Apr 3 – Pre-Op Update

Trigger warning – choking

  • Sunday was a very scary day for Olivia. Max was holding Olivia, and for the first 40 minutes, she was asleep and perfectly comfortable. Olivia then had a small amount of spit up, an infrequent but benign event for Olivia. While Max and Olivia’s nurse were cleaning the mess, Olivia’s breathing tube became unstable and occluded with vomit, making it impossible for her to breathe. Olivia turned blue and her oxygen and heart rate crashed. Thankfully, the nurse on duty for Olivia immediately escalated, and thanks to the quick actions of all the staff Olivia was able to be saved. Here are some details from the episode:
    • The nurse immediately escalated and Olivia went to code, triggering about 20 nurses and staff to rush to Olivia’s bedside.
    • Once Max put Olivia back in bed, Olivia was extubated immediately, removing her blocked breathing tube. 
    • The staff then began “bagging” Olivia, (giving her manual breaths of pure oxygen) and administered CPR
    • Olivia was given two IV pushes of epinephrine to raise her heart rate
    • After one unsuccessful attempt, Olivia was then re-intubated with a new breathing tube, and she stabilized relatively quickly. Re-intubation caused a minor amount of irritation in her throat.
    • The event caused Olivia’s stomach to fill with air, which is an expected side effect of bagging. She was then placed on a stomach pump to help remove the excess air/vomit and make her comfortable.
    • The entire incident lasted roughly 6 minutes. Max estimates that she was only choking for about a minute before she was extubated and able to breathe.
    • Olivia recovered remarkably well from the incident and was very awake and curious while recovering, likely thanks to the epinephrine. Mark, Michelle, and Julia all were able to see Olivia once she was stabilized.
    • Olivia’s feeds were stopped in an abundance of caution, hoping to avoid any potential future events.
    • Olivia’s chest x-rays have been promising following the event, with no obvious signs of debris in her lungs
    • Olivia had a very comfortable rest of the day and evening, with her Oxygen requirement returning to baseline by early Monday morning.
  • This was obviously very scary for everyone. It comes as a reminder to us all that Olivia is still very fragile, and she remains in a hospital setting because benign events for most babies can quickly turn potentially fatal. With a Tracheostomy, an airway occlusion of this kind is unlikely to occur and should be much easier to remediate.
  • Mark drove Becky and Max back to the Melrose apartment and stayed with them until Dan and Amanda arrived. They watched The Emperor’s New Groove and ate Mexican food from Mexicolindo.com because they’re adults and can do what they want when they’re stressed. (And yes, that is 100% a plug for that restaurant if you’re ever in the area). There was also much Anya snuggling. We want to give a huge thanks to all the well wishes sent to us throughout the day.
  • TIMELINE UPDATE: Olivia’s Tracheostomy has been postponed and will likely happen Tuesday 4/4, but will be Wednesday 4/5 at the latest. This is out of an abundance of caution, and moves her surgery earlier in the day’s surgical schedule when more critical cases are handled.
  • Max and Becky want to stress how heroic the actions of the BCH staff were today. They had seconds to act to keep Olivia alive. She is still here solely thanks to their quick work and amazing bravery under pressure. There is no possible way to express enough thanks to the BCH Staff for saving her life.

2 Comments

  1. Aunt Donna

    God bless the life saving people at BCH. Michael wants to know if the restaurant delivers to Florida? We love you all and glad ❤ you could enjoy dinner and a movie!

  2. Carol LeRiche

    So scarey. BCH is the best.
    My thoughts are with you.

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