3 Days/3 Nights
Sounds like a fabulous vacation, right? Well, it wasn't for me. It's the amount of time I spent in the Cardon Children's Medical Center with Gabrielle this week.
My mom calls Tuesday afternoon saying that Gabrielle didn't seem to be breathing normally, so I had Kenny pick her up and take her to the pediatricians office. He figured she'd get a breathing treatment, be diagnosed with yet another ear infection and they'd be sent on their way. Her ears were clear and she did get the breathing treatment, but her oxygen level was still too low so she told him to take her to the children's ER. He called me and I met them at the doc's office.
When we got to the ER we had to wait for a while, but it wasn't too bad. Brie still wasn't acting sick so she was just fine with watching Backyardigans in the little lounge area. Once we got to a room the doc just looked at how hard her throat and chest were working to breathe and said "she's got asthma".
FINALLY, a diagnosis! I have asthma, so it didn't seem too far-fetched. He said that they would give her three breathing treatments and if her levels didn't respond he'd keep her overnight. Needless to say, her levels didn't respond, so up to the 4th floor we went.
When we got upstairs and told that doc that the doc downstairs said she had asthma, she wasn't quick to jump on board. She said that they don't like to diagnose kids Brie's age with asthma right off the bat and they wanted to check for something called RSV. It's a bacterial respiratory infection that can be mild in some cases, but if you have a child with a history of breathing issues (of course, right??) it can be much worse. Well, we were seeing the much worse.
They had to actually hook a tube to the vacuum in the wall of the ER and suction out her nose that way because the gunk was so thick, They tested it and it was positive for RSV. We thought we were only going to be in the hospital overnight.
Wednesday rolled around and the doc said she wasn't ready to go home yet. She had to be put on oxygen Tuesday night and her levels had to stay above 90 off of the oxygen before she could be taken off of it. She was getting breathing treatments every 3 hours, as well as IV fluids and steroids. We figured Thursday would be our day to get out of the hospital.
When the doc visited Thursday she still was on oxygen and IV fluids. She wasn't eating anything and only taking a few sips of liquids at a time, so she couldn't be taken off of the IV but the infusion rate was reduced in hopes that she would get thirsty on her own and drink more. She was taken off of the oxygen briefly, only to have her levels drop below 89 and had to be put right back on. Thursday wasn't going to be the day either. In order to be discharged she had to (1) have her appetite back, (2) be able to sleep without the oxygen and maintain her levels and (3) drink enough to sustain her own hydration. So far she wasn't doing any of those things.
They took her off of the oxygen Thursday night and she was able to stay in the high 90's, so that was good. On Friday morning she was drinking more and asking to eat, so they let us go home. It was the most stressful week I've had in a really, really long time. We still have to do breathing treatments every 4 hours, and she can't leave the house until her follow-up appointment tomorrow morning. She's doing much better though. She's playing and drinking, but she still doesn't have much of an appetite. Not that she had much of one to begin with...but I'm glad that I have my baby back.
As far as the hospital experience, I was very pleased. Everyone was very nice and attentive. I'm glad we were at a children's hospital where everyone is trained to deal with little ones. The cons were sleeping on that hard ass pull out bed thingie and living off of cafeteria food(blech!!) and fast foor...when I had an appetite, that is..
I hope we never have to go through this again.
My mom calls Tuesday afternoon saying that Gabrielle didn't seem to be breathing normally, so I had Kenny pick her up and take her to the pediatricians office. He figured she'd get a breathing treatment, be diagnosed with yet another ear infection and they'd be sent on their way. Her ears were clear and she did get the breathing treatment, but her oxygen level was still too low so she told him to take her to the children's ER. He called me and I met them at the doc's office.
When we got to the ER we had to wait for a while, but it wasn't too bad. Brie still wasn't acting sick so she was just fine with watching Backyardigans in the little lounge area. Once we got to a room the doc just looked at how hard her throat and chest were working to breathe and said "she's got asthma".
FINALLY, a diagnosis! I have asthma, so it didn't seem too far-fetched. He said that they would give her three breathing treatments and if her levels didn't respond he'd keep her overnight. Needless to say, her levels didn't respond, so up to the 4th floor we went.
When we got upstairs and told that doc that the doc downstairs said she had asthma, she wasn't quick to jump on board. She said that they don't like to diagnose kids Brie's age with asthma right off the bat and they wanted to check for something called RSV. It's a bacterial respiratory infection that can be mild in some cases, but if you have a child with a history of breathing issues (of course, right??) it can be much worse. Well, we were seeing the much worse.
They had to actually hook a tube to the vacuum in the wall of the ER and suction out her nose that way because the gunk was so thick, They tested it and it was positive for RSV. We thought we were only going to be in the hospital overnight.
Wednesday rolled around and the doc said she wasn't ready to go home yet. She had to be put on oxygen Tuesday night and her levels had to stay above 90 off of the oxygen before she could be taken off of it. She was getting breathing treatments every 3 hours, as well as IV fluids and steroids. We figured Thursday would be our day to get out of the hospital.
When the doc visited Thursday she still was on oxygen and IV fluids. She wasn't eating anything and only taking a few sips of liquids at a time, so she couldn't be taken off of the IV but the infusion rate was reduced in hopes that she would get thirsty on her own and drink more. She was taken off of the oxygen briefly, only to have her levels drop below 89 and had to be put right back on. Thursday wasn't going to be the day either. In order to be discharged she had to (1) have her appetite back, (2) be able to sleep without the oxygen and maintain her levels and (3) drink enough to sustain her own hydration. So far she wasn't doing any of those things.
They took her off of the oxygen Thursday night and she was able to stay in the high 90's, so that was good. On Friday morning she was drinking more and asking to eat, so they let us go home. It was the most stressful week I've had in a really, really long time. We still have to do breathing treatments every 4 hours, and she can't leave the house until her follow-up appointment tomorrow morning. She's doing much better though. She's playing and drinking, but she still doesn't have much of an appetite. Not that she had much of one to begin with...but I'm glad that I have my baby back.
As far as the hospital experience, I was very pleased. Everyone was very nice and attentive. I'm glad we were at a children's hospital where everyone is trained to deal with little ones. The cons were sleeping on that hard ass pull out bed thingie and living off of cafeteria food(blech!!) and fast foor...when I had an appetite, that is..
I hope we never have to go through this again.
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