Really need to be careful what you wish for sometimes. I wished for 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep, and I am getting that tonight, but for very bad reasons.
Last night at around 7:30 p.m., I was feeding Logan as usual. He suddenly turned very grayish purple and was not moving. I have not seen him turn this color since when he was 2 days old and had the episode at the hospital. I immediately called for Hank and we both tried to wake him up. I patted his back and lifted him up to my shoulder. Thank goodness he was OK. We turned up his oxygen level to 1 L and laid him down to rest, while we recovered from the shock and contemplated whether to take him to the ER or make an appointment to see the pediatrician the following day. 10-15 minutes later, he suddenly turned grayish blue again and we did the same thing to get him to breathe again. This time, we cranked up the oxygen to 1.5L instead of his normal 0.75L. Without hesitation, I called Kaiser and was instructed to take Logan to the Emergency Room. I immediately finished my dinner and I know from experience, a trip to the ER lasts hours. We have decided that I would take Logan to the ER, and Hank would stay with Aidan and tried to contact grandma to see if she could take care of Aidan.
I arrive at the ER at around 8:30 p.m. and Logan was seen within 10 mins. I reiterated the episodes (over and over again for the next 24 hours). Hank was able to get a hold of his mother to have her take care of Aidan, and come to the ER to meet with me. We were told that the Kaiser at SSF does not have a Pediatric unit and Logan was transferred to the Pediatric unit in SF. Logan had another minor episode while he was in the ER, and two more during the transport to SF when he was in the ambulance. I rode with Logan in the ambulance while Hank headed home because he had to work the following day and to take Aidan to daycare. We were lucky enough to find last-minute daycare because our usual provider is on vacation today.
Logan was admitted at around midnight and I told everyone about Logan's medical history and the events that happened that night. More tests were done on him (flu, RSV, blood count and I requested a blood gas as he has to do it anyway for the pulmonologist). Throughout the night, Logan had a few more desaturations and his oxygen level dropped to the 70s. One of his episodes was severe enough (dropped down to 18) that it lasted a minute, and needed a team of nurses to revive him. We kind of concluded that Logan might have a cold and his sinuses were blocked, thus making it hard for him to breathe. His sleep apnea certainly does not help the situation. We kept on suctioning the mucous out of his nose.
This morning, I was told that Logan needs to be transferred to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit either in Oakland or Santa Clara, as he needs more individualized attention from the nurse. In the normal Pediatric Unit in SF, it's hard for them to provide such service. Oakland's PICU was full, so Logan was transferred to the PICU in Santa Clara. I was actually relieved it's Santa Clara as I could tag along with Hank when he goes to work in Sunnyvale everyday to see Logan. Oakland is just really out of the way. For the transport to Santa Clara, Logan had to stop his feeding and put on IV, just in case something happened during transport and the medical team could give him the necessary medication. Besides, after feeding seemed to trigger some of these episodes.
Hank came to pick me up at SF and then we both went home after finalizing the decision to transfer him to Santa Clara. I then drove down to Santa Clara Kaiser to meet up with Logan. I was told casually that during the transport, Logan was being "naughty". I believe they did not want to worry me, but in reality, Logan did not like what was happening and refused to breathe. They had to manually give him oxygen during the transport. However, after arriving at Santa Clara Kaiser, and throughout the remaining of my stay, his oxygen saturation was good and did not dip down to any alarming level. He was giving a new nasal cannula and a different type of oxygen set-up, allowing his lungs to open up and to breathe better. He will continue to be on IV for the rest of the night, while being closely monitored. We do not know how long he would be staying at the PICU. He needs to have at least 24 hours without any episodes, and this might take a week or even more. For the time being, nurses continue to suction his nose for mucous, as that appear to be a big problem. Unfortunately, all of us at home are sick, and I KNEW Logan could not get sick because of his condition. Yet he still does. I am worried that he would have to go through such ordeal every time he gets a cold. We might not be this lucky every single time.
I just have to complain here. How can Kaiser in SF not have a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit??? Come on, it's San Francisco we are talking about here! Unfortunately, I've been to enough Kaiser in Northern California (SF, Oakland, Santa Clara, San Jose) to notice that Santa Clara Kaiser has the best layout with the medical offices and hospital buildings attach to each other and with plenty of free parking. Some other Kaiser has different departments all spread out and it's really inconvenient.
Please keep Logan in your prayers. We thank you in advance for that, and for all of your well wishes.
3 comments:
You are definitely in my prayers. I am thankful you work for who you do, cause I know they will look out for you. Take care of yourself too, V. I know you are going through a a lot.
you have my prayers dear. remember not to forget to take care of yourself too... ADD OIL!
Hey Virge,
I'll keep Logan & your family in my prayer.
To answer your questions, having a PICU is very expensive and the RNs there usually needs additional training. The RNs there have a lower RN:patients ratio & therefore, Logan can get more attention. So as for Kaiser, since they have branches so close to each other, they don't really need a PICU in every single branch.
When a patient comes into ER complaining about breathing problem, he usually gets seen asap.
Finally, it's pretty impossible the baby will not get sick if the rest of the family are sick esp. there's another young children in the family. Best thing to do is to goggle your mouth with salt everyday in the morning after you wake up and after you come home. Make sure everyone wash hands with soap & warm water for 15-20 seconds before having contact with Logan. That's the best you can do. I wish I am closer to you but feel free to call me when you need.
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