Trusting your instincts: One mom ’s story

Serena with Julia and Sebastian Serena Hadsell has no medical training. But when her 4-year-old daughter Julia got sick a few days after Christmas in 2013, something else kicked in – her mother’s intuition. “Julia had a stomach bug and was having trouble keeping anything down,” recalls Serena. “It was very late and I was trying to go to sleep, but I got the sense that something was wrong: Her breathing wasn’t quite right.” A frightening late-night hospital trip Serena considered waiting out the night at home and calling their pediatrician in the morning, but she couldn’t stop watching Julia. So, despite the late hour, Serena decided to pack up the family, including 6-month-old Sebastian, and head to their local hospital. Once there, it turned out that Serena’s instincts had been right. “The doctors said her breathing was too fast and gave her a breathing treatment, but her oxygen levels continued to drop and they told us we were being transferred to Boston Children’s Hospital.” This was the start of several terrifying hours in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Julia’s breathing problems became so acute that she had to be intubated and put on a ventilator, only to go into cardiac arrest and be placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). This is an advanced life support machine that takes over the function of the heart and lungs. A thankful recovery “Thankfully, Julia recovered and was able to be taken off of ECMO after six days,” says Sere...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Our Patients’ Stories ECMO emergency department Family Advisory Council ICU RSV Source Type: news