Oh the Drama!!

Wow! I know most of you are only somewhat in on the drama of the last few days so I thought I needed to update before I head back to the hospital. This is the jist of it...Emily's isolation room...

That crib has sides that go all the way up to the roof looking thing and so she looks like she is all caged up when she is in there. No, her arm is not broken. She is just two years old. Her IV is in that hand and she keeps trying to take it out so they keep adding layers she can't get through.

So, let's start at the very beginning. After the ER visit, Emily did not really get any better and she was quite lethargic (sleeping on us instead of doing anything) so on Thursday morning I took her in to her regular pediatrician to get her opinion. By then Emily was only satting at 80%. Normal blood saturation is 100% but they take anything in the high 90s. I don't want to get into all that but 80% is bad. So she gave Em two breathing treatments (albuterol in a face mask for ten to fifteen minutes) and an oral steroid. Her sats came up to 90% but within twenty minutes she had fallen back down. Her dr then put her on oxygen and gave her one more treatment and a steroid shot. We tried to take her off the oxygen and her sats would just drop again. The best way to explain this is that she is breathing, she is just breathing inefficiently and is not getting enough oxygen to keep her body going. She also has double ear infections.

So we were transported to LL in an ambulance because she could not be off the oxygen. When we arrived, they did all the same stuff her pediatrician had done and then started more treatments. They also hooked her up to an IV to get fluids started into her since she hadn't eaten in several days and had stopped drinking as well. Her oxygen was set at 2L, a level she had when she was in the NICU and only at that level could she maintain mid-90s on her sats. They took blood and and xray and did lots of tests. She does not have pneumonia but she has some viral infection and some bacterial infection (manifested in the ear infection). Since she had an unknown viral infection, we were placed into an isolation room last night. That means no one comes in or out without wearing masks and gowns...except me and Micah...cause we are already exposed. They have not done any tests to determine which virus it is because it will not change their treatment of her.

SO, the virus just has to run its course and she is on oxygen to keep her saturations up while she kicks this. She is getting breathing treatments every four hours of albuterol to help her chest loosen up. She is on antibiotics for the bacterial infection. She is still not eating and throws up when we do get something down her. BUT she seems to be responding to the treatments they are giving her as she is perking up a little and even gave M a smile when he came in this morning.

Honestly, we do not really know the severity of the illness, only its symptoms. Emily will be in the hospital over the weekend and until she no longer needs oxygen to keep her sats up. Kylie has been spending most of her time with Auntie K and her cousins and now Nana and Poppy are out here to help her out.

Oh, and that's the best part. I came home to get some rest and so I grabbed K and brought her home for a nap. An hour later, she woke up screaming and told me her ear hurt. Her pediatrician works half days on Fridays so I was off to urgent care this afternoon. She only has an ear infection too, but I did finally start to cry in that waiting room. I am not going to get into how I am doing in this post cause I want to get back to the hospital, but suffice it to say, I'm doing my best not to think at all so I won't cry. God has a plan in all this and it is for our best and I believe that with all my heart. So I will keep putting one step in front of the other, trusting and believing. Glad to have so much help!!!