Back on PICU

Jessica had a fairly stable night up on Ocean Ward and all seemed to be going well but then as the day staff came on shift, her oxygen saturation levels started to dip and the amount of oxygen she was having had to be increased. The team from PICU was called to assess and we thought we were heading down but then things stabilised. A chest X-ray showed that there was some air around the left lung which was causing it to collapse slightly but as Jessica’s chest drains seemed to be working well, it was hoped that the air would come out through the drain and things would improve. Jessica had an echocardiogram which showed her heart function was fine and her sats had come back up so the situation seemed to be improving.

However, as the day wore on, her saturation levels continued to fluctuate and she seemed much less comfortable than she had been. The consultant from PICU came back up to assess and a second chest X-ray showed that Jessica’s left lung had collapsed and so the decision was made to head back down to PICU so that Jessica could be sedated and put back on the ventilator to help her with her breathing as she was clearly having to work quite hard.

So we are back down on PICU again with Jessica now on the ventilator and things are currently stable. She has had another chest X-ray and the lung looks better so the plan is for a quiet night, keeping Jessica sedated and stable and then see how things are in the morning.