daughter's close call, important lessons learned

Published Mar 7, 2004

417 Posts

Specializes in ccu cardiovascular.

My 16year old daughter came down with pneumonia about 10 days ago. She was started on a antibiotic and seemed to be on the road to recovery within a couple of days. She had a doctor check on day 4 and doctor pleased with recovery. Day 5 she started running temp, noticed breath sounds was very decreased on right side of lung, but otherwise clear. I called her doctor who met me at the emergency room. Cxr revealed a possibel large pleural effusion in the right lung. Chest tubes discussed, oxygen sat very poor, ventilator discussed. Thank goodness with she improved but is now home with her family. I learned some important things both as a nurse and as a parent. First of all no matter how grownup your children get they forever remain your little children in your eyes and you will do anything to protect them. On the second day we were at the hospital we waited over 8 hours for a chest ct to be read by the doctors of a major facility(agh in pgh). I was able to understand firsthand how my patients families feel waiting and how agonizing it can be. I was visited by a nice very personable doctor wanting to know how our stay was, i vented to him my problem, he said he would take care of the situation. 15 minutes later he revisited, gave me his card and said if there was anything else he could do during our stay to let him know. After he left the doctors and team appeared and told me the results of the cat scan. I didn't bother to read the card til we got home today, he was the medical pediatric director of the allegheny/penn system. For such an important man to care about my problem shows greatness in this man, he truly is serving his profession well. Thankyou doctor, your kindness will not be forgotten by this parent and nurse.