Pediatric Code Blue!

6/7/07 | 60Gunner

[trimom]

Well, it wasn’t you who did it, but 25 years ago, a team did this for my minutes old son, bagging him for 6 hours while we waited for a teeny enough vent to arrive with the transport to take him to a NICU.

I thanked them then. And every day, I remember them in my prayers.

That 30 week gestational baby is 6 foot tall now and preparing to get married.

[call meVeronica]

Thank you for what you do. It is not an easy career. God Bless

[napscoordinator]

Thanks for that great story. We have gotten such dreary threads lately that this was a very welcome change.

[Mad Dawg]

Diagnosis?

I was a pediatric chaplain (PICU/NICU) a million years ago at MGH. We lost about 2 kids per week from Xmas to Valentine’s. That’s when I learned about crying as tension relief.

[Grammy]

Even just reading this gave me an adrenaline rush!
Your writing is wonderful. Thanks.

[ibheath]

I am with you on that one. I worked at a University Hospital ER in KY as an ER Technician. We were a level 1 trauma center. Kosairs Childrens hospital was just down the road, so the youngest we ever got was 13, and that was hard enough. I thanked God every day I didn't have to do ER for kids. When my oldest daughter was one she had a febrile seizure and stopped breathing. I had to ventilate her as we drove (2 min) to the hospital. Scariest thing I ever had to go thru in my life. The docs and nurses were great as I ran in with her in my arms shouting for respiratory and an MD.

60, Thanks for the report. God bless you.

[reagan_fanatic]

Wow. I'm not sure how well I'd react under those circumstances.

Thank God for those dedicated Doctors and Nurses who have to deal with this every day.

[Gay State Conservative]

I was a pediatric chaplain (PICU/NICU) a million years ago at MGH. We lost about 2 kids per week from Xmas to Valentine’s.

I'm surprised it was only two.Although a million years ago MGH's pediatric service probably wasn't nearly as active as was those of Children's,NEMC and BCH.

[Responsibility2nd]

As a father myself, I had a meltodwn while reading this paragraph....

Dad was in the room, holding the girl's hand and saying soothing words. We put a lead apron around him so he could stay with his little girl while we snapped a portable soft-tissue neck x-ray and did really, horribly noxious things to his baby.

I'll have to return later to finish reading.......

[Chickensoup]

As a baby young nursing student, many years ago, the ER lost an acute epiglot...many complicating factors...

It was horrible.

When my children were young, most had croup and I overreacted every time. I still hear that child’s dying breaths.

My primary humored me, he understood the story.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

Tears.

[upchuck]

Thanks for the ping.

Scary but uplifting story.

Bump to YOU!

[Halgr]

God’s Blessing Upon YOU and all those that stand in the Gap

[null and void]

Bring Kleenex. You’ll need it.

Spoiler - it turns out OK...

[tioga]

Epiglottitis

Epiglottitis is a medical emergency that may result in death if not treated quickly. The epiglottis is a flap of tissue that sits at the base of the tongue that keeps food from going into the trachea, or windpipe, during swallowing. When it gets infected and inflamed, it can obstruct, or close off, the windpipe, which may be fatal unless promptly treated.

[AppyPappy]

We had a case like that once when I was in high school working in the ER. Asthma. We ended up taking her to the morgue. Seven years old.

[Slings and Arrows]

Damn, that woke me up but good.

Also, thanks to you and all your colleagues everywhere. A few weeks ago I went to the ER with an “It’s Probably Nothing” and ended up staying three days. THAT was an eye-opener.

[null and void]

What idjit designed it so that the paths for food and air cross??? "Intelligent" design, my rear!

(Speaking of rears, what's up with that crack???)

[Shimmer128]

ping

[tioga]

Thankfully, it is rare.