Healing Hand Hope Through Child Loss and Grief
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Mine and Kyle's story. We all have a story. This is where mine started 5 years ago.

                   

                                   The days and events concerning my son’s death

On Saturday February 14th, My son came to me and told me that he had a headache and a sore throat. I gave him Ibuprofen, and throat drops. Other than those two complaints, he was fine. He continued to his normal daily routine without any complaints. He played his Xbox, guitar and talked on the phone as usual.

On Sunday February 15th. My son woke up that morning and had a fever of 100.7, he said that his throat was getting worse and he had a mild cough. I gave him Theraflu and continued to give him the throat drops and let him sip on tea and hot soup. I had to work that evening, and while I was at work my husband called me to tell me that he was feeling worse and the his fever had escalated to 102.7. He couldn’t take him to the hospital because he had to get up to go to work … and I was already at work. So, I called my mom and she took him to Brown County General Hospital. While he was there the administrator called me at work to get his insurance information. I told her what she needed to know and then I requested to talk to a nurse or someone so that I could tell them his symptoms and how he had been feeling. I don’t remember the nurse’s name, but I explained his symptoms to her. I told her he had a high fever, and that he said his throat was so sore that he couldn’t even swallow, and that he had a cough and just felt bad all over. She said that his temperature was normal, and I told her that he had been taking the Theraflu and Ibuprofen .. and as soon as it wore off that his fever would spike again. They gave him a chest X-Ray and drew blood and sent him home with a cough syrup with codeine. They said that he had Bronchitis. When my son got home he called me at work, and I asked him and my mother what the hospital said, .. thinking that he had Strep. And, they told me that the doctor didn’t even look in his throat. Days later I was informed that my child had a blood pressure reading of 160 over 100 while he was there. I don’t know what his heart rate was. I don’t for one understand how a doctor could send a 15 year old back on the street with a blood pressure reading that high. To me that would be a red flag. But, I’m not a doctor.

On Monday February 16th. My son laid around, and I gave him the medicine that the doctor had prescribed for him. Remember, he had Bronchitis, and that’s what the doctor said, and I am not a doctor so I obliged his diagnosis. Kyle coughed a lot and as a result his ribs were hurting him. He was however coughing up a little bit of mucus. Monday night he was restless and experiencing some excitability, I thought it was most likely from the cough syrup since it had Codeine in it.

On Tuesday February 17th at around 7:00 am, Kyle came into my room and he could hardly breathe. He was taking short gapping breaths, and he couldn’t stand up, he had to lay down. I immediately got him dressed and took him back to the hospital. Brown County. They took him back and his blood pressure was sky high and his heart rate was 189. They put him in a room and immediately began trying to give him oxygen. They tried 3 different methods, and said that it wasn’t working. When the attending physician entered the room, to find out what was going on with him, I told him that he had been here only 37 hours earlier and I told him what happened and the diagnosis. He looked at me and asked me what kind of antibiotic they had put him on … I just looked at him and said … they didn’t give him one. He just looked at me with a kind of amazed look on his face. He then ordered that a X-Ray machine be brought in to take another X-Ray. In the meantime, the medical staff attending on my son continued to administer oxygen. They put a mask on him with the mist of oxygen, and while he had that on, they made him hold the hand held type in his mouth. Then when they felt that wasn’t working, they brought in this machine with a big hard looking plastic mask that they put around his face, and when it was turned on, it puffed his cheeks out and forced air into his body. He ripped that right off because he said that he couldn’t breathe and it was making him feel sick. Well, the next thing that happened was that he threw up, and I found out later that when he threw up, he aspirated. The doctor came back in and said that his X-Ray showed that his lungs were solidified. And, that he had Pneumonia. I couldn’t comprehend how you go from Bronchitis to Pneumonia in less than 48 hours with such severity.

The doctor came in and told me that they were going to have to put an oxygen tube down into his lungs to get the oxygen in. So, they asked me to step out of the room while they did it. I told my son what they were going to do and that I would be right outside and be back in when they were finished. That was the last time I ever seen my son with his eyes open or talked to him responsively. When I came back into the room, I walked up to him and rubbed his arm and started talking to him only to see that his eyes looked rolled back in his head and they were half closed. I started crying and asked them what was going on and they told me that he had to be put to sleep in order for the tube to go in and he would remain that way until it came out. I was devastated that they hadn’t told me that they were going to put him out. I didn’t know. The entire time all this was going on their were 2 girls there trying to draw blood from his artery to check his oxygen level. Which was like at 52% when we arrived at the hospital. I cannot tell you how many times and in both arms they tried to draw this blood and I don’t think they ever succeeded.

