Tyson has been admitted to SickKids for a couple of days. He's been struggling with energy and feeling crummy the last two weeks, he's been coughing and his sats were hovering around 80. We were worried maybe he has pneumonia again, so we decided to take him in. We bypassed our local hospital and drove straight to SickKids because we knew they'd likely transfer him to SickKids anyway and that is always such a long process.
We have absolutely no regrets coming straight here. The emerg was fully packed but Tyson was triaged straight into a room immediately. It probably helped that he had our oxygen monitor clipped to his finger so the triage nurse saw his low sats when we came in. She called a nurse who put us in a room where Tyson was put on 6 liters of oxygen, given an IV, and had blood work done within 5 minutes of arriving to the ER. We saw both a doctor and a respiratory therapist within 15 minutes. They did a chest X ray, ecg, bloodwork, nasal swab, and called the cardiology team for consult.
The cardiology fellow said it doesn't look like pneumonia compared to his last xrays from his pneumonia in January, but the ER dr said it is pneumonia, so he was started on IV antibiotics. We made it into a room on 7C around 8pm, less than 6 hours from arrival. We are happy to have saved ourselves some time so Ty could get settled in for the night much sooner. By the time we got to 7C he was already weaned down to 1 liter of oxygen. He slept fairly well and was weaned completely off by about 1am, with a 0.5 liter of support between 4-5am when he was in a deep sleep, but he is off oxygen again this morning. We will see how that holds! The doctors on rounds this morning said they'd like to see him off oxygen overnight before sending him home. So we appreciate prayers that his oxygen level improves so that he can go home tomorrow.
People are asking how Tyson is feeling being back here again. He was actually more upset yesterday morning when I told him we had no choice but to bring him in. He actually took the news of being admitted very well, and since he always responds so well to the oxygen support he is very at peace knowing he's in the best place possible. He has been praying for God's peace a lot these days.
BUT NOW we have the question of WHY, after doing so well for almost ten years between 2015-2025, why has he had three hospital admissions this year? I can tell you that over the last ten years, he has definitely been WAY sicker than this before and we've been able to keep him home because his oxygen levels didn't get beyond our comfort level. This time he didn't even have a fever, he was still eating and drinking well, he was coughing a little but not as bad as some of the colds he's had in the past! It was really his lack of energy and low oxygen that brought us in. We have a ton of amazing tools and resources to use at home when he gets sick, but the one thing we do not have is oxygen. So if he's consistently dipping below 80 even at rest, his body is just working too hard and it's unfair for him to be at home. Even though being in the hospital isn't fun either, at least his body gets a break.
This pic was taken yesterday in the ER, just before we were taken up to 7C. You can see how the oxygen helps his colour and he's obviously in a pretty good mood. He's been praying for peace and that he can trust God's plan for his future.
I just spoke with the cardiology fellow on call and she agrees that we need to get to the bottom of why this is happening. She has two theories. Either his teenage growth spurt is making it so that his lungs aren't able to oxygenate his whole body anymore. Or the recent worsening in the scoliosis of his spine (also caused by teenage growth spurt) is squishing his already compressed left pulmonary artery even more, hindering his left lung from oxygenating as well. This morning he had a panel of scoliosis x-rays and he will also be seen by the respirology team here before we go home to see if there are further tests that can be run once he's better. He had a pulmonary function test done in October and the results of that are definitely worse than his last one.
It's not realistic that we will find answers to all our questions before he's discharged from this hospital admission, but the cardiology fellow assured me that they are all asking the same questions and they'll be digging into things to find answers. It may mean they have to move up his heart cath date, which is currently scheduled for July. This heart cath (aka cardiac catherization - like an angiogram) was supposed to be a 'routine' cath that they'd do before he leaves SickKids and moves on to Toronto General. But it sounds like he could use a little tweak somewhere to help his lungs out. I can't imagine him being admitted for every virus that comes his way over the next few months.
This picture was taken this afternoon as we were waiting for his scoliosis xrays. You can see he's off oxygen but his oxygen level is barely holding on. Hopefully he can stay off oxygen today so we can go home tomorrow. Please pray with us for this!
