Day 30

At the end of rounds today, the doctor said she was pleased with the progress R was making. And then things went haywire...

The only concern the doctors had was with a high white blood cell count. They suspected something was going on internally, and opted to send him down for a CT scan. Jen & I decided to stay through the CT scan so we knew the outcome. As a part of preparing for the scan, the nurse administered a contrast - a fluid designed to go into his gut to help give better pictures. Administering the contrast took about an hour. With about 30 minutes left, Jen & I decided to get a quick bite to eat. On the way back from lunch, we were passed by a nurse practitioner we knew running down the hall. Thinking it was a bit odd, we rounded the corner by R's room to hear alarms going off and an entire team of people standing around his bed working feverishly. I cannot tell you what a blow that was.

We took a quick peak in the room at him. He was blue. We could hear them speaking out his oxygen saturation levels - it had dropped below 40%. It should be at 100%. Soon more people came around the corner to help. I can't tell you how many people were inside and outside of the room working on him and providing support. If I actually took the time to think about it, I would have to say it was an amazing sight. Again, I can't say enough about the team of people that care for him. Within a few minutes, they had brought his oxygen saturation level back up to a decent level and they made a quick decision to get him to the OR to see what was going on.

Jen and I were a bit shell shocked. The staff were good to give us an explanation of what was going on, but they really did not know why he crashed like he did. We were just thankful that he made it.

The surgery did not take long. They call it a "wash out". He is opened up and they literally wash out his insides to make sure there is no leaking, no perforations or anything out of the norm. While they did not find any blatant problems like they did on Sunday night, they were able to relieve a great deal of pressure internally. The nurse explained to us that it might have been compartment syndrome - a situation where there is a dangerous amount of pressure internally. Needless to say, we were relieved that he made it and that he appeared to be much more stable than he was a few hours ago.

Prior to getting him settled, the doctor ordered a bronchoscopy. They wanted to take a look in his lungs and give them a "wash out" as well. The wash out can be done through the device inserted through his breathing tube. The danger is that when inserting the saline, oxygen levels can drop dangerously low. In some cases, the patient crashes and they have to administer CPR.

As they prepared for the bronchoscopy, a crash cart was brought outside the room and "code" procedures were put on the counter as a precautionary measure. By this time, I think Jen & I were both ready to ask for a valium prescription and call it a day. Jen & I actually got to watch the bronchoscopy and see R's little lungs working. It was amazing to see the camera go through the breathing tube and into his lungs. We even saw where the lungs branch into each lobe. The doctor flushed some saline solution into his lungs and then quickly sucked it all up. This was done a few times. Each time, R's oxygen levels dropped, but he quickly recovered each time. Whew!

Words cannot express all that happened today. We almost lost him. Today was a reminder of just how sick and fragile he is. We will chose to believe that today is one more day in what will be an amazing testimony.

Prior to all of the days events, a mom of another transplant patient on the floor was beaming. She had just taken her precious little one year old out on a walk - for the third time ever. As of today, R has been alive for 402 days. He has been in the hospital for about all but 2 weeks or so. Jen & I can't wait until we can take him for a walk.