Today is August 9th, and August 9th is one of those days that will never be forgotten in our family. The events of the day, every emotion and detail from that day come back every year (and every other time I share this part of Hunter’s story). No, today is not Hunter’s birthday. Early in the morning on this day 7 years ago Hunter was having a very difficult time breathing. He had been having stridors for several months (loud, whistle-like gasping breaths) but for some reason we couldn’t get him out of the stridor. They usually lasted about 30 minutes and then he was good with no side effects. My husband, mom and I tried everything we had done in the past that worked to no avail. I called in to work saying I was going to be late, just waiting for this to pass. Then I called in to work saying I wasn’t going to come in because I wanted to make sure that I was with Hunter all day after he came out of it. After too many hours (three I think) I finally decided it was time to take him to the ER. (Hunter was never appeared to be in distress – just this loud whistle breathing.) I called Pete at work and let him know what was happening and also called my mom. It was still early morning commuting traffic and my mom said she would drive us down so I could sit in the back with Hunter. So we picked Grammy up at her work and hopped on the freeway, headed south towards Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego. Hunter was calm all the way, but still doing the stridor breathing. I think it took us an hour and a half to do a normal 45 minute drive. We walked in and there wasn’t another child in that waiting room. We had been there several other times and I had NEVER seen this! So they took us right back to the triage room, hooked him up to the monitors where his O2 stats were around 90. WOW – that’s a pretty good number for what he had been going through. And then all of the sudden it dropped to 80, then 70, then 60. He was moved back to one of the ER beds so fast I wasn’t sure what was happening. I’ve never seen anyone move so fast in the ER, except on TV. And that’s really what I felt like – that this was a scene from a TV show. I think every doctor and nurse in the ER was available that morning and surrounding Hunter’s bed. I was standing all the way in the back of the room, on the phone with Pete trying to tell him what was going on. But all I could see was white…white coats of all those doctors. I couldn’t even see my baby there were so many people around him. It took several attempts, but they were finally able to intubate him and get his breathing and oxygen levels under control. He was then transferred up to the PICU where the ENT doctor was waiting for us. He informed me that Hunter would need to have a tracheostomy the next day because his vocal cords were paralyzed. At this point the CHET team (the helicopter nurses) had all heard what was happening and boy did I get a talking to! I was told that I should have called 911 to get him to the nearest hospital, and that I could have requested the CHET team come pick him up. Why should I have known this? Never in my wildest dreams did I think my son would need to be flown in a helicopter to the hospital. That is when I realized what had just happened. Hunter wasn’t breathing on his own all the way down to the hospital – or all morning long...our Heavenly Father was doing the breathing for him, keeping him safe and ALIVE until I could get him to the hospital. As soon as we got where we needed to be, HE allowed those who could care for him to take over, to do medically what Hunter needed. Yes it was one of the scariest days of my life, but I do remember feeling the comfort and love of my Savor, knowing everything was going to be alright. That night Hunter’s neurosurgeon was doing rounds and saw his name on the board. He stopped in his room and pretty much said that anything that could go wrong with a baby with spina bifida was happening to Hunter. (He had already had multiple surgeries for his shunt, Chiari II Malformation, clubbed feet and had a feeding tube placed just the month before because he was so underweight from not being able to keep anything down.) That didn’t give us much comfort knowing what we were facing the next day and the years to come. Hunter was such a happy little guy and seeing him all hooked up broke our hearts. But we were still comforted, knowing that the Lord was there helping us get through this very difficult time. Many people prayed for Hunter and our family and we felt peace and comfort from every single prayer. He ended up staying in the hospital for three weeks while getting used to the trach. We had so much help from friends and church members it was incredible. They wouldn’t let us take Hunter home until dad, grammy and I learned how to care for him and passed all their tests. Boy was that scary – but eventually it just became second nature. In November 2011, while in the hospital after having bladder surgery, the pulmonologist decided it was time for the trach to come out. Hunter did his awesome hootin’ and hollerin’ because that meant he could go to Costa Rica surfing! Me – I was a tad bit nervous. I think it had become somewhat of a safety blanket for me. But everything has been good since. The trach hole has closed up nicely with time and one small surgery, and yes, Hunter did get to go surfing in Costa Rica last month! The only thing that trach ever stopped Hunter from doing was going completely under the water (hmmm…except that one time surfing!). We are so proud of the little man that Hunter is becoming. So full of life, personality, joy and LOVE! (Sorry for the long post today)
Posted on: Fri, 09 Aug 2013 17:16:59 +0000
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