Think Good Thoughts for My Niece

My niece Christine has been unwell lately. She has a form of Muscular Dystrophy and her health has not been great, but this weekend we have had a real scare. I don't know a lot about it, but I am pasting in what I do know.

Please keep this sweet 16yo girl in your thoughts!

Sometime after 3 am Sunday, Christine woke up pale with blue fingernails, and Dave and I took her to St. Joe's emergency room. She had only 65% oxygen saturation, but she was alert and talking when we got there. After the doctors put the oxygen mask on her, her oxygen saturation went right up to 100%, but she soon became very sleepy, and eventually became unresponsive. As the medical staff tried, unsuccessfully, to give her an IV, her condition worsened. Her right lung collapsed, and her blood pressure went dangerously low.

They put her on a ventilator, and put a chest tube in to inflate the lung. They decided to MedFlight her to the U of M Pediatric Intensive Care unit, but then found out that it was not flying because of fog, so they sent her in an ambulance with the MedFlight crew attending her.

They had put her on norepinephrine and epinephrine to raise her blood pressure, and were giving her fluids through a central line (through one of the larger vessels near her collarbone) as well. Although the docs at St. Joe's thought her chest x-ray showed pneumonia, the pediatric docs at UM interpreted it differently--they thought pneumonia was unlikely.

Since coming to U of M, Christine's blood pressure has gone back up, and she is no longer on the norepinephrine. This is the best news of all, because it was the doctors' most immediate concern. The fever that she had Sunday night had gone back to a normal temperature this morning. At the time I write this, she is still on the ventilator, and very groggy from pain meds and sedatives. However, she has recognized people who have come to visit, nodded "yes" when we have asked if she wants to see certain people, and even gotten ticked-off with me when I have not understood her hand gestures! So we know that her mind is functioning well... It is strange to be happy when your kid gets mad at you, but I was thrilled this time.