Day 13, Morning

Hannah's pneumothorax returned this morning, so they re-installed the tube that treats it. A pneumothorax is essentially a small leak in a lung that causes air to collect between the lung and chest walls, keeping the lung from being able to expand and take in oxygen. The treatment is a small tube that allows the leaked air to vent until the site of the leak heals. She had such a tube shortly after birth, but it wiggled out too early, and they were hoping the leak had healed enough to avoid replacing it. An X-ray this morning showed that the leak had reappeared, and her oxygen requirements and CO2 levels had increased because of the reduced lung capacity. Inserting the chest tube has allowed the lung more space to work, so the oxygen and CO2 levels have returned to normal.

This problem is fairly common in preemies, because their lungs are very delicate and under-developed, so the chest tube is pretty routine in the NICU. Some infants even have two or more at a time.