Charlotte was admitted to the hospital on Sunday afternoon and has been hanging out here at CHOP ever since. She is the healthiest kid to ever spend nearly a week in the hospital. Since she has been here, there been no fevers, vital sign changes, or even an IV.
She had her Jtube replaced on Tuesday morning and was moved to the pulmonary floor Tues night to be started on CPAP. She has tolerated the CPAP pretty well. It took ~6 tries on tuesday night to get her to sleep with the mask on, but wednesday night it went right on without any fight. I don't see a huge difference in her when she wakes up, but it is keeping her heart rate lower during the day.
She is currently on a room air trial (where we turn off the oxygen and see what she does) and is doing very well. It is nice to see her without a cannula in her nose. I imagine at some point she is going to need more oxygen, but it is nice to know that her lungs are healing and improving.
Tomorrow morning she is going to have an MRI done to evaluate her brain. There is a concern that the Sleep Apnea might be caused by an abnormality in her brain stem. It is a zebra, but it is worth ruling out. Due to her shotty lungs, she will need to be under general anesthesia for the scan and stay in the hospital for 24 hrs after the MRI for observation.
SO it is looking like it will be Saturday morning before we get out of here. I am trying to fight the hospital psychosis as best I can, but I feel it creeping in. I look forward to meal times as a chance to leave the room and interact with the world around me. I took a walk today through Penn's campus just to reorient myself with the world. I am constantly amazed how different the hospital world is for the doctor and for the patient. Hopefully this will help me relate to patients I have in the future.
Poor little Charlotte still in that hospital! Hopefully she is home by now. I didn't see this update, Amanda, but now I feel better knowing that she is doing well.
ReplyDeleteHospital psychosis...Yes! That is what I had last week. It's just awful. Mealtimes were my favorite time too.