The next thing I knew, the doctor came to me and told me that he was going to have Kyle sent to Children’s Hospital and that he had ordered transport from Children’s to come and pick him up. In the meantime, my husband and I just sat there waiting and not understanding what was happening to our happy, healthy son. And, we would ask questions, with little or no response. We just couldn’t understand nor did we know the severity of what our son was going through.

When the transport finally arrived, it was an ICU unit from Children’s Hospital. It was staffed with a Respiratory Therapist, an RN and a doctor. They made us leave the room and wait in the lobby so they could switch him over to the gurney. 45 minutes went by and I went up to the desk and asked what was going on ..? The receptionist came back and said everything was fine and that they were just having a little trouble switching things over. Another half hour to 45 minutes went by and I was getting really nervous and wanted some answers. So, the RN that was with transport came out to talk to us and she told us that Kyle was very sick and in critical condition and that they were even concerned about the ride to the hospital being detrimental to him. I stood there in shock, and just broke down. Still, still not understanding and not having any idea what was wrong with my son. When they finally brought him out of his room .. I will never forget the way he looked. He had so many tubes and IV’s on him .. They had him fastened to this special type of gerney I had never seen before. And, I just flipped out. I said .. “WHAT is wrong with my son???? My husband trying to comfort me said “Its alright, calm down, he will be fine.” I said .. “ What the do you mean he will be fine .. LOOK at him, and nobody can tell us what is wrong with him?  They let me give him a kiss before putting him in the squad.
My husband and I entered Children’s Hospital and were told to go to the Intensive Care Unit. We were escorted to his room and what I seen totally devastated us. There were at least 15 people in his room working on him. I could barely see him. The doctor came out and she told us that our son was very sick, and that he was in critical condition and that they weren’t even sure that he would make it through the night. She said that they had 10 people working on my son to keep him alive.  I was beyond devastated. “What is wrong with my son???? We don’t know .. Some kids just get sick! NO, some kids just don’t get sick, when they are happy and healthy children that have never had a problem in their life. I completely broke down and had to be taken away for a little while.

I suddenly found myself alone curled up in the corner of this room .. In shock is the least way to put it. I felt this hand on my shoulder, and this soft voice say .. Carissa, are you alright, your son needs you. I will go with you. It was a minister .. And an angel sent to me from God.

After regaining my composer, my husband and I went to see the doctor’s. His attending physician’s name was Sarah Norris. When we went back to Kyle’s room, there were so many doctor’s and people there …. Dr. Norris introduced us to a surgeon … his name was Dr. Richard Falcone. They told us that Kyle’s lungs were peeling and his heart was in danger, and basically the only chance he had for survival was to be put on life support. The machine was called Ecmo. They said that it would give his lungs a chance to heal and that it would work them for him and also a percentage of his heart.  When asked what was wrong with our son … again, nobody knew. But, before they were to put him on life support they wanted to go down and check his throat, stomach and airways for any blockages. There was nothing, so they proceeded with the Ecmo. We were in the consultation room with out daughter’s while they done the surgery,  and the minister came and got us and told us that they were doing chest compresssions. When we got back there they were doing chest compressions, and they were switching off and using the paddles. It seemed like this went on forever, but he went without a pulse for I think it was 18 minutes. I couldn’t bare to sit there and watch anymore, nurses running to get more blood, they were switching off with the compressions from doctor to doctor .. My family was watching through the window in the door as Rick and I sat there .. Praying and praying .. You couldn’t even see my son.  So I went into a room next to his  with my girls and a little while later Dr. Jennifer Kaplan came to let me know that they had a pulse, it was faint but non the less, it was a pulse. When they put him on the life support, they didn’t go through the artery in his neck, they went through the one in his leg. It was like his foot instantly started to swell up. And, his foot looked blueish-black. They said that he could end up on dialysis for the rest of his life, and lose that leg, which in turn is nothing to keep your life. The next thing we noticed was that his body had started to swell really bad. The doctor’s said that it was because his heart and lungs were both so distressed that he wasn’t getting enough blood and oxygen flow. They had every kind of doctor you could imagine there. From infectious disease to Brain surgeons.

