When we first held Kendy in China she had a little rattle in her lungs, but nothing serious. Of course the exam in China went smoothly and she had no others signs of anything beyond a slight sniffle. This past Saturday she began her journey which lead us to Children's Hospital in Parker. She started with a small cough and woke up around 11:00 pm with a fever of 102 and a barking cough. The on-call nurse over the phone diagnosed Kendy with croup and so we did the steamy shower thing and Tylenol to reduce her fever. Sunday she just moaned in short bursts all day, ran a fever, and coughed more. I took her in Monday to her pediatrician and she now sounded like she had RSV (Tay was diagnosed in Oct 09) and we tried a new protocol-oxygen at home. By Tuesday 1:00 am Kendy was not breathing very well so I took her to the ER. We were sent back to our ped, ordered a chest x-ray, and tried a nebulizer treatment. We were then sent home.
It is now Friday pm and we have been in the hospital since Wednesday evening. That night our ped called and said to take Kendy to the ER for care. Hallelujah! It was so tough to see my little girl struggling so hard to breath and on top of all that, she had had a fever of 101 for a few days.
She has a mean virus or airway disease that traveled down to her lungs and is very difficult to treat. Sure wish we could just pop a pill and call it good! Kendy is not able to keep her oxygen levels up on her own and she is not taking any fluids (8 oz vs. 24 oz) to keep hydrated. Her breathing or panting was 80 per minute rather than 30 while sleeping. She was so exhausted from just panting to get air that she would stop occasionally and so taking a bottle is clearly not something she has the energy for at this time.
We are planning on going home tomorrow. Tonight she finally drank 2 more ounces of pedialyte and is holding steady with her oxygen levels in the 90's while sleeping. And she smiled! Again, hallelujah!
Taylor slept with us at the hospital the first night and then at home last night because Kip returned from his Chicago work trip. She has been a wonderful big sister and shared her kitty pillow with Kendy. I love seeing my girls snuggle together...now picture me on the edge of the bed that first night....and we actually slept for the first time in 36 hours.
Thank you to Natalie for taking care of Taylor when I couldn't and to Patty for taking care of me when I couldn't. Love you gals.
I'm so sorry to hear this and hope that by the time you read this message, you are reading it from home with your little girl resting quietly in her own bed.
ReplyDeleteRuby