Pneumonia. Again.

It’s 1.30am and I’ve left Anna in the care of the staff in the high dependancy unit at sick kids to try and get a few hours sleep up in PJ’s loft (parent’s accommodation).

Our arrival at A&E this evening was sudden and unexpected. Anna has had a bad cough for over 3 weeks and there have been ups and downs but she seemed over the worst and was in really good spirits when she left for school this morning. Over the 3 weeks, she has been on antibiotics, used her cough assist on a regular basis and tried hard to clear the phlegm that has built up in her lungs. However it just hasn’t been enough. She felt unwell at school this afternoon and developed a temperature of 39 degrees soon after arriving home. She was extremely nauseous (due to all the mucus and phlegm going into her stomach) and not wanting to eat or drink. She wanted to go to bed straightaway and didn’t ask for her electronic device. Both actions are completely out of character and enough to cause concern. I called the GP, who arrived out at the house 20 mins later and within the hour we were on our way to sick kids. We were seen fairly quickly and sent for a lung X-ray. Things speeded up after that (supporting my new theory that the worse things are the quicker the nhs response).

Doctor’s descriptions of Anna tonight have included ‘a very sick child’, ‘very poorly’, ‘really very unwell’. We’ve spent most of the evening in the A&E emergency room, with constant doctor/consultant presence, as Anna has needed significant oxygen and various monitorings since arriving early this evening.

Tonight’s X-ray shows the left hand side of her lungs almost completely infected with pneumonia. The out of hours physiotherapist has been called in to try and help clear the build up in her lungs and the out of hours radiographer was called in to do a lung ultrasound. She has got a cannula in her hand and had bloods taken and tested.

She has received 2 different IV antibiotics, an anti emetic and is currently receiving fluids. She is taped up with both heart and oxygen monitors which are both giving readings causing some concern – low oxygen saturation levels, high heart rate and high respiratory rate. She has been nil by mouth since arriving as it looked like the fluid build up on the lungs might require a drain, and presumably a general anaesthetic. However, the ultrasound results show little fluid but a lot of infection

Everybody as always has been wonderful with her but sometimes explaining to the parent what is going on during a ‘significant event’ is the last thing to happen. It was clear from the fact that we were in the main emergency room that it was serious but I’ve had to ask for information, specifically ‘is this treatable?’ and later, ‘is she improving ‘. Without these questions I don’t know how worried I need to be (the answer was yes to both). She has certainly caused a lot of concern tonight but all the signs seem to show that she will recover.

Anna’s own comment is ‘this has been a really bad day’. I agree completely. X

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