Getting It All Out

In the beginning of October, Jack started whistling when he laughed or cried, effects of a stuffy nose, we thought. Looking back, that was the first physical sign. On October 08, 2011 my husband and I took the kids to the Wine & Cheese Festival, and we had a great day. Jack rode his first “roller coaster”, we came across some family and friends there, enjoyed the nice weather, the day was perfect. Afterward we went to dinner together and that is when I noticed a lump on Jack’s neck. My husband and I talked it over and agreed that it didn't feel right. So we canceled dinner and headed to the Urgent Care. The Urgent Care was closed, the next step was calling the 24 hr. nurse hot-line to see if we needed to go to the ER, or wait till Sunday morning for the Urgent care to open. We sat outside the closed urgent care on the phone while the nurse assured us that, without a fever or cough, it could wait till morning. We were still a bit uneasy. He slept in bed with us that night, for the first time in almost two years.  The next morning at the U.C. he was given medicine for tonsillitis, and the swollen lymph node would decrease in size along with the healing infection.  Monday pasted uneventfully, and Tuesday morning was the check up with his regular Pediatrician. She gave me the okay to continue with a new antibiotic, and we started chatting. I asked her about his lack of appetite and the breathing. I felt like I could hear him breathing from across the room, some kids are noisy breathers, Jack is not. I expressed my concern, this was not normal for him. She said is was normal for an inconsistent appetite, as he was a toddler and not to worry. When she noticed the breathing I was talking about at the end of the appointment. She said it was probably nothing, but wanted an x-ray to be cautious. By noon the appointment and xray were done and he was home napping. I had another appt for Kate that day, other than being tired, he was my good, happy baby. We were heading across town when it happened. My 19 year old brother, Seth, was in the car with us. Jack started fussing for a drink. I was just happy he wanted to drink at all. He had been having trouble keeping up on his liquid intake b/c of the sore throat that tonsillitis caused. I assured him we were stopping at the little store for a drink, only three more blocks. And with that his whimpers got shorter and shorter then he stopped fussing/whining, very unlike a two year old. I asked Seth to look back and see if Jack was okay. I looked at Seth, he was looking at Jack with a bad/confused look on his face. I looked back and locked eyes with him. Jack was stiff, he look scared, his lips were turning blue. At the same time, I pulled over, yelled “Call 911!” repeatedly, swatted at where I thought my hazards were and then the car was stopped and I was getting out. I grabbed Jack out, laid him on the trunk and started CPR. A bystander said they were certified and pushed me out of the way. (There is a lot that happened in that short period of time, there were actually two bystanders that stepped in, but I told one that he was doing it wrong and took back over, that is when the second man stepped in. Some woman grabbed me and hugged me, consoling my hysterics. I pushed her away and went to Jack while the second man was doing CPR. I checked his air way, and stuck my finger down his throat, physically opening the air way, then blew air in. For a second his lips lighten and faded pink, then blue again. And nothing I did after that turned them pink. One of his pupils dilated and then the other. There was no color to his eyes, just big black pits staring at me. I popped his cheek, said his name, nothing. He was unconscious at that point and I was not changing it.). The ambulance arrived some time after that. Put a breathing tube in, started ‘bagging’ him. I rode with a cop to the ER. When Jack was wheeled inside I heard him trying to cry. Relief. Crying=breathing.  He was on the gurney, trying to breath. With every breath there was this awful raspy/gasping noise as a bit of air slipped in, and his chest would cave in two or three inches. The doctor said he could not breath on his own and they continued to “bagging” him till the ventilator arrived. He was put into a medically induced coma, and the ventilator would breathe for him. The x-ray came back “horrible” and the CT was ordered. It was “markedly abnormal” and the doctor couldn't help Jack. He was to be medi-flighted to a facility with the resources we needed. We rode there together and soon we were in the PICU of Oakland’s Children’ Hospital.