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.
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