~ Ellie ~ pneumonia

Ellie has pneumonia. She was admitted to the hospital yesterday around 11am because she had a fever and her blood oxygen levels were low (30-40). They put her on oxygen at 1 liter which is a fairly low setting and she seemed a little better, at first. Soon, her blood oxygen levels continued to struggle and soon we were at 5 liters which is a high setting for a baby, cause for concern. Initial tests showed she didn't have pneumonia so they decided to do a CT of the chest and a bronchial flush to determine exactly what was going on. When they took her into surgery she was at 8 liters of oxygen the highest our doctor had ever seen on a baby. It meant that her lung muscles were most likely about to give out. The tests came back confirming pneumonia that looked somewhat advanced. She is now in the PICU on a ventilator. They have had to run a new central line to facilitate all the medicine they need to get in her system. She is sedated and will stay on the ventilator at 100% oxygen for the next few days, maybe more (they do hope to get the oxygen % down soon, about 30% is normal). We expect she will be in the hospital for a couple of weeks, hopefully no more.