Thursday, August 04, 2005
A Bump in the Road
Well Jacob went into the day hospital yesterday for a routine infusion of immune globulin, but it got complicated.
About three quarters of the way through he said he felt like his throat was closing up a bit, and I went to get our nurse who had the reaction meds ready. Everything seemed under control, so I went to have a quick medical appointment of my own, leaving Jacob with Ellie. By the time I got back 45 minutes later, he was in some kind of shock - no one could quite tell if it was anaphalactic (allergic) or toxic (bacterial) - but his blood pressure had plummeted and they were running fluids into both lumins full speed with not much effect on his BP, though oddly enough, he was still perfectly conscious and rational.
His symptoms continued to be wierd and erratic - even as his BP dropped, his heart rate stayed normal, which was contradictory. Rashes appeared and disappeared across his body like something out of Star Trek. His O2 sats dropped into the 70's and then came back up.
Thank God for Ellie, who kept her cool. Thank God for our Day hospital nurse Melissa and Doctor Chris Dvorak, who stayed with us every step of the way. They got him stablized, and we spent the night in the PICU (me sitting up in a chair) til early this morning when we moved to our old stomping grounds on 2North. Also, thank God for Young, who came in at 4 am so I could go crash on a couch.
Anyway, Jacob is fine. They started him on IV antibiotics, and we'll hang here 48 hours to make sure no bacteria grow out. Since he's post BMT, we got a nice single room. Jacob was pretty seriously bummed about being back in the hospital, but his sense of humor seems to be rallying well. As soon as I finished hogging the phone line, he'll be back online with his friends.
About three quarters of the way through he said he felt like his throat was closing up a bit, and I went to get our nurse who had the reaction meds ready. Everything seemed under control, so I went to have a quick medical appointment of my own, leaving Jacob with Ellie. By the time I got back 45 minutes later, he was in some kind of shock - no one could quite tell if it was anaphalactic (allergic) or toxic (bacterial) - but his blood pressure had plummeted and they were running fluids into both lumins full speed with not much effect on his BP, though oddly enough, he was still perfectly conscious and rational.
His symptoms continued to be wierd and erratic - even as his BP dropped, his heart rate stayed normal, which was contradictory. Rashes appeared and disappeared across his body like something out of Star Trek. His O2 sats dropped into the 70's and then came back up.
Thank God for Ellie, who kept her cool. Thank God for our Day hospital nurse Melissa and Doctor Chris Dvorak, who stayed with us every step of the way. They got him stablized, and we spent the night in the PICU (me sitting up in a chair) til early this morning when we moved to our old stomping grounds on 2North. Also, thank God for Young, who came in at 4 am so I could go crash on a couch.
Anyway, Jacob is fine. They started him on IV antibiotics, and we'll hang here 48 hours to make sure no bacteria grow out. Since he's post BMT, we got a nice single room. Jacob was pretty seriously bummed about being back in the hospital, but his sense of humor seems to be rallying well. As soon as I finished hogging the phone line, he'll be back online with his friends.
# posted by Ann @ 12:11 PM 
