Cillian Needs Your Help (Once Again)

Just as we were beginning to get used to having Cillian at home after his 73-day stay (August 24-November 11) in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) we have now hit another bump on the way to his proper growth and development as a premature baby--respiratory illness and complications.

Last January 18, as we were changing his clothes and wiping him down for the evening, my wife noticed that his breathing was somewhat labored and that his chest seemed to be caving in with every breath, and he was also making wheezing/ grunting sounds as he did so. Suffice it to say this caused us some alarm and we immediately took videos of it and sent them to his pediatrician. Since it was late in the evening already, we didn't get a reply right away and fed and put him to sleep as we normally would. When we woke him up for his 2am feeding, the sounds and chest retractions were still there. Our hearts began to race with anxiety. Thankfully, his pediatrician had already replied to our texts and videos sent earlier and advised us to go the the ER right away.

January 19, 230am. We're at the ER, the doctors checked him and gave their theories/ diagnoses and treated him with two nebulization sessions, hopefully to clear up his airways. His breathing seemed to sound better and we were released by 530am. We updated his pediatrician and she advised us to come in for a check up later that day.

January 19, 4pm. We're back at the hospital for a check up with his pediatrician. However, without any kind of scanning or x-ray, she could only diagnose him visually and advised us to buy a nebulizer and nebulize him, record videos of him before and after and monitor any significant changes in the sounds he's making and the retractions of his chest. By 730pm that day, we had all he needed to nebulize him--machine and medications--and proceeded to record him before and after and sent the videos to his pediatrician. She called us right after we sent the videos and told us to get him checked in to get a proper and more thorough diagnosis since there was no improvement in his breathing and chest retractions. So by 9pm, we're back at the ER waiting to get checked into a room. While waiting, he was checked by two doctors and given two rounds of nebulizations to try and further ease his breathing--they only did very minimal improvements which didn't last very long. He had an x-ray though which initially showed clear lungs. We were finally given a room by 3am of January 20.

January 20. Cillian's pediatrician checked in on us, together with a pediatric pulmonologist. After going through the brief history of events up to that day, their working theory was bronchiolitis. He was prescribed antibiotics and his nebulizations are to continue every 4 hours.

January 21. After further testing (e.g. bloodwork) and physical check ups on his breathing noises/ sounds and chest retractions, the working diagnosis became croup and pneumonia. Stronger antibiotics and steroids were prescribed and given via IV a nebulizations.

January 22. Slight improvements were being noticed on all fronts and both his pediatrician and pulmonologist were relatively optimistic on his recovery. But as fate would have it, early that evening, Cillian suddenly turned black and blue (cyanosis) while in my arms. And my heart sank. I felt every fiber of my being unravel. There are no words to describe what happened to me that night. This was what broke me.

Later that evening, Cillian was transferred to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) for closer monitoring, care and further testing and diagnosis. And he would spend the next three days away from us, once again, since his stay in the NICU.

January 26. Cillian was deemed stable enough to be transferred to a normal room. His treatment of antibiotics and steroids are currently ongoing.

We have exhausted all avenues to be able to raise funds for Cillian, and are now turning to all of you kind-hearted and generous souls to help us get through this (financial) hurdle.

After such a high-risk pregnancy, Cillian is truly our miracle baby. He is our little warrior. He is our little fighter. He is our hero.

Any assistance would be of great help to our new family. And we thank you all in advance for your help, contributions and donations in these trying times.

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For those who wish to donate directly to us, you may do so through the following accounts:

BDO

Patrick A. Cabalu

001440119706

Metrobank

Patrick A. Cabalu

0933093184387

BPI Savings

Lisa Marie L. Llanto

3966 0300 68

GCash (Patrick)

09175327399

GCash (Lisa)

09178804664

PayPal (PCab Designs)

[email protected]