It’s Going To Be A Rough Day

Hana’s withdrawal seemed to be under control until about 4am, after which her nurse could not leave her bedside. Hana is rolling around and thrashing and crying like a cat. Her lips are very dry. She is acting crazy for something to drink. She tries to grab the diaper wipes to put in her mouth to suck. The pacifier has been working ok, at least it keeps her from crying so her throat can rest. It takes two people to handle her. There is sitter who I’ve seen around helping to rock babies, who is helping us.

The scary part is when her heart rate gets really high, in the 180s, even above 200. Also she knocks the nasal cannula out of her nose and will desat down to the upper 70’s. This makes me nervous too.

Monday night there was a code. Lights were flashing and alarms going off and people were running to the room in the corner. At the time, I was talking to another parent and she said she knew the kid in that room – he had the same diagnosis as her son. Despite privacy laws, you see things and you hear things. This young man didn’t make it. We heard the mom cry out. I mention this for two reasons  – because it’s hard to be here seeing this and also scared that it could have been your child. But also because the nurse of this patient had to come back to work the next two nights and she had Hana. Hana was a challenging patient both nights she had her. This nurse is really excellent and she didn’t leave this morning until almost 9am and she had tears in her eyes telling me how hard it was to watch Hana withdraw.

I guess my two reasons for mentioning this are really – please send out some loving thoughts and prayers for the family who lost their child and please do the same for the nurse, this was the first patient she’s ever lost.