No More Nursery

Well, here we are. Our second night at Primary. Sadly, things got quite a bit worse following that last post. We toughed it out until morning then squoze ourselves in to see Dr. Ditty. Although Miles' oxygen levels definitely weren't the worst he'd ever seen, Dr. Ditty was pretty discouraged. He said he didn't feel comfortable treating Miles because he thought that he needed constant one-on-one care this time. In his words, Miles looked like "he had just given up", and that really worried Dr. Ditty. And he did look that way. He was totally lethargic and had no reaction to anything. Dr. Ditty has seen Miles at his worst (speaking in terms of health), but he'd always maintained some activity and personality. Not this time. So, he sent us around the corner to the ER (his practice is attached to the hospital). Of course, the plan was to stabilize to an extent and cart (or ambulance) us off to Primary. And that's just what they did. That makes number three ride for me, much to Ben's disappointment since he still hasn't ridden in an ambulance. I assured him that this ride would have been disappointing though. No lights. No sirens. I don't think that we were even going any faster than traffic. I'm sure that that was because by the time we pulled out of the parking lot, Miles was very calm, sounding good, and fast asleep.

I always hate it when there's an emergency, but by the time you get to the hospital, everything is almost fine. I feel like I have to justify my being there to the doctors. "I promise. He sounded much worse an hour ago. When I gave him the treatments, they didn't seem to help...." Clearly they took us seriously because we're still here, and there seems to be no end in sight. Possibly tomorrow....although no one with any authority has given me cause to believe that. Anyway, here's the scoop. Those follow-up surveys must really work because the only complaint that I've ever had about Primary is that there never seemed to be any communication with the cardiologist when we'd been admitted despite how many requests I made. Well, this time, they took the communication with both the cardiologist and pulmonologist very seriously. The team that has been working with Miles has basically been taking their orders directly from Dr. Kang, the pulmonologist. He's extending all of his efforts to get Miles seen by the ENTs while we are still here. That would be great and impressive because when I made his appointment a month ago (and it's still two weeks away) I was told that they only do these particular test one day a week. They want to do a fees study (no idea what that is) and a throat scope. It would be so nice to get it all done here now.

Additionally, there have been a few little heart concerns since we've been here. I think that's probably why there hasn't really been talk of release yet. Yesterday, while we were being checked in, one of the residents brought up Miles' heart murmur. I guess it was pretty pronounced. This morning, the same resident checked him out, but just during the night, the murmur had gotten louder, and his blood pressure is a little high. This was confirmed by the head doctor (I can't remember what to call her). This could very possibly be caused by all the medication, but it could also be an indication that the coarc has returned or that one of the other problems had gotten worse. After talking to Dr. Puchalski, his cardiologist, they were directed to have an echo done. We tried that today, but they decided to do it without sedation. Unfortunately, that didn't work with my little pill. We're going to try again in the morning. We can't completely sedate since he's on oxygen and is being treated for some viruses, so they're going to try a local anesthetic. Hopefully, it works out. I would love to get it done while we're still here. Plus, poor little Miles has to fast for it, so it would suck if it were all for nothing.

I guess the moral of this whole adventure is that when a doctor suggests that you don't put your child in nursery for a while because of medical problems, you listen to him.

Since all of my posts seem to be pretty much downers, I will end on a good note. Amidst all of this chaos today, Ben and I snuck away for our ultrasound. It's a Henry! Yes. That will be his name. You can love it or hate it, but it's still going to be his name. Miles can't wait to have a little brother to beat up.....even though he may not realize it yet.