ED, Part 2

Lively and I have been in the ED close to 13 hours. He's getting IV hydration, so he's starting to have wet diapers again. I managed to get him to take about 2 or 3 ounces of breast milk from a bottle, but he still refuses to nurse, and for a boy who usually drinks about 5 ounces every 4 hours when I'm at work, the small amount he drank is a drop in the bucket. He's probably had less than 5 ounces by mouth in the last 24 hours.

Lively had a chest X-ray this morning. It looks like this:

To me, the most interesting part of this picture is the massive amount of soft tissue around his face. He continues to lose weight since stopping the ACTH, but this shows how far he has to go. Anyway, I don't read chest X-rays very often (and never pediatric ones), but the radiologist read it as "diffuse haziness in the lungs bilaterally . . . no focal opacities to suggest pneumonia." Basically, a wishy-washy call, for which our radiologists are famous. Lively has a very mild dry cough that he has had for the last 3 days or so, and it didn't worry me at all at home, but now, in combination with the radiologist reading (which is likely an overcall of a normal X-ray), I'm worried about PCP pneumonia. This is probably a case of me knowing just enough to worry myself needlessly about something that is unlikely. To my non-medical blog readers, please refrain from googling this pneumonia. I'm happier alone in my worry-boat right now, and I'd prefer that no one else join me. (This is meant especially for my 4 parents who are opening browser windows to read more about PCP as they are reading this post-- close down the search engine!)

I emailed Lively's neurologist early this morning (did I say that in my last post? I haven't slept much, so I can't remember). This is one of the big advantages of my job -- I can email Lively's doctors who work for the U, and they usually either call or page me back. I'm hoping she'll see us today if we get admitted to the hospital and have to miss the appointment with her. I'm really not interested in opinions from other neurologists (except for one, who happens not to be on service in the hospital this month).

Here's a photo of Lively right now, resting quite comfortably.