We have been receiving lots of questions about what caused this hospitalization for Audrey. Unfortunately, it is never a quick easy answer which means this post may be long. Audrey was born with a congenital birth defect known as Esophageal Atresia/Tracheoesophageal Fistula (type B) that required surgery to correct. Here is a link that discusses further: surgery.med.umich.edu/pediatric/patient/conditions/A-M/esophageal_atresia.shtml After Audreys initial surgery her esophagus began to tighten (stricture) requiring regularly scheduled trips to the operating room to have it stretched back out with a balloon. We can usually tell when a dilation is scheduled because she begins to have trouble swallowing her saliva and has more coughing/gagging episodes than normally. We took her to the ER one day before her scheduled dilation for this reason. Audrey initially tested negative for influenza or viral respiratory illnesses. Her tests did show positive for pneumonia and pseudomonas. She went to the OR the following day to have her esophagus stretched, but was unable to come off of respiratory support (completely) following that. Audrey was making improvements and looking like she would go home when she suddenly began to spiral backwards. She was retested for respiratory illnesses which came back positive during this set of testing for rhinovirus, enterovirus and adenovirus. These are common cold type viruses. The only course of treatment is to provide the body respiratory support. Yet, her health continued to decline and soon spiraled out of control quickly. Further tests confirmed suspicions that Audrey has a bronchoesophageal fistula, or a connection from her esophagus to her lung. This is the most probable cause of her requiring the ECMO life support. But all of these factors played a role on her hospitalization. Please do not hesitate to ask questions. Sometimes I forget that this stuff is not a part of every day life for everyone.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 01:31:47 +0000
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