The swelling only worsened, and now we were faced with yet another terrifying decision to make. The doctor’s came to us and told us that they had to realease the pressure in his abdomen or it would cause kidney failure, and other organ failures. They said that since he was on so many blood thinners, that he had a 95% chance of bleeding to death when they opened him up. The doctor’s practically begged us to take him off of life support and made us sound cruel for not doing so. They said that no other parent would take the chance on letting their child bleed out like that. We had to take that 5% chance … When they opened him up, he only bled what he was suppose to bleed. His bowels spilled out of his body. They said that it could take up to a week I think before they could put his bowels back into his body. So, now when we went to see him, he had his bowels stacked in a pile on top of his body covered in bandages.  But, it was successful. We were so exhausted and with a phone in our room and our minister there the entire time to watch over him and come and get us, my husband and I went to lay down for a little while. 7:00 am came, and we had to knocks at the door … and no phone calls. So, we were feeling a little enlighted. We got up and went back to see our son, and when we got to the doors, I was once again overwhelmed with disbelief and scarred to death. There were at least 15 doctors standing in front of his door. I couldn’t bring myself to go in. I slid down the wall and just sat there crying. Kyle’s head nurse came out and talked to me and said that they were going to do an EEG on his brain to check for brain activity. Then we talked to Dr. Norris who explained to us that Kyle had no response in his pupils. Even with a light she said that their should be some response. So, she ordered the EEG. They came and told us that the test showed no brain activity at all. She said that our son was dead. She said the she had the life support turned all the way up and it was only working at 20%.  The condition of my son was horrifying at this time. His body was so swollen and purple, his eyes, nose, and mouth were bleeding. His head was 2 times the size that it should have been. His little lips were swollen up and curled onto his face, his tongue was swollen completely up out of his mouth. His skin was so swollen that it was splitting everywhere. And, his bowels were piled up ontop of his little body with nothing but bandages to cover them up. He was disfigured. There was a doctor there that came up to me and asked me if I had a picture of Kyle with me so he could see what he normally looked like.

Kyle left us on life support. Our minister came and prayed over him and I climbed up the ladder to talk to him. Because they had his bed so high of the floor and tilted to try and improve his blood flow. We talked to him for probably 15 minutes..While I talked to him, I had to wipe blood soaked tears from his little eyes. I had to walk over hoses of blood from that machine … there was not a spot on his body that I could touch without a needle sticking out of him. There were racks on each side of him and behind him with bottles and bags of IV’s.  I told him that he had an angel on his shoulder and it was ok to go. I told him how sorry I was and that I didn’t understand. I told him how much he was loved. My son died, and I still had no answers. He died at 11: 25am February 18th …. His birthday was the next day … February 19th and he was born at 11:26am. He died 24 hours and 1 minute before his 16th birthday.

My husband and I were in the consultation room talking to the minister and getting the information that we needed and the questions answered on what we were to do next. They told us that the Cincinnati Coroner’s Office would be taking my son for an autopsy since there was no determination of death. But, before we walked out the door Dr. Norris came in and said that Brown County had just sent them a fax stating that our son had a Rare and deadly Super-Bug. It was Oxacillian Resistant. Both my husband and I were in such a fog at the time over the past 24 hours that I don’t think at the time it really sumk in. And, I guess since a ruling came back stating what he had, the Coroner sent Kyle’s case back to Children’s … who told us they would perform the autopsy for nothing and they wanted some answers as well as we did.

We came home and were with our family totally devastated that less than 5 days ago our son was perfectly healthy in every way. …. Not understanding … not knowing. We went and picked out his casket on his birthday and his burial plot and made the plans for his visitation and funeral. Kyle was laid to rest on Monday February 23rd. My husband talked to Dr. Norris the following day which would have been February 24th. She said that our son had Influenza B and a very rare and aggressive Super-Bug that was Oxacillian Resistant. My son caught this Fatal Super Bug from Brown County Hospital. There isn’t enough time to catch and cure this, it has to be within a 24 hour span. By the time symptoms appear, its too late. At the time there wasn’t a lot to be known about it. Other than it is a very aggressive and deadly. And, it went straight into Kyle’s lungs.

This has been such a tragic and forever life changing event for our family. My son went to the hospital with what I know realize were Flu symptoms … I know in my heart and soul that this should never have happened and my son should be here with us today. I don’t just say that as a grieving mother …. I say that with the face of reality. We trust in our doctor’s … that is what they are there for. I will always believe that if someone would have taken more time to investigate my son’s symptoms and treat him accordingly that he would be here today. I believe that he was totally misdiagnosed from the start and that is what led to his death. He was my only son … and he had so much to live for.

Since this Depo was sent to our attorneys .. They summoned all of Kyle’s records .. They investigated the case for months and months. In the end, they concluded that he did in fact contract this Infectious Disease from the hospital. It could have been through a needle .. Dirty hands .. Or tools .. But that was just it, they had no way to prove how he contracted it. Only that he did get it from the hospital. My son’s death on this earth was in vain.