Preston Jager

Preston has been in and out of the hospital for the last month.  Dr’s could not figure out what was wrong for awhile.  We kept going in to get fluids because he kept getting dehydrated.  The last time he went in, while he was getting another bag of fluid for dehydration, he got very sick.  He spiked a 104.5 temp and was having trouble breathing.  I took him back to the clinic right away.  They tested for RSV, influenza and did a chest X-ray for pneumonia which all came back negative.  He was still getting worse as we were sitting in the dr’s office.  The dr decided it was in Preston’s best interest to admit him so he could get scheduled nebs, more tests and be monitored to try to figure out what was going on.  In the hospital in Watertown, he would be uonqnd down so much and his temp would rise and fall.  The second day in the hospital was terrible.  Preston slept a all morning and wouldn’t wake up.  His eyes were so swollen and he was really struggling to breath.  I knew things weren’t good and requested to be transferred to Sanford Chikdrens Hospital in Sioux Falls.  Once the de came in and saw Preston he agreed that it was time to transfer him and there was no more they could do for him there and he was declining.  He wanted us to fly down but Preston’s lungs wouldn’t handle the pressure in the helicopter so we had to go by ambulance.  The ambulance crew came and picked us up within the hour and we got to Sioux Falls very quickly.  We got to the hospital and they dropped us off.  The nurse did a test on him right away and called a rapid response team in as it was determined he looked like he was breathing but his lungs were so full of junk that he wasn’t getting air into his lungs.  That was kinda scary for mom knowing he technically wasn’t breathing.  They got him stable enough to move up to the PICU where he could be in high flow and continuous nebs to keep his lungs open and try to get the junk out so he could breathe.  The next day (Friday) we got stable enough to move down to the floor and so scheduled nebs and be on regular oxygen instead of high flow.  We also found out he has norovirus, rhino enterovirus, and human Metapneumovirus (the second worse respiratory virus a child can get).  His chest X-ray also showed he now has pneumonia also.  Preston has reactive airway disease so has a hard time breathing when he gets sick.  All of these viruses were not in our favor.  His potassium level was also low.  He was on fluids for dehydration, IV potassium, IV steroid, and IV Zantac to help prevent possible heartburn.  He also does scheduled nebs every 2 hours and his qvar inhaler a couple times a day.  His days have been very up and down.  He is trending in the right direction but still has a ways to go.  Please keep Preston in your thoughts and prayers!