7/18 - Back in the Hospital

Leo was admitted back to the hospital Friday morning at 2:00am. When I got home from work about 4:00 on Thursday he was stating lower than normal and had a high heart rate. The nurse was trying to tell me the pulse ox wasn't monitoring him correctly. I pulled up his shirt and could tell he was working hard to breath and he had a 101.4 temp. I put him on the vent and his work of breathing seemed better but within a few hours he was needing oxygen to maintain his saturation on the vent. The whole time I was in contact with his respiratory therapist from the hospital. I gave him a neb about 9:45 and he kept d/sating through it and his secretions turned into thick yellow snot. At 10:00 his night nurse (our non sleeping favorite one) came in and said he sounded really bad and thought we should bring him in. Oh Crap!

We never left the house on the vent before. We frantically tried to gather the pieces to leave the house on the vent. It's a different setup because the heater does not travel. With the nurses help we got out the door by 11:00 and made it safely to the ER in Peoria. I drove and she sat in the back of the van with him layer out on the floor. He d-stated some in the car and his 02 was turned up to 2 liters. In the ER they did a chest x-Ray and it looked good! The also gave him another nebulizer and it loosened up a mucus plug. It plugged his trach and his 02 went down to 19%. He was seriously blue. They bagged him and got him breathing again thankfully within about a minute, but it was horrifying while it happened. I'm so thankful it happened in the ER and not during the first neb with just me, mom and Sammie at home!

He was admitted to the hospital and they up sized his trach to give him a bigger airway. By 2:00am he seemed comfortable again. So then we moved onto smaller problems. We forgot to bring the power cord for the vent and the hospital is full and out of vents so we need it. Problem #2 the nurse needs to get home. So about 3:30 we drive back to Heyworth so she can get her car and I can get some stuff to stay at the hospital. It was a long drive back to the hospital as I had been up for 24 hours and my adrenalin was running out. 

We both got a little sleep and Leo seems to be doing much better. If I really would have pushed I think they would have let us go tonight, but I think it is safer we just stay and make sure he is stable. If everything goes ok we will go in the morning.

You might be thinking something is missing from this story...Terry?! I had sent him away with 9 college friends for a long weekend in Kentucky...his Father's Day gift. What are the chances Leo needs rehospitalized the one weekend he is gone....our luck sucks! He of course wanted to come home but I reassured him that we got this! I want our new life with Leo to include fun outings and friends. We both make sacrifices to make it happen. He will be home Sunday and hopefully Mr Leo will be recovered!