Sick Baby

Mr. Brody is one sick little baby tonight.  Let me start at the beginning.  He was running a fever and threw up Sunday night, so I took him in to the clinic on Monday afternoon.  He had a bit of a breathing issue, an asthma flareup, so he was admitted to St. Cloud Hospital on Monday afternoon.  He was being given nebulizer treatments every 4 hours and was playing and happy.  On Tuesday, his breathing wasn't getting any better, so the Dr. ordered a chest x-ray, which revealed a pneumonia on the right side of his lungs.  He was started on an oral antibiotic.  Tuesday night, he started to work harder to breathe, so the Dr. ordered chest PT.  Basically, they pound on the back with a little device to loosen up the crud in his lungs.  His oxygen needs steadily rose and he was up to 4 liters at one point in the night. 

Wednesday (today) got progressively worse.  There is now bronchiolitis in addition to the pneumonia.  He was moved to the ICU tonight, where he is getting IV steroids, IV antibiotics, and fluids.  He is getting continuous nebulizers through a mask with 6 liters of oxygen.  This is in addition to the Tamiflu and instead of the oral antibiotic and prednisalone (steroid) he was on before.  He is very dehydrated.  They had trouble getting the IV in and could not draw blood intraveneously.  They had to prick his finger and squeeze it out, which was a long drawn out process.  He is going to be monitored for the next 2-3 hours and if his breathing does not improve, he will be intubated.  Right now, his temp is 102.2 and he just got a dose of Tylenol.  He is breathing as though he is running full speed.  Watching his tummy retract is crazy.  The respiratory therapist counted over 60 breaths per minute.  We are in good hands; the doctor is a partner of our Pulmonologist from Children's in Minneapolis.  I heard that Children's in Minneapolis is full.  Lots of sick kids in Minnesota tonight.