Intubation

Our biggest fear was realized when Charlotte woke up from a restful nights sleep and was unresponsive. She was shivering and unable to open her eyes. Laura was sleeping with Charlotte in her crib, and when they woke up and she immediately knew something was very wrong. Laura yelled for the nurse and the nurse checked Charlotte's oxygen saturation. It was 76%. Normal is 90-100. So, they turned Charlotte's oxygen way up and started fluids immediately. The intensive care team was called and Charlotte was transported to their unit. She started responding after they administered fluid. However, when the IV nurses came to place a line in Charlotte's foot for medications, Charlotte started crying hysterically and could not catch her breath. Her oxygen saturations started dropping rapidly again and the doctors decided they needed to intubate Charlotte and use a ventilator to help her breathe. The doctors have explained that Charlotte has gotten an infection which has caused "septic shock" which means bacteria has entered her blood stream and is causing a severe infection that is causing her organs to shut down. The tremendous stress has rendered Charlotte unable to breathe and she will rest while the ventilator breathes for her as her body heals from the infection.

White blood cells

White blood cells are an important part of our bone marrow. They are the cells that help us fight infections and heal our bodies. A person can not live without white blood cells. After being admitted to the bone marrow transplant unit, Charlotte's white blood cell count has continued to drop. She is now 0. This is an extremely bad situation for Charlotte, because if she gets an infection of any sort, her body can not defend itself and she will get very sick, very fast. The doctors noticed that Charlotte's red blood cell and platelet counts were low prior to discharge, and they also found out that her body was attacking her bone marrow. So, they started her on a steroid to treat the problem. However, as the red blood cells and platelets got better, her white blood cell count continued to plummet to 0. The doctors do not know why. We are, again, in an extremely rare situation.