On October 1st we had our first episode of emergency care for Lucas. Prior to this he had been hospitalized only at birth and then again in June 2011 for the "elective" surgery of Nissen fundoplication and adding the g-tube. But on Oct. 1, 2013 his school called an ambulance and me because of shallow breathing, pale coloring, and temp of 102. EMTs arrived before me and found his blood Ox at 80. We went to Ellis Hospital where care was limited to Tylenol, Motrin and oxygen. A chest x-ray showed pneumonia, a partially collapsed left lung, and what seemed like the stomach escaped through a hernia in the diaphragm to crowd that lung. They had too hard a time getting an IV in and we were transferred by ambulance to Albany Med.

He was 7 days in Alb Med. He had internal bleeding high in the GI tract or from the stomach. It was determined his fundoplication had come undone and breached the diaphragm as in hiatal hernia cases. His temps reach a high of 104. He lost 1/4 of his normal blood. A unit of blood and Nexxium fixed that. The added fluids created fairly severe edema of hands, feet and a second chin. Lasix remedied this over the course of 2 days but not before the added fluids showed in his lung (bronchi?). His potassium levels were low. Potassium supplements will now be part of his care.

He is home for a couple days but will return to Alb Med on Friday for a re-do of the Nissen fundoplication and possible repairs to the diaphragm.

Unrelated, but discovered during this hospital stay, his right elbow chronically dislocates in two places. This seems to cause him no discomfort and so we may leave it untreated.