The afternoon and early evening brought quite the turn of events. The PICU doctor became less confident in his idea to start a central line once he had time to review Dallas’s chart in full. He got another PICU doctor on board and the brainstorming began. They were debating putting the line beneath his collar bone, as there is risk there of hitting the lung. The safest spot is in the neck, but then there was concern with intubation. They decided to get general anesthesia and general surgery involved and discussed how they would sedate him without an IV, and then the risk of the sedation wearing off before the line was in, etc, etc. At this point, I began to feel very uncomfortable with the whole idea and starting asking if this was really necessary if Dallas could potentially start eating in the morning. Then we would have put in this central line for less than 12 hours of use….seemed like a lot of risk for a not a very important purpose (just to keep him well- hydrated).

The Head of Anesthesia was paged in to come in a little earlier than her scheduled shift. She was great and was by his bedside in a matter of minutes. She suggested that she herself try and start a regular IV on Dallas. She felt very good about a vein in his foot….so we agreed to let her go for it. No luck. This was our last straw and she knew it. I felt like for the first time, everyone started to really see why we turn white when someone suggests a lab draw or an IV poke for Dallas. The proof was all over his body and all the experts got to give it a try. Also, for the first time, we felt in complete control of Dallas’s care. Suddenly my (our) voice was much bigger and held more clout that it had before. Scott and I explained how he was supposed to have had a port placed…..we no more than said the words and the anesthesiologist was adding him to her OR schedule for tomorrow. But I explained how it wasn’t that simple. We needed to get Dallas’s pediatrician and his immunologist involved and really understand the reasons for holding off on the port in the first place. Of course, it’s Sunday night and none of those people are around, but all the calls were placed and everyone is here tomorrow, so this will get figured out first thing in the morning.

As for the other issue of hydration, they have started giving Dallas an incredibly small amount, ½ ounce over 1 hour to be exact, of Pedialyte through his g-tube. They will see how his belly responds overnight and make a decision regarding eating in the morning. If he still can’t eat, and it’s decided that he does not need a port, then he will have to get a central line placed.

Sigh. That was a mouthful. We’ll see what they decide tomorrow. While I am sorry Dallas had to go through more pokes today, I feel so glad that this all happened because we have finally gotten through to the right people and no matter what happens, I think this will improve the way his treatment goes in the future….Oh, and we will sort of be sneaking in our immunology appointment early and hopefully get to the bottom of what is really going on with his immune system, if anything at all!