I started sitting in this room on Tuesday. It feels much, much longer. Daughter was admitted to ICU from ER because she was, and is, very sick.
You learn a lot of new terminology when your child is sick. “Septic” is one of those words. It means an infection that is in her blood, so every part of her body is under attack. It makes blood pressure drop to the floor, and fluid seeps into places it has no purpose to be, such as in her lungs.
She’s on a ventilator to help her breathe, has a central line (line in a vein of the neck that ends up in a vein of the heart) to give her medications, an arterial line (in an artery in her groin) to monitor her blood pressure, IV’s in both arms to give her fluids and other meds that need to be given slowly, a feeding tube down her throat… if there’s a place to stick her with a needle, they’ve been there. Then, even with all these holes and lines and tubes, they still have to stick her in each arm once a day to take blood samples to check the progress of the infection.
Seeing her helpless like this, waiting while she slowly comes back to life, is excruciating. I’m not supposed to talk to her or touch her, because it causes her to become more awake and agitated. I can only sit here and watch.
She’s being treated to the best medical care available. People are in her room every few minutes doing something to keep her comfortable and help her heal. They are giving her medicines to fight the infection, help her body shed some of the water that’s pooled in the wrong places, fight her nausea, pain, and the anxiety that comes from being tied down in bed with tubes down her throat.
So here I sit, and take comfort in every little bit of good news. Her blood pressure has been stable for 24 hours. The antibiotics are killing the infection. They’ve turned down the ventilator so she can breathe more on her own. Maybe tomorrow (and they say this every day) the fluid in her lungs will be gone and they can remove the ventilator.
If you have children, hold them close, tell them how precious they are, and that you love them more than they will ever know. They are fragile little creatures.
The icu is the most frightening place I have ever been.
Our 5th child Tom was diagnosed with diabetes in March 2001. He had a condition called ketoacidosis which means there is too much acid in the blood.
He got it again this year and went into high dependency and was on an insulin infusion.
I remember them putting the drip in his head when he was first diagnosed because his veins were collapsed and they couldn’t see any. You certainly do learn a lot in ICU. Life is such a gift and I know that our children are to be treasured. Thanks so much for this post.
Therese