Double Whammy

On Thursday, Wyatt presented with symptoms of the flu. After some weird breathing issues and some desats, I called our on call team who advised we come to the hospital to be admitted. After a bit in the ER, we were up to our regular floor. He was not positive for the flu. He has not one, but two viruses- adenovirus and parainfluenza (not the flu). 

{photo of Wyatt in a recliner at the hospital, his eyes are red and watery and his lips are chapped. Clearly, sick.}

Friday was a relatively good day, he seemed to be turning the corner. He was requiring less deep suction, which is a catheter in his nose that goes beyond the nostrils but not as far as the throat, to get out mucous. Since he was still requiring it, we couldn’t get sent home as that’s hospital level care and not something we can do at home. 

{photo of Wyatt looking out the window with his toy bus on the window ledge. It’s not visible, but he was attempting to lick the window.}

Last night we had high hopes for a calm night and our plan was to attempt to get him through the night without having to deep suction him and prepare for discharge home. 

Wyatt had other plans. 

Middle of the night brought lots of oxygen desaturations, with increasing difficulty getting him to recover from them. We tried multiple interventions, but none of them worked. In a very urgent effort, we deep suctioned him and he recovered slightly, but levels weren’t fabulous (89-91, he should be 95+). We had to then add on oxygen while awake, via a nasal cannula. He’s on oxygen when asleep via BiPAP so this means around the clock oxygen. 

{black and white photo of Wyatt sleeping on his stomach, with a nasal cannula and tape on his face}

After speaking to the team, we will try one more intervention in hopes that we can thin out his mucous so he moves air better. That will be a nebulizer treatment that we are hoping we can give via his BiPAP since he tolerates that mask better than a neb mask. 

We are in an uncomfortable place right now, as Wyatt is reaching the maximum level of what the regular pediatric floor can do. If he requires an increase in oxygen support, we will be sent to the pediatric ICU. Our hope is we can avoid the PICU, but we recognize that he may need increased care and we will do whatever it takes to get him healthy again. 

His team continues to reiterate that fighting one virus is hard for Wyatt on a good day. Fighting two, just two weeks after fighting one, is really hard. Double whammy of viruses (and not so great ones at that!) is tough.