The bubble has finally burst!!!

Well, it had to happen! We were having such a lovely run with William. He has had a cold/hayfever for weeks but woke up on Tuesday morning very very chesty and out of puff. Through the day he sounded dreadful but not too worryingly so. We went to the GP and got some antibiotics. However, an hour or so after falling asleep he was lying looking very pale and breathing at a rate of 60 breaths a minute. His temperature had hit the magic, potential line infection, 38 degrees so off the A and E we went. One of our friends looked after the girls for the night which was fantastic. It turned out that William has pneumonia on the right side. He also had a very low Hb level (anaemic) so needed a blood transfusion. This seems to happen when he is unwell. The initial doctor decided to ignore Chelsea and Westminster's protocol that IV antibiotics have to be started if William has a temperature 38 or above and stopped after 48 hours if blood cultures stay negative. Instead she gave him oral ones for his chest. Unfortunately, these really upset his guts with the result of 400mls of bottle green gastric aspirate over night, continuous windy watery poos, wretching and tummy pain and distention. We didn't know what would happen with the addition of the antibiotics as the volume into his system would be much more than the meds he has at the moment. It is a bit worrying that it was no unpleasant as it doesn't look good for the chance of reintroducing food for the time being. The next morning they started the IVs and he responded well. His blood cultures came back Ok this morning so we are now home but on IV antibiotics for his chest. It is a shame because his chest had been good following his Nissen op for reflux but this is the second lot of IV antibiotics for his chest in 2 months and his X-ray showed "changes" on the right. I hope he stays well enought to be at home but he is very chesty and wheezy and a bit grey and blue around his mouth and face. We are having to keep him on constant drainage at the moment as his poor tummy is really struggling with the coughing. It may be that he aspirated on the "snotty" cold secretions and that caused an aspiration pneumonia. We may have to go back to suction to keep his upper airways clear of normal baby secretions. We'll see!

It was most unpleasant walking into the house as we had to drop everything and take him and the remains of 4 day old chicken thighs and rice were still on plates! Lovely! At least it hadn't been too hot. Paul had been busy with Glyndeborne Opera and the girls staying with friends so none of us had been home. One of us has to be with William all the time when he is in, well you do in any case with such a young child, but when he is in the local hospital we really have to stay on the ball as many staff are not so experienced with TPN etc as the specialist centres. I am really looking forward to a nice bottle of wine, a hot bath and an early night in my own bed!