An Additional Complication

The doctors ordered a chest X-Ray yesterday as part of the standard baselining done when a patient is admitted. The results came back last evening demonstrating that Madeleine is fighting an infection in her lungs. The infection doesn't appear to be major-- no one can hear anything in her lungs and they've started her on a round of general antibiotics. They've also taken blood and mucus cultures and hope that these cultures will allow them to determine the specific infection that they are fighting. If it is bacterial, they will adjust the antibiotics she's on if necessary to target the bug. If its viral, they're not able to treat with antibiotics and we'll likely just monitor the infection.

This is definitely a downturn for Madeleine and we're simply hopeful that they caught it early and she's able to rebound quickly. The good news is that so far, she's shown no further signs of infection: She is alert and looks good, she does not have a fever, and other than reliance on a higher amount of oxygen, she is not displaying any other signs of infection. The doctors did wean her a bit this morning from 2 liters to 1.5 liters and they'll monitor Madeleine's status before weaning further.

Assuming that the infection is under control and dissipates in the next few days, the remaining question is when it makes sense to schedule Madeleine's sleep study. We all still agree that it is likely that Madeleine struggles with blocked apnea resulting in bradycardia episodes but a sleep study may not be useful when Madeleine is on a higher flow of oxygen. After all, the oxygen flow may be a solution to the blockage so they may not diagnose any blockage if they conduct the sleep study while she's on a higher flow. Madeleine is reliant on the higher flow right now so it isn't possible for them to simply drop the flow for the study. Kirsten is at the hospital today and she's going to talk with the doctors about the timeframe and approach for treating the infection while also determining a plan for conducting the sleep study.

That's all for now. I'll provide further updates regarding the medical plan and any other changes in Madeleine's condition. Thanks again for your interest and support.

Brent