ST. LOUIS — Up until the first of the month, Adrian James was a typical toddler who loved to jump on the couch, pretend to cook meals for his baby brother and sing his ABCs. He was especially proud of being able to name all the planets in the solar system.
Now, Adrian needs high-flow oxygen through a tube in his nose, can’t eat on his own, won’t talk and struggles to sit up in his bed at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital after a serious bout with COVID-19.
On Thursday, his throat was so sore from having to be intubated — when a tube is inserted down the throat and into the windpipe so a ventilator can pump in air — that he drooled from not wanting to swallow. He just stared at a blueberry popsicle his mom gave him.
