The Good, The Bad, And The Downright Ugly (pnuemonia)

The Good: Saturday started out fairly well. Kids let us sleep in until 8:00. They worked quickly and got their Saturday chores done before the BYU game. BYU squeaked out a win. I was able to hold Aaron in a chair today for 2 1/2 hours. (This had been the first time since my birthday on July 22). Aaron has been peeing like a champ and most of his edema is gone. Aaron's respiratory therapist happened to be a priesthood holder just when he needed a blessing. Our Attending happens to be pulling a 24 hour shift, right when we needed him.

The Bad: Beavers lost their game to Sacramento State. Aaron's secretions in his lungs turned yellow. He had two fairly bad episodes where he would destat and require 100% oxygen. It would take him at least an hour or more to recover. Aaron started to spit up today and had a hard time stooling. He would flinch when you touched his belly and chest. We wondered if he had a blockage or a belly ache. Aaron had another septic work up done. Aaron's CRT was low so he is getting another transfusion. Its 4 a.m. and I am awake and on the hospital computer.

The Downright Ugly: After a chest film this afternoon our Attending was concerned Aaron may have pnuemonia. Another chest film a few hours later was signifcantly worse and showed that the right upper lobe of his lungs has collapsed, it is attacking with a vengeance. His CRP levels have come back elevated so it looks as though he does have pnuemonia. Words can not describe how serious this is or how scared we are. Aaron coded again this eveninig and it took quite sometime to bring him back. We weren't sure he would come back. His O2 sats were hovering around the 60 range at 100% oxygen ever since. About 20 minutes ago our Attending came back and told us he is putting Aaron back on the Nitric in hopes of allowing his lungs to open up some. The RT also came in and "thumped" his back with a small vibrating device to see if he could break up some of the mucus and suction it out. If these two things don't improve his sats he will be moved back to the oscillating vent. He was also put back on his heavy antibiotics. Our concern for those is that after being on them for a month, they may no longer be affective. The doctor says time will tell if he has it in him to recover. Time is the one thing I have little patience with as of late.