So after our extremely long all nighter on Monday night, Jesse and I headed home for a bit and left poor Oliver in the PICU. He was on the bipap machine and his settings were pretty high. We were told that there was a good possibility that he would need to have a breathing tube placed. He wasn't showing any signs of breathing easier later that Tuesday so they did a chest X-ray and found a couple things. The first thing they found is that his right lung was partially collapsed. The second thing they found was that he had a pocket of air trapped in his chest, right over his right lung. They figured that this air had come from the high forced air being blown into his lungs. They also thought that his lung was collapsed because of this air. So the next step was to have a chest tube placed between his ribs to relieve that pressure and release the air. It was a very quick procedure but having that chest tube in him was making him really uncomfortable. His sedation meds needed to be increased. That is pretty much all that happened on Tuesday. Here he is right before we left him on Tuesday night with the teddy bear we bought him, such a sad sight :(
On Wednesday, his lung was still collapsed even though the trapped air had been released. It was determined that he had pneumonia on top of the RSV. it's not wonder he wasn't getting any better. He was started on antibiotics that day and we waited to see results. On Thursday he had a pretty rough day. The doctors and nurses were anxious get get him out of the PICU so they tried to lower his bipap, and then proceed to put him on cpap. He didn't tolerate that well and he was put back onto bipap and his settings were increased again. It was starting to get very frustrating because he really was not making any progress. Friday went by with no improvement as well. I was started to think that we were going to be at this hospital for a very long time. He still had his chest tube in just to make sure no more air made its way into his chest. This tube made it so we could not hold him, it easily could've come out if we did.
Finally, on Saturday, we started seeing improvement! He was taken from bipap to cpap to hi flow all in one day and he actually tolerated it! His chest tube was also removed and his lung was looking much better. It was such a good day. I loved seeing him improve so much. He was taken off of his sedation meds since he didn't have the chest tube anymore.
On Sunday, Jesse and I were able to hold him for the first time since last the Monday! It was so awesome! He was awake and alert and was smiling like crazy! It felt so good to see him smile again, he was starting to act like his old self again. After we left the hospital that night, we got a call from his nurse saying that they had moved him out of the PICU! That was another amazing thing that happened that day! There were so many babies being moved out of the PICU at that same time that they had to start doubling up on rooms, so there really wasn't a place for me to stay with him, but he still did really well during the night. I wasn't able to feed him yet anyway, he still had the feeding tube.
That led us to Monday, exactly one week from when this all began. Monday was another good day. He was taken off hi flow and was just put on regular oxygen, he did so well with it. He was also given a bottle by one of the nurses. He was so hungry that he actually took it!
It was either Monday or Tuesday that Walter came to visit with my mom and Heather. The hospital had an amazing play room that Walter was able to hang out in, it was so much fun and it was so nice to have him there
Tuesday was the day we had been waiting for for what seemed like an eternity. I spent the whole day at the hospital with him since I was finally able to feed him again. He did pretty well with that so his feeding tube was removed and his oxygen was taken off! He was breathing completely on his own and it was normal! It was around 4:00 that afternoon that we were finally released from the hospital and I was able to bring Oliver home. I practically ran out of that hospital and I could not stop smiling.
As scary and as awful as that whole experience was, I cannot express how grateful I am for places like Primary Children's Hospital. The technology and the staff that they have there to take care of those kids is absolutely amazing. He could not have been in a better place and we were so lucky that he was able to get there so quickly and get the help he needed. It really did save him.
Also, throughout this whole experience I learned that I can do hard things. That has always been something that I say to myself on rough days to get myself through and it has always given me the strength to get through, but now I can say, without a doubt, that I can do hard things! And it is because of the power of prayer that I can do hard things. The peace and strength it provides, especially during hard times, is something I could not live without. I know without a doubt my Father in Heaven is aware of me and my family. He loves us and blesses us when we put our faith in Him and in His timing. I am so blessed to have that knowledge. I am so blessed to have my forever family :)
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