great all Saturday morning.  We came home from the run, he had some lunch and I put him down for a nap.  We had his little heart buddy Severin's family over for a BBQ after the race and we woke Logan up so we could do presents and cake and ice cream.  He wasn't really interested in either and the more I held him the hotter he got.  About an hour after he woke up his temp had climbed to 102.5.  I freaked out.  He has never had a temperature in his whole life.  So I ran him to the pediatrician.  I figured if it was ear infections or something I wasn't going to make him wait it out.  Other than a high fever everything else was okay.  He didn't have a runny nose, ears are clear etc.  So they ruled it a virus said give him Tylenol and ibuprofen and keep his temp down.
We were up every hour Saturday night.  The poor little guys was just miserable.  His fever finally broke around 4 am and we thought we were over the worst part.  Sunday morning he ate breakfast, played with toys and seemed just fine with no temp.  So we figured maybe he got too much sun Saturday and didn't drink enough.  Then Sunday afternoon his temp came back, but very low grade (99.5).  We were having 38 people over for his birthday party.  Hindsight we probably should have cancelled, but when he woke up just fine that morning it didn't even cross my mind.  And then by the time his fever came back it was 2 hours before everyone would be there, and I had SO much food.  So we had his party.  He gave us a few smiles and perked up when he got new toys, but I held him most of the time.  After everyone left he went down for a nap.  He woke up around 9 pm and when I picked him up he was on fire.  We gave him Tylenol and it wasn't helping.  We hooked him up to the pulse ox (we had him on it most of the day) and his saturations were still good but his HR was 215 bpm (his normal HR is 110-130).  Because of his little heart that made both Brad and I so nervous.  We had called the cardiologist on call earlier in the day when his HR was 190 and he said if it got higher we should bring him to the ER to be checked.  So there we were- it was 9:00 at night we were both in our PJ's.  Ashlyn and Tanner were both asleep.  We changed and ran out the door leaving a baby monitor with my neighbors until my dad could be at our house to stay with Ashlyn and Tanner. 
On the drive to the hospital Logan just got worse.  All day he had been able to hold his saturations and that was reassuring to us.  But on the drive he started de-satting.  When we left our house his sats were at 88% when we pulled up to the ER he was at 65%. 
One nice think about being a cardiac kid is you get a golden ticket in the ER.  I was crying when I brought him in and all I had to say was he was a cardiac kid and was de-satting with a HR in the 200's and I barely had time to sign my name before they had him in a room putting oxygen on him and hooking him up to all the monitors.  He was considered "status red" and we had several doctors in there within minutes.  They gave him a mega dose of antibiotics, did an EKG, x-rays, drew labs etc.  And all was a mystery.  The biggest concern was there was no obvious trigger point for his fever.  Nobody at home has been sick.  He hasn't had a runny nose, no ear infections.  His blood work came back showing his body was definitely fighting something with extremely elevated white blood cells, and it also showed he was dehydrated. 
They admitted us to stay the night.  It was a LONG night.  He was miserable.  He cried anytime a nurse or doctor even looked at him.  I think he remembers his last hospital stay.  When he saw the crib he FREAKED out.  He wouldn't let me put him in that crib for anything.  I finally asked around 3 am if we could have an adult bed instead and I would just lay down with him.  This worked a little better. 
So here we are.  They are ruling a lot of things out, but still don't know what is causing our little guys so much trouble.  There was a debate as to which team of docs would take care of him.  Cardiology or medical.  After the x-ray and EKG it was determined that this wasn't heart related (sigh of relief) so the medical team took over.
We begged the doc to let us come home yesterday, but he wasn't comfortable with that.  Logan still needed IV's to keep him hydrated and had developed lovely diarrhea.  Logan is on his typical hospital hunger strike- the only way he knows how to rebel against being here.  So with that and not eating it isn't a good combo for staying hydrated.  We were so glad the doc didn't let us go home though.  I had run home to have a shower and grab a few things (we didn't pack anything to stay and Logan pooped all over me).  When I got back his fever spiked again.  So we stayed the night again keeping him on fluid and oxygen.  He has required at times up to 3 liters of oxygen to keep his sats above 75% and the doc didn't want to send him home on that much oxygen either.
So here we are Tuesday morning.  He had a GREAT night.  We actually slept.  When we were asking to go home (mostly because we knew Logan would sleep better at home) the doc said he would tell the nurses not to do vitals during the night so they weren't always waking him up.  That made a big difference.  He stayed fever free all night.  More tests came back negative.  They gave him another mega dose of antibiotics last night.  They have been able to turn his oxygen down to 1/4 liter.  We tried room air and .12 but he can't quite hold his own on that yet.  This is better than 2 liters though.  So I think they will let us come home today.  His throat is red now, so it is determined that he probably has some virus that would effect most of us as just a sore throat.  Seems kind of silly that a sore throat can land you in the hospital, but with Logan's little heart he just doesn't have the reserves that a heart healthy person does to fight these blasted viruses.  I keep asking if he is going to land himself a hospital stay every time he gets sick and the answer was probably not every time, but probably more than the average kid. 
Here is to hoping we will be home soon!

3 comments:

  1. I'm So so sorry heidi what a horrible time to get sick and I started crying when I was reading how scary it is to have him desat
    I know Im far away your always both in my prayers
    Heart hugs Ivy

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  2. I hate to read these scary posts. I can't imagine how hard this must be for you guys, but I can relate just a little bit. Miles was diagnosed with Shone's the day after his 1st birthday, and we were told that he would require surgery within 2 weeks (making his 1st birthday party a serious challenge). I can give you a little bit of hope though. Although we did average about a hospital stay a month, due to simple colds, between year 1 and 2, things have dramatically improved as he's gotten older and can express to us when he is not feeling well. A bit of advise (that I'm guessing you're already doing), don't take baby to church. When Miles would be doing well, we'd experiment with taking him for a week. We always ended up at Primary if we took him though. Now, at almost 3, he can handle it and even goes to nursery. Our prayers and hopes are with you guys.

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  3. I hope you all are home now and that sweet Logan is feeling better. How absolutely scary! You are such a good mommy to know when he needs that extra help before things get bad. Love and prayers!

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