A very scary day

Wills got another line infection yesterday and ended up with septic shock. The speed in which Wills went down yesterday was terrifying. He was playing with his tank engines very happily. He went over to his Dad for a cuddle but was still there for a couple of minutes so we began to worry if he was OK. I went to get the thermometer and, by the time I came back in the room, Wills was blue, semi conscious and shaking violently and Paul was on his mobile for an ambulance. This in under 5 minutes from playing! I ran for the oxygen and blasted it up to the top. Thankfully, the ambulance was there very quickly. They took one look at him and got him straight in and were off with full blues and twos, radioing into the hospital that it was a life threatening situation. The docs were waiting in the ambulance bay and Wills was given resucitation with high flow oygen, drugs, antibiotics and fluids. They were debating calling a CATS team to get him into a paeds intensive care when he began to respond. Good old Wills, a real fighter! It is so so frightening to think that his life can be snuffed out so suddenly. This is not the first time this has happened and he has had a full respiratory arrest. He was on the way to another one this time. We know the signs though and reacted quickly with lots of oxygen. We could have been on a bus, in a park, in a shop - anywhere where we don't have everything to hand though and I don't know what could happen then. Worse still is the thought that this could happen overnight and we may not see. For this reason, Wills is now monitored overnight as his pulse rate speeds towards 200 when this happens and the machine will alarm and let us know. All this because the line that the TPN goes into to feed him is a huge infection risk. Of course, the TPN then feeds the bugs as well as feeding Wills, resulting in instant septacemia. Yesterday, he experienced septic shock. This is a very dangerous position to be in. It is very frightening that we could loose Wills from these infections very suddenly at any time. It is something we try not to think about but have to remain vigilent for situations like yesterday.

There were no beds for Wills in our local or in Chelsea and Westminster so we ended up in St Helliers. They were so lovely there but it is not familiar and it felt pretty lonely when Paul left as I was not at home, or in a place where we are all known.

I am now trying to catch up with everything else that is happening and make sure Hope and Ellie are sorted for the weekend and I have the things I need, as well as the little things and treats I use to make myself feel better in hospital with Wills. They have identified the bug and he should be on the right IV antibiotics tomorrow. Once he has settled, we will go home and continue the treatment ourselves.