Results just came in from the last chest X-ray and they feel like the pneumothorax his smaller than the last X-ray. Wyatt and I both went nuts to hear that we get to leave!!!
Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. It makes things easier knowing that we have so many wonderful friends in our lives.
Sandy
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Really??
The doc came in about an hour ago and said the Radiologist found a small pneumothorax (air bubble) on the top of Wyatt's lung, so they ordered another X-ray for 4pm. He did say that this "bubble" was present yesterday and could have just been missed this morning. At any rate, we are starting to lose hope on checking out today. Wyatt is so bummed. I am refusing to uncross my fingers!!
Sunday Morning Update
There has been no suction in place for 24 hours and the X-ray still looks
good this morning. They have removed the chest tube and will X-ray again around
noon today. If everything looks good at that point, they will most likely
release Wyatt this afternoon. Yay! Removing the tube was painless and no suturing
was required. I know he is looking forward to a shower and coming home. Thanks
everyone for your thoughts and prayers!
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Saturday Afternoon
Wyatt's suction tube had been clamped for around four hours, and he showed no signs of deterioration. They took another X-ray and the lung still looks good. The plan now is to leave the tube in place and clamped throughout the night. They will X-ray again in the morning. If the lung still looks good, they will remove the tube. The best case scenario is that he can go home sometime tomorrow afternoon. If all goes well, I'm betting it will be Monday morning though. While he remains bored, his disposition has greatly improved. He just wants to get out of the hospital and get on with spring break!
Addition to Saturday Mornings Post!
Aside from turning the suction off, they "clamped" the tube to see how the lungs do on their own. NOW THAT'S PROGRESS!! Two more hours till the next chest X-ray!
Saturday Morning
X-Ray looks good again this morning, so they are removing suction once again to see if the lung will hold. They expect to take another X-ray in about four hours and re-evaluating. We aren't exactly sure what the course of action will be if there still appears to be a leak. The doctors could communicate a little better. I suspect applying suction again and more waiting. Hopefully, the hole has healed and he can go home soon.
Friday, March 13, 2015
What is a Pulmonary Bleb You Ask?
Pulmonary blebs are small thin-walled air pockets, not larger than 1-2 cm in diameter. Their walls are less than 1 mm thick, and they look like blisters. If they rupture, they allow air to escape into chest cavity resulting in a "spontanious pneumothorax". This refers to the presence of gas (air) in the chest cavity. When this collection of gas is constantly enlarging, the result is compression or collapse of the lung. Research shows there are some 9000 cases of "spontaneous pneumothorax" in the US each year.
I hope this doesn't gross anybody out. I cept the image small for that reason. This is a picture of a bleb (long arrow) on the left lower lobe in an adolescent's lung. A scar (short arrow) is also visible from a previously ruptured bleb.
Here is a representation of a resulting collapsed lung.
Blebs are a very common finding in otherwise normal individuals. They are often found in young patients. They are more common in thin patients and in smokers. I wonder if Wyatt has been up to something he should be. I doubt it very seriously. I remember when he and Connor we little, and they would point at cigarette butts on the ground and say something like "Look at those drugs on the ground! Stay away from that!"
In the vast majority of cases, blebs remain benign and present no symptoms. However, they occasionally they rupture resulting in a condition like Wyatt's.
Now for some good news; patients with this condition are able to resume healthy, athletic lives after they heal. In Wyatt's case, the doctors are trying to keep the lung inflated with suction, let nature take its course and simply let the lung heal itself.
If it doesn't heal on its own, surgery may be necessary to close the air leak. In most cases, the surgery can be performed through small incisions, using a tiny fiber-optic camera and narrow, long-handled surgical tools. The surgeon will look for the leaking bleb and close it with one of several methods. In some cases, a substance like talc may be blown in through the tube to irritate the tissues around the lung so that they'll stick together and seal any leaks. Rarely, the surgeon will have to make a larger incision between the ribs to get better access to multiple or larger air leaks. We hope to avoid this route if we can. Recovery wouldn't be fun.
