9 Days

After 9 days in the hospital we are finally home!!! We were supposed to leave on day 8, but the stupid companies that were going to rent out equipment to us either didn't have the right thing, or wouldn't authorize it for some dumb reason, so we got stuck another night. I cried. I missed Pumpkin so much (he had been spending most of the time with Ex), and I just wanted to be home with my family, on our couch, watching our TV with no stations, sleeping in our bed next to M. Instead we improvised. M went to Dairy Queen, got us some blizzards, Pumpkin came to the hospital, and we sat on the beds watching the hospital's TV that actually has stations, and then Pumpkin and I snuggled the night away in our little fold-out bed (the actual hospital bed was so uncomfortable I gave it to M!). It was really nice, and a good alternative since we couldn't be at home. But let me start from the beginning....

Last Tuesday, January 15th, we took Miss L up to the ER because she seemed to be having a hard time breathing. The wait was FOR-EV-ER long, but they got us in a little quicker since she has a heart condition. They took her temp, which was 102.something, tested her for the flu and RSV, and took some X-Rays of her chest.

So sick but still so cute

Flu came back negative, RSV was positive, and her X-Rays showed she had pneumonia. So they sent us home with instructions to follow-up the next day with her primary dr. Um.... ok? I am actually very upset they sent us home then. SHE HAS RSV AND PNEUMONIA!!!!! But, we went home.

The next day she was worse. I couldn't get her to move, she was so lethargic. When I set her on the ground she just laid there. She didn't even attempt to crawl or anything. At her dr's appt I told Dr S that I was not comfortable taking her home. She had gotten worse since the night before and it scared me. He did a nebulizer breathing treatment on her and then checked her O2 levels. They were only 88 at best. So he sent us to the hospital to be admitted.

Our room was at the end of the hall, and was probably the biggest room which was really nice. Anyone that wanted to come in our visit though had to dress in a yellow cover thing, a mask, and gloves. Luckily, M and I didn't have to since we were staying with her.

The view out our window

They set her up in a cage crib and got oxygen going. She didn't do anything but just lay there. It broke my heart but I was relieved to be at the hospital getting treatment. They tried to just lay an oxygen mask with her, but she wasn't getting enough so they had to put a tube in her nose. She didn't love this, but didn't hate it either, I think she was too sick to care too much.

Sleeping so good

Pumpkin visiting his sister!

A blood test showed that her white blood cells were low, too low. They were lower than what they should be even for her being sick. Dr S told us that regardless of what her oxygen did, we couldn't leave until they came up. This worried me, but with so much other stuff going on, I pushed it to the back of my head and just focused on getting her comfortable and breathing.

She was on oxygen 24 hrs a day for about the first 5 days there. After that they were able to take her off of her daytime oxygen but she still required it for nighttime. As soon as she would fall asleep her oxygen would drop into the 80's. They were able to slowly get her off her nighttime oxygen too, and she was only needing it for about an hour at night.

Another X-Ray showed she still had her pneumonia, and another blood test revealed her white blood cells were still low, but were actually going up. Dr S actually looked at the age (?) of the cells. I guess you can see what stage they are in.... But he was happy with them. While they were still low, there were new ones building up. He also checked for too much carbon monoxide in her blood which came back good.

Her personality came back and she was starting to laugh and play in her little cell. Last night Miss L didn't require any oxygen at all throughout the night! She dropped into the 80's a few time, but didn't stay there long enough too warrant putting oxygen on her.

Today, our 9th day of being at the hospital, we got to go home!

Home bound!!!

Because we didn't put oxygen on her last night, the company that was going to rent us machines to watch her O2 levels wouldn't authorize it. I think she is much better now, and probably isn't going to require any oxygen, but the machine would have been a nice piece of mind. Especially since another X-Ray showed that her pneumonia still wasn't any better.

We have follow-up with Dr S on Monday. We also have to watch later on for asthma. There is an increased chance of babies that get RSV end up getting asthma from the damage done to their lungs. And she had pneumonia on top of it. But that is a bridge we will cross, if and when it comes. I am just happy to have my little girl back, my son home, and my family together.