This morning around 6:00 Parker's machine began alarming. I stumbled out of bed and nearly slept walk to his room. This is a nightly occurrence- actually multiple times a night- for us so I believe my body is programmed to go through the motions. When I got to the machine, it read "low drain volume". This usually means he has the line kinked and fluid can't pass through. So I go to pick him up and EVERYTHING is soaking wet. My first thought is "Dammit he pulled his feeding tube out". By this time I am wide awake. I turn the lights on and start searching for the problem. His feeding tube is still in. It is not leaking or busted. Maybe he just puked? So, I take him out and strip the bedding off. I go to change him and start examining his dialysis catheter to ensure its in one piece . Sure enough, there is a big hole in it, which can be extremely dangerous. We immediately get sterile gauze and tape and cover the exposed area. We call the on call nurses to tell them what's going on, pack all of our bags, and head to Children's Hospital.
Luckily we were able to repair the existing catheter, instead of requiring surgery to replace it with a new one. They took a specimen to check his cell count. If his cell count were high, infection was already growing. In that case, we would be admitted.
There are angels watching over us as always, though. His cell count came back at 9. PERFECT. So as we speak, I am on the interstate-in the passenger seat- with my big boy in the back seat and we are heading home! We will do a few days of antibiotics in his dialysis just to be safe, but honesty we did not expect, nor could we have wished for a better outcome.
My little buddy always has to keep us on our toes.
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