After getting discharged from the hospital on Thursday, over the weekend Mr Ellis' breathing started to get very strained and he was struggling to eat without choking and coughing. After much worrying we decided to take him to the children's hospital ER here in salt lake city.
As soon as we got there 3 doctors and what felt like 100 nurses swarmed him with oxygen masks and ivs and chest xrays and blood tests and catheters. What we thought might just be us overreacting suddenly felt like the opposite.
They were at first worried about his heart and wanted to rule out a congenital heart defect which sounded very scary to me. They were quickly able to rule that out. Then they worried about his lungs but quickly ruled anything serious out there too.
From there they guessed it could be RSV or something in the anatomy of his throat causing his airway to be blocked. Once they got his oxygen levels back up and had air moving through his airways at a healthy level, they transfered us to intensive care so that they could try to get to the bottom of the problem. They had him on a cpap machine to push air into his airway which seemed to help him immensely. He was finally comfortable and breathing easy. After a couple hours of intensive care the swab tests came back which ruled out rsv and all 7 of the big respiratory viruses. The Dr's were surprised. They really had thought he had a virus.
So from there they brought in the ear nose and throat specialists to take a look down his throat. They used a scope and put it down his nose into his throat to look around. I couldn't watch but surprisingly Pat, the one who would normally pass out, watched the whole thing and even took a look down the scope. And with that they finally had a diagnosis. Laryngo malacia.
He has a floppy airway and soft tissue around his voice box which makes it hard for him to breathe and eat. The little flap that should close his airway when he eats and open his airway when he breathes isn't shaped right so it can get in the way and cause problems. But they said his was not severe. Called it a moderate case so they are hopeful no surgery will be required. They still kept him in the hospital for another couple days to monitor his breathing and eating and teach us how to best position him to make him comfortable. They also had us meet with a feeding specialist to figure out a nipple that will help him eat without choking. We went to the ER early Sunday morning and were discharged Tuesday by noon.
We are thankful he is not sick and we feel better equipped now to help him since we know the root cause. But I am convinced I will never sleep again. It's scary to think the wrong position can make it hard for him to breathe so I find myself listening to every little sound he makes. Just like anything with a new baby, we just have to gain a comfort level with it and see how he does. So say some prayers that he grows out of it quickly and that Pat and I figure out how to help him stay comfortable and thus can get some sleep ourselves:)
Never a dull moment here in Salt Lake!
No comments:
Post a Comment