So what we think happened was that Josiah's secretions became very thick due to the 4 hour ambulance ride with out humidity to his trach. Josiah's vent has a heater that creates water vapor that get sent to his trach. This keeps Josiah's secretions from becoming too thick, which could plug off his trach. We had to shut off the heater on the trip to Greer, but did not think it was too big of a deal, as we had been told it wasn't. So this morning Josiah's trach became plugged with mucus. And in Josiah's distress when Milo suctioned him he had a response that dropped his heart rate and quit breathing. We didn't realize that it was his trach that was the problem at first because we were still getting his chest to rise with the ambu bag. What a we realize in hindsight was that the majority of the air we were giving him was being forced up and out his mouth not down into his lungs. When we changed the trach we were able to get him better breaths that brought him back. This all lasted about 15 minutes but it was the scariest 15 minutes that felt like 3 hours we have ever experienced. Our nerves are still way out on the edge.
We are grateful that Josiah made it through this "episode." And we are so grateful for the amazing training that we received in the PCICU that allowed us to respond to this event well. Especially to John and Christine for all their teaching on bagging and CPR. We prayed we would never have to use it but knew that we very well could, we just never thought we would need it our first night home. I'm grateful that we took the time last night to set up as much stuff as we could in Josiah's room so that in this emergency we knew where things were. I am very grateful that some little voice (the Holy Spirit) made me go back into Josiah's room last night as we were going to bed to find his ambu bag and place it on his bed. Thank you for all your prayers today and thank you God that we have another day with our precious boy.
coolercorner Praying, Praying for you!! Please know that you and your family are in my thoughts and prayers! Ava is sending Josiah a little surprise in the mail. Praying for a better night tonight.
In Christ,
Abbey Cooler
coolercorner.blogspot.com