The little eight-year-old boy who'd been brought to our hospital, to our attention last week, continues to hang on by a tenuous thread--and that thread's beginning to unravel.

Trinh Riley (not his real last name, surname changed to protect child's identity) was reportedly found in his home, lying in a closet, malnourished, covered with marks crossing his thin, emaciated body, and barely conscious; it was reported that he'd been abused by his parents, who are now in jail, facing charges of injury to a child.

Trinh was adopted by his parents when he was a baby; somewhere something happened to change the parent's attitude towards him. They started abusing him without provocation; anything and everything he did wrong could set the parents off. Now he lies in our hospital, where we are continuing a battle to save his life.

Trinh is currently in our PICU, in extremely critical condition. Up until last night he'd been stable; however, during the night, his blood pressure either rose or fell erratically, and he started suffering seizures. He's had three seizure episodes since ten o'clock last evening, and right now the neurologist is running tests on him, to see if there's any indication of brain damage.

He did  have pneumonia; however the pnuemonia that's resided in his lungs since his admission is about cleared, thanks to antibiotics and respiratory therapy, oxygen, or treatment. That's not so much of a worry anymore; it's the seizures that have us concerned right now.

Everytime I go in the PICU and see this beautiful little Vietnamese boy lying in bed, so still, tubes attached to him everywhere, tears fill my eyes because I feel sorry for him. Trinh didn't deserve to be abused in this fashion; little boys his age should be running around, laughing, playing,  having fun; not lying naked and still on a hospital bed, tubes and wires attached, monitoring his life signs.

Now because of his parent's cruel actions, Trinh may very well end up brain damaged. Now what kind of life is that? He may end up spending the rest of his childhood in a wheelchair, unable to do anything for himself, a mere shell of his former cheerful, ebellient ways.

It doesn't seem fair, and it dosen't seem right. It's enough to make me want to give up nursing altogether.

Well, I thought I'd write in here to let y'all know how Trinh has been doing. As you can see, he's not doing very well at the moment; I don't think there's much hope for him ever having a normal life again.

I'll continue to keep you upated on Trinh's progress. Hopefully things will improve; it's only going to be by a miracle if he comes through this with all his senses intact.

~Written by Kerry Weaver, R.N. (Trinh's attending nurse in the PICU)