Thank you so much for all your love, prayers, well wishes and visits. Wyatt especially appreciates the visits to break the monotony. We will post more as we make progress toward recovery.
I hope this doesn't gross anybody out. I cept the image small for that reason. This is a picture of a bleb (long arrow) on the left lower lobe in an adolescent's lung. A scar (short arrow) is also visible from a previously ruptured bleb.
Here is a representation of a resulting collapsed lung.
Blebs are a very common finding in otherwise normal individuals. They are often found in young patients. They are more common in thin patients and in smokers. I wonder if Wyatt has been up to something he should be. I doubt it very seriously. I remember when he and Connor we little, and they would point at cigarette butts on the ground and say something like "Look at those drugs on the ground! Stay away from that!"
In the vast majority of cases, blebs remain benign and present no symptoms. However, they occasionally they rupture resulting in a condition like Wyatt's.
Now for some good news; patients with this condition are able to resume healthy, athletic lives after they heal. In Wyatt's case, the doctors are trying to keep the lung inflated with suction, let nature take its course and simply let the lung heal itself.
If it doesn't heal on its own, surgery may be necessary to close the air leak. In most cases, the surgery can be performed through small incisions, using a tiny fiber-optic camera and narrow, long-handled surgical tools. The surgeon will look for the leaking bleb and close it with one of several methods. In some cases, a substance like talc may be blown in through the tube to irritate the tissues around the lung so that they'll stick together and seal any leaks. Rarely, the surgeon will have to make a larger incision between the ribs to get better access to multiple or larger air leaks. We hope to avoid this route if we can. Recovery wouldn't be fun.
Thank you so much for all your love, prayers, well wishes and visits. Wyatt especially appreciates the visits to break the monotony. We will post more as we make progress toward recovery.
Friday Morning Update
Friday 10:45 a.m.
The Surgeon just came to check on Wyatt and found that his lung is still leaking; therefore, he is back on the suction tube. They want us to wait another day to see if the leaky area closes up on its own. The next option is surgery to insert a larger tube into his chest to seal the hole. She said that they are trying to avoid surgery for him because the lung looks good, aside from the hole. (WHAT??)
My poor guy! He really has been such a trooper. Honestly, I haven't seen him frustrated until this moment. Apparently, when they turn the suction on it causes automatic pain and the nurses aren't responding as quickly as he would like with meds. Once the meds kick in he will return to his Subway/junk food diet. (Shout out to his buds!)
The Surgeon just came to check on Wyatt and found that his lung is still leaking; therefore, he is back on the suction tube. They want us to wait another day to see if the leaky area closes up on its own. The next option is surgery to insert a larger tube into his chest to seal the hole. She said that they are trying to avoid surgery for him because the lung looks good, aside from the hole. (WHAT??)
My poor guy! He really has been such a trooper. Honestly, I haven't seen him frustrated until this moment. Apparently, when they turn the suction on it causes automatic pain and the nurses aren't responding as quickly as he would like with meds. Once the meds kick in he will return to his Subway/junk food diet. (Shout out to his buds!)
Why is Wyatt in the Hospital
Wyatt was in the shower Wednesday morning getting ready for school. He bent over to pick up a bottle of shampoo and felt a severe pain in his back/chest. He made his way out of the shower, the pain quickly got worse and his breathing became labored. We then decided to take him to the ER. He was doubled over and couldn't really walk, so we had to carry him down the stairs and get him in the car. Once in the car, his breathing was even more labored. We thought about calling 911, but decided we could get to the ER quicker than an ambulance could get to our house. Once in the ER, they said it was either muscular or a collapsed lung. After X-rays, it was diagnosed as a collapsed lung. WHAT? How does that happen?!?
