Words Matter - a working vocabulary for PICU parents

Today we wake up to a beautiful sunrise and a day filled with the promise of continued progress. I think I might have truly, actually exhaled fully this morning. The medical team has great things to say about Finn's respiratory health. Nurses are starting to remove machines and equipment from Finn's room, confident he won't need it again.

We've been in the PICU for exactly two weeks. It's Thursday morning, and Thursday morning two weeks ago was the first time we stood at the threshold of this room and listened to a medical team of 14 people discuss Finn's case. We didn't even know what we were hearing. They were speaking a foreign language filled with acronyms, medical terms, names of medications, possible plans for treatment, possible diagnoses. Now, we could nearly recite Finn's history for the resident. Sometimes we even supplement the overview. We could tell you his doses of medication -- how much, when, and how he reacts to it. We could probably guess what the plan for the day would be before the Fellow or Attending announces it. Doctors, nurses, therapists we are not. But, we will be damn good at Jeopardy the next time "Critical Care" is a category.

PICU Vocabulary*

duodenum (duh-wad-den-um) : the first section of the small intestine. Finn has an ND feeding tube -- meaning it starts in his nose (N) and ends in his duodenum (D). The desired placement of a feeding tub for a baby who needs assistance to breathe is ND, because it's past the stomach and in the intestine which greatly reduces the risk of aspirating.

extubate: to remove a breathing tube.

febrile: fever. afebrile: no fever

tachycardic: high heart rate.

tachypnic: rapid breathing. (hyperventilating)

tolerate: the medical team has a peculiar way of using the word "tolerate." Similar to the use of the word "appreciate" I wrote about earlier. Every time they make an adjustment to Finn's recovery course they say "we'll see how he 'tolerates' it." There have been many adjustments that he did not "tolerate" during this multi-day journey. But, each day is a new day, and each day he tolerates more and more.

WAT Score: withdrawal assessment tool. Used to determine how a patient is reacting to the reduction of sedation medications.

*This PICU dictionary is brought to you by the letters K and J and the numbers 2 and 3. If you are one of our strong supporters from the medical field please forgive our layperson's understanding of some very technical medical terms.

#FinnStrong
#LoveWins