Hold on to your iphones, this one gets a little crazy.

Early this morning, Landon had his CT scan to better assess the fluid around his lungs.  I’ve mentioned previously he has developed pleural effusion.  As opposed to fluid IN his lungs, this is fluid filling the space AROUND his lungs.

The full story we think is still that he aspirated, which led to pneumonia, which led to pleural effusion, which led to an abscess on his right lung, (and caused the pneumonia to gain again) which leads to me banging my head against a wall.

They discussed a couple of options, and settled on the less invasive one…a chest tube.  More specifically, a pig tail catheter.  It was put in this morning uneventfully.  Here’s an image to help you picture it:

He has handled that procedure well, and thanks do his first dose (out of six) of TPA, things are breaking up, and he is draining well.  It’s disgusting to think about, but I can’t stop watching it.  I need different hobbies.

The plan is to do 6 total doses of TPA (given every 12 hours), and continue 4 am chest xrays to assess progress. Always 4 AM…

Here are a couple more photos:

Long story long, I am very hopeful that this will be the thing to finally get Landon heading in the right direction, and at a better pace.  Poor buddy has had a long road, and it seems like it kept sneaking up on us as bad news crept in.  Everyone at home misses him.

Some more than others.  Go ahead and guess where I’m about to head with this story…

Nolan for example…REALLY misses Landon.  So much so that…(have you guessed it yet)…he is coming here now too.  Seriously.  After a wheezy start to the morning, a lot of texting, treating, and a nurse visit, D took Nolan to the ER.  It might be morning before I have better detail, but the current theory is that Nolan might have a viral pneumonia.  Unlike Landon, we didn’t see an aspiration event, (although he did have seizures on Tuesday if you recall).  And Nolan’s bloodwork didn’t suggest bacterial at this time.  So we’ll have to assess and figure out what’s going on.  Currently, he is just on a nasal cannula, and is in route to the same hospital right now.  He should be placed just around the corner.  On the same floor, but not in the PICU.  Believe it or not it will be nice to have the 3 of us together, even if it is under very strange circumstances.  We are a very weird family.

If you’ve been following for a while, you might recall something similar happening in the fall.  Landon was very ill and in the ER, getting ready to be transported.  Nolan started his own trouble, and showed up in time to scare the staff in to flying him out first.  Twins are interesting anyway.  But these two are something else.   Both in spite of and because of it all.

I’ll share a pic of Nolan when he is here and settled.

TWO if by Faith.