Well, it happens. It's not common, but it does happen more than you would think. The cause is Ruptured air blisters. Small air blisters (blebs) can develop on the top of your lung. While not considered to be a disease of the lungs, these blebs sometimes burst — allowing air to leak into the space that surrounds the lungs.
The repair process is to insert a tube into the chest between the ribs and draw the air out. So, Wyatt was taken down to radiology where the doctor inserted a tube with the help of fluoroscope imagery. The tube has a one-way valve that will allow air to flow out but not back in. There really isn't much of a treatment in typical cases. Given some time, the lung will heal itself. In adult cases, many times they send the patient home immediately and have them return the next day for follow-up. In Wyatt's case, the lung inflated quickly, they transported him to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital for observation/recovery. With kids and young adults, they prefer to be more cautionary.
After spending the night in the hospital, they performed another X-ray and found that the lung wasn't fully inflated. One reason for this could have been the size of the tube they used. The docs at VCH indicated that larger tubes are typically used. The one they used on Wyatt was smaller in diameter. They decided the next course of action was to put a vacuum pump on the existing tube to avoid further surgery. The waiting game continued.
The next morning, they X-rayed his chest again and found that the lung was fully inflated. Then, they took the vacuum pump off to observe what would happen. After a couple of hours, the lung had collapsed a bit. This indicated it wasn't healed, so they put the vacuum pump back in place to give it another day. It's frustrating, but it is something that just takes time. The docs could perform surgery, but that would be rather radical in this situation.
As of early Friday morning, the latest X-ray looks good again. It's really the same as yesterday morning. So, they have removed the vacuum pump again. We'll wait and see if the lung holds up.
Sandy has been at the hospital with Wyatt since this whole thing started. She's pretty exhausted because of the stress and difficulty sleeping there. With friends' help, Ian is managing Connor and Emma and trying to maintain their schedules. Thanks everyone for your thoughts, prayers and helping out with Emma and Connor! We will update this thread as we know new details.
Well, it happens. It's not common, but it does happen more than you would think. The cause is Ruptured air blisters. Small air blisters (blebs) can develop on the top of your lung. While not considered to be a disease of the lungs, these blebs sometimes burst — allowing air to leak into the space that surrounds the lungs.
The repair process is to insert a tube into the chest between the ribs and draw the air out. So, Wyatt was taken down to radiology where the doctor inserted a tube with the help of fluoroscope imagery. The tube has a one-way valve that will allow air to flow out but not back in. There really isn't much of a treatment in typical cases. Given some time, the lung will heal itself. In adult cases, many times they send the patient home immediately and have them return the next day for follow-up. In Wyatt's case, the lung inflated quickly, they transported him to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital for observation/recovery. With kids and young adults, they prefer to be more cautionary.
After spending the night in the hospital, they performed another X-ray and found that the lung wasn't fully inflated. One reason for this could have been the size of the tube they used. The docs at VCH indicated that larger tubes are typically used. The one they used on Wyatt was smaller in diameter. They decided the next course of action was to put a vacuum pump on the existing tube to avoid further surgery. The waiting game continued.
The next morning, they X-rayed his chest again and found that the lung was fully inflated. Then, they took the vacuum pump off to observe what would happen. After a couple of hours, the lung had collapsed a bit. This indicated it wasn't healed, so they put the vacuum pump back in place to give it another day. It's frustrating, but it is something that just takes time. The docs could perform surgery, but that would be rather radical in this situation.
As of early Friday morning, the latest X-ray looks good again. It's really the same as yesterday morning. So, they have removed the vacuum pump again. We'll wait and see if the lung holds up.
Sandy has been at the hospital with Wyatt since this whole thing started. She's pretty exhausted because of the stress and difficulty sleeping there. With friends' help, Ian is managing Connor and Emma and trying to maintain their schedules. Thanks everyone for your thoughts, prayers and helping out with Emma and Connor! We will update this thread as we know new details.
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