10/01/2020
On December 13th of last year Carter fell ill. We started him on antibiotics, started him on vecuronium ( which is a paralytic) with 3 to 4 drips of sedations to keep him calm. At this time Carter was already diagnosed with pulmanary hypertension, so he was 2 medications already for that. We also started him back on Nitric oxide at this time. The plan was to keep Carter calm so he didnt have to work to breathe....the vent was supposed to do it.
(( At this time, Carter was just getting over being sick in November, so for him to be sick again was not good....so when I found out he was sick again i started researching babies with BPD, babies with PH...anything that pertained to Carter, I researched. I also took notes everyday.....so I never missed a beat when it came to researching β€β€ so I found out that babies like Carter may need different vent settings....vent settings vary patient to patient......patients that are dx with BPD and PH have particular vent settings they should be on to allow thier lungs the proper pressures....they need higher pressures & lower rates. At this time I had reached out to nationwide childrens hospital in OH, asking for help, well no pleading for help. Due to laws they couldnt give me advice over the phone, so I told the lady carters vent settings, and asked her to say yes or no to the fact of them being too low. She did. She told me to have our team call and speak to their attendings. I spoke to carters team, but unfortunately because he was already on vecuronium they didnt see the need to adjust anything at this time. We were letting Carter ride it out. ))
Sunday, December 15th, 2019, I went into the hospital with Carters Dad, Anthony. We spent time together, I held him, kissed him lots and took pictures with the 3 of us. Although he was "sleeping" it was a nice day. We left around 6pm.
11pm that night my phone rang with the dreaded hospital number 262....
I answered, it was Dr.Pinheiro...." Danielle you should come back into the hospital. Carter has been desatting as low as 5%....we started bagging him....we suggest you come in..."
I was in shock, wasn't expecting this call, we just put Anthony in bed between the two of us, sleeping peacefully, just as we left Carter, sleeping peacefully.
I get up, wash my face, wake Anthony sr. Up to tell him about the phone call, told him to get up and get ready....he told me to go...he would meet up with me soon, so i left. Leg shaking uncontrollably. I call my mom, tell her to meet me at AMC. I arrived at AMC around 1142pm. I ran upstairs to the NICU, ran into Carters room. To see his room filled with that many people with a "code cart" outside your sons door, you know its serious. I walk into carters room with Dr.Pinheiro bagging our son. With each pump of the bag, Carters belly went up then down. No movements. No eyes opened. Just his belly going up and down.
I prayed, and I prayed some more. I remember looking up saying, is this it? This cant be???!!! Dr. Pinheiro asked me what to do, I said we need to wait for his Dad to get here.( At this time my mom went to pick both Anthony's up in the middle of a snow storm I might add. ) when they arrived it was a little before 4am. Carter was still being bagged. At the point in time they had been bagging Carter for going on 5 hours. Dr. Pinheiro along with nursing, and respiratory therapists kept our son alive for 5 hours. Let me tell you how tiring that can get, but not one person complained, not one. They truly were trying to save carters life right in front of my eyes. Holding Carter while they are bagging him is something a mom can never unsee.
6am came. Dr. Pinheiro asked me what else they could do......I said first let's take him off of vecuronium. Then lets Implement nationwides protocol, higher pressures and lower rates. Dr. Pinheiro said ok, let's do it. Between myself and Anthony Sr. We held Carter until that evening when his number started miraculously climbing upward β€β€β€β€ by that night Carters numbers were still bad bc he was needing 100% fio2, but he was now satting in the 90s. We saved Carters life that morning my implementing those changes, and most of all we never lost faith and we never stopped believing in him β€β€β€β€β€π
Carter is a PHighter and he is such a huge miracle in so many ways. He has come so far, but yet has so much further to go. We love our son, and will never stop advocating for him until he is home with us β€ππ₯°ππ