In the hospital

We brought Sophie in to see her doctor again yesterday morning, and as we had expected things had gotten worse for her. Initially her pneumonia had been in her lower right lung, but when they listened to her yesterday they couldn't hear any air movement in that side at all. Obviously that's a problem, so we were sent immediately to Southern Maine Medical Center to be admitted. I brought Ben to my grandmother's house, and Adam brought Sophie straight to the hospital. They did another x-ray on Sophie, and I met them just after they had arrived in her room. 

The new x-rays showed that her right lung had essentially collapsed and the entire surrounding area had filled with fluid. There was so much fluid it was encroaching on the space of the other lung and had actually shifted her heart over a bit. Those were scary words to hear. 

During all of this time, she was operating solely on her left lung. It was actually doing amazingly well and keeping her oxygen saturation level around 97-98% most of the time, but her little body was having to work so hard for it - her heartrate was around 180 and her respiratory rate was running 50-60. It was very hard to see how concerned everyone was for her and to realize how serious her situation was. 

While there, she had some blood work done and an IV put in, where they started her on fluids and some new antibiotics. She was also given a CT scan to better assess the status of her right lung. We were told that the fluid was going to need to be removed and the procedure they described involved taking the fluid out with a long needle, much like an amnio that a pregnant woman might have. Because of her age and the delicacy of the procedure, the doctors decided that it would be best to have Sophie moved to Maine Medical in Portland. That hospital is bigger and has specialists more equipped to handle a case like Sophie's. 

An ambulance was called and we were transferred to Portland around 6pm. Sophie thought the ambulance ride was pretty cool, even in her miserable state, and she watched very carefully to be sure that Daddy was driving right behind us. When we got to Maine Med, the surgical team looked at all of Sophie's imaging and decided that the needle approach of drawing out the fluid wasn't going to be enough. 

Sophie's technical diagnosis is a pleural effusion, which is a collection of fluid that built up in the cavity around the lung. Sophie's fluid, specifically, is an empyema, which basically means pus. The fluid that built up during her pneumonia became infected, and as the infection grew, more and more fluid was produced. As a treatment, they doctors decided to perform a thoracoscopy, a video assisted thoracic surgery (or VATS), which is a procedure where the surgeons go in through two small incisions, guided by small cameras, drain the fluid, and scrape away any thickened material that may have gathered on the surface of her lung. 

She would be having the surgery in the morning, so they kept her comfortable with pain medication and more IV fluids. They also did some more blood work and she had lots of visitors from different doctors, nurses and specialists checking her out. 

We all got a little bit of sleep through the night, but Sophie was still pretty tired this morning. She went in for the surgery around 10:30. Adam and I both went with her to the pre-op area, but only one parent could go in with her while she was put under. She really wanted her Daddy, so Adam got suited up and stayed with her while she fell asleep. 

We waited for what seemed like forever, but was really about an hour and a half, before we got a call from the surgeon letting us know that she was out of surgery and that everything had gone really well. They removed over a liter of fluid, which is hard for me to even imagine where that all was fitting in her little chest. As she was waking up, we met her in recovery and stayed there with her for a couple more hours. We got back to her room around 3pm.

Brianna and Grandpa Ben were here ready to visit once Sophie was situated back in her room, and Grammy and Tara came a short while later. Sophie was excited to see everyone, even though she didn't have much energy. I know it was special for her to have people all around her who loved her. 

She now has two chest tubes which continue to drain excess fluid and will be in for a few more days. We were told to expect a stay of at least a week. 

Thankfully our families have been great and offered so much help. Ben has been with my grandmother for now, and then my dad will pick him up, bring him for a visit here, then take him to his house. It's so great to not have to worry about him. It's been hard to be away from him, but it's also nice to know he's having some special time of his own, since our house has been so boring for him lately. 

Adam and I have both felt so helpless during this whole ordeal, but Sophie has been such a trooper. She's really been amazing and has hardly complained through it all. Everyone has commented on what a great patient she is and how mature she is for her age. We're incredibly proud of her and so thankful that she is on the road to recovery.