I guess that's a dumb title for this blog post. Is there ever really an expected ambulance ride? I'm writing from St. Joseph hospital tonight. Maddy is ok now so that part is out of the way and you can relax while I give the whole story. But first, here is a pic of Maddy in the ER.
And now the rest of the story. Maddy had IVIG yesterday, which always leaves her feeling like crap after. She had a friend hang out with her while getting it done and it took forever, as usual, so she was not finished until after 9PM. She decided to just hang out at his place after with the plan of bumming around and making him take care of her the next day if she felt like crap. She had a sleepless night because of the reaction to the IVIG. And then of course her friend got called into work the next day. So I got a text from Maddy around 11AM Saturday telling me she feels like cap and she is going to call the doctor to have them call in a prescription so she can get some relief. And that she needs me to bring them to her. She also explained that she was probably going to be asleep and I should call her when I was on my way. She did get a little sleep before I got there with her meds at around 2:00. She looked tired and like she felt like crap but otherwise was fine. She expected her friend home within a few hours and was just going to nap until then.
That's when all he'll broke loose! Maddy stayed up for a while after I left and finally got to sleep about 30 or 40 minutes before he got home. By the way, this timeline has been painstakingly researched through texts and phone call history on our phones. Anyway, when he got there Maddy was asleep and unresponsive when he tried to wake her. She looked blue to him and when she remained unresponsive he called 911 and tried to revive her. He said his boyscout training kicked in, he gave her a few puffs to help her breathe and sat her up. She had a pulse so he knew he didn't need to do CPR. She was coming around by the time paramedics arrived and was immeadtly responsive and alert as soon as they hit her with O2. She was obviously confused and didn't know why she was waking up to a bunch of people around her. She told them she was a double lung transplant patient with cystic fibrosis. She told them she would go to her hospital and tried to refuse to go but the paramedics said that her O2 sats were 50 when they got there so they were not going to leave without her.
Which brings me to the next little wrench in the works. The paramedics assumed they were dealing with a drug overdose! Apparently when they got there and asked Zach what meds Maddy was on he responded that he didn't know all of them, because he knows she is on a lot but not what all of them are, they then asked about narcotics and he said he only knows that she is on Xanax. I'm guessing there was confusion on the paramedics part because Maddy does not look like a transplant patient and even when she told them they seemed not to know what to do with the information. Needless to say this made Maddy even more upset, because she is trying to get back on the transplant list and if there is an ER report saying she was brought in for a drug overdose she will never be able to get listed.
So I got a call right around 5PM from Maddy while she is riding in the ambulance. How she talked them into giving her phone to her I will never know. She let me know they were taking her to the hospital and when she said TGH the paramedics said "no we are taking you to St. Joe's"! Of course that made Maddy even more upset. By the time I got to the ER the docs were finally beginning to understand they were not dealing with an overdose. A very nice smart doctor came in and let Maddy know that he believed her and that she didn't need to worry about being labeled as an OD. He went on to say thay he wished he could get her over to her regular doctors right away but that it wouldn't do Maddy any good to put her on another ambulance before making sure she was stable and getting some idea what was going on. Maddy said she understands but wishes they had taken her where everyone knows her in the first place. Later on another nice lady doctor came in and let Maddy know that she made sure the report noted that the initial reason of over dose was wrong and that Maddy was not taking drugs. That made Maddy feel much better.
So it's about 11:30 now and Maddy is in a regular room here at St. Joe's. She was hoping to get some sleep but we all know how that goes. The first thing the doctors are worried about is a pulmonary embolism. They ordered a CT with contrast but her bold work came back with high creatin levels. Which means her kidneys are not working very well. This is a side effect of the IVIG and something we worry about while trying to get to the next transplant. Her kidneys hurting is one of the main things that makes her feel like crap after IVIG. Anyway, with her kidneys not functioning at their best they don't want to risk using contrast, which is also very hard in the kidneys. So they are going to check for blood clots in her lungs using nuclear medicin, a PET scan is my guess. The doc said it takes a day to get the isotopes made so that test won't happen until tomorrow. They just took her downstairs a minute ago for a regular ct scan so I guess they are just going to hit her with everything they can.
Speaking of hitting her with everything. We just got the news that her white blood count is up and they are worried she has an infection. So they are hitting her with a bunch of IV antibiotics tonight too. She is a little concerned but we are guessing they are going to keep her here tonight and then let her go tomorrow or transfer her to TGH once they know she is stable.
This is all just too much to handle! The poor kid has been through enough! I don't know why stuff like this keeps happening to her. Hopefully the nurse will get her hooked up aoon so she can rest. The rooms at this hospital are tiny so I'm not sure I'll stay the night. I will update again when we know more.
p.s. I didn't proof read this before posting so please forgive any mistakes.
Posted with Blogsy
I hope u feel better
ReplyDelete