Friday, December 12, 2008

Oh How Quickly It Turns

At ten this morning, my phone rang. On the other end was the nurse from Little Miss's preschool -- mind you, for the second day in a row calling. Yesterday, she wanted to know if she could put lotion on Little Miss's chapped hands.

Today, she wanted to know if I'd given Little Miss any cough medicine, as she was sent to the nurse's office for coughing and the nurse noticed she had a rapid heartbeat (I've since learned that I need to know how many beats that means). Fortunately, she had no fever, and the nurse didn't feel I needed to do anything at that point (read: don't leave my planned morning and pick her up from school).

When her bus pulled up, I noticed the girl in front sleeping and started to make a comment to the bus driver about other kids getting their naps on the bus but that Little Miss never falls asleep. I stopped when the bus driver showed me my sleeping girl. Hmm. I brought her inside to sit down for lunch, but she wanted no lunch and just wanted to go take her nap. Uh-oh.

A little before 2:30, she woke up whining that she didn't feel good. She never says she isn't feeling good. I gave her a hug and realized she was warm. Yep, fever of 102.2. And I noticed she was breathing rapidly and had some retracted breathing going on, too. I sighed and called the doctor who got me in at 3.

It's never a good sign when the doctor listen's to your child's chest for a loooong time. And then puts on the pulse-ox reader and sighs, saying, "That's what I was afraid of." Yes, we've been down this road before. It involved a trip to the ER at 5pm after an early afternoon doctor's appointment. Oh, and her fever was now 103.3, up over a degree in less than an hour.

He gave her a breathing treatment around 3:30, and yes, we have the nebulizer at home for future treatments. She responded well, and we decided not to send her to the hospital for a chest X-ray and monitoring. We went home with a prescription for Omnicef (since she's allergic to Amoxicillan) to treat what he strongly suspected was pneumonia.

By 5:20, she was back to the retracted and labored, fast breathing. And her fever was back at 103.7. I made the obligatory call to the doctor on call, already knowing what she was going to tell me.

I'm currently writing this from the ER room she's sitting in (isn't technology nice? The whole hospital here is wireless!) as she's being monitored. Her fever went up to 104.8 when they brought her into a room. Fortunately, her chest X-Ray was clear, but last time it was clear on Day One and mucky as all get out the next day. They took her oxygen level while we were waiting for a room to open up, and it was low enough that they put her on oxygen while we waited. Wheee!

As an aside, before you decide to go to an ER, check to see whether it's a full moon. Tonight is a full moon, in case you're wondering. And the place is packed. With lots of nut jobs (although folks who groaned ohhh nooooo when they saw us walk up to the only empty couch that happened to be somewhat in their vicinity, was that really necessary?). And little parent supervision.

Anyway, she has responded again somewhat to the second breathing treatment, and they haven't given her any steroids as yet -- although they just as well may have since she hasn't closed her eyes yet after she had her nose violently swabbed by a nurse as she was sound asleep. Oxygen level is at 94% which isn't great, and we can't get her pulse below about 160, so it's looking likely that she'll be admitted. That, by the way is down significantly from the 209 she spiked at while we were here. I'm already planning to spend the night here with her, poor kiddo. We'll know in an hour.

On the plus side, both the wee ones were scheduled to spend the night with my parents tonight because my husband has a Scholastic Bowl tournament tomorrow morning where he's leaving by 6:30 and won't be home until evening. And I have choir practice at 10am. And a cookie exchange I am (I mean, I was) hosting. So Mister Man is at my parents' house, and they are unaware of the recent change in plans. Shockingly, Little Miss completely understood that Mister Man was still spending the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house and she wasn't. Then again, that tells you how sick she is, doesn't it?

On the downside, I'm totally on my own tomorrow. I'm hoping that we're able to be released, but even if we are, I need to wake up every three hours to give her a breathing treatment round the clock for the next few days. And Monday going to school is looking less and less likely, which is a problem for me and work - home of thirteen percent cuts in my department on Thursday.

Murphy's Law I've become intimately reacquainted with: once you fall asleep, someone must bother you within two minutes of fall asleep, regardless of how long you were left alone before then. This has happened to us: before she went to see the triage nurse, when she had to get her chest X-ray, when they brought her back to her room, when they did her nose swab, and again when the doctor came to check on her levels just a few moments ago. Fortunately, Mommy rocks at getting her to sleep (Daddy failed miserably in his lone attempt, although it was entertaining for me to watch).

Oh, and today's afternoon plans of making next year's calendars for my family? And downloading the last month's pictures from my camera? And maybe trying to find a picture to send out with our Christmas cards? Yeah... those plans were sorta shot. Maybe I'll celebrate Groundhog Day instead of Christmas this year!



PS As of yesterday afternoon, Mister Man has also lost his only pair of winter boots (see Monday's post).

18 comments:

morninglight mama December 12, 2008 at 9:34 PM  

Oh man. I hope this is short-lived and she's back on her feet soon!

Michelle December 12, 2008 at 9:40 PM  

Morninglight Mama - Thanks. She's been in the hospital for this (or something similar) twice before, although never admitted. She's just prone to lung things. Doctor just came by to tell us she's being admitted, as her oxygen is back down to 91 less than two hours after her treatment. Send prayers our way, as she's a tiny peanut (28 pounds at 3 1/3 years) and it's hard to fight these things off!

Gina December 12, 2008 at 10:02 PM  

Poor thing! This is all so familiar to me. The girl (also a tiny thing) went through many episodes of pneumonia up until she was about 4. We had the nebulizer, etc. What a nightmare! Hopefully, Little Miss will grow out of it, too.

thoughts and ramblings December 12, 2008 at 10:15 PM  

Prayers coming your way. My older daughter(who's almost 5 now) went through this as well. We've had a nebulizer at home since she was 10 months old and was admitted for 3 days because of pneumonia. She's had multiple episodes of that since...but thankfully the nebulizer keeps us out of the ER. Do they have any idea why some kids are so prone to lung stuff? If you have an answer or an idea, I'd love to know...because this has been the source of a LOT of anxiety on my part.

((hugs)) to you and Little Miss.

Anne Elliott
anne.elliott@att.net

Melisa Wells December 12, 2008 at 10:17 PM  

Oh my goodness. I hope she feels better soon!

And BTW, I have been in the ER w/ kids before...the sounds that come from others are sorta scary too! Eeeek!

justme December 12, 2008 at 10:17 PM  

sending you prayers !!

Michelle December 13, 2008 at 12:33 AM  

Gina - That makes me feel much better. She's 3 1/3, so that's only 8 months left, right? Another nurse tonight told me she had the same issues with her daughter but that she outgrew them before 7. From your lips to God's ear!

Anne - I don't know why officially but I always blame it on me. Mister Man was an emergency c-section, so I was told Little Miss had to be, as well. I think they took her too early (technically on her due date but I think that was off) and she didn't have the squeezing through the birth canal. And she had GERD *b*a*d* so was on Xanax to try to help her gain weight. And she had bad ear infections for months and months and was on lots of antibiotics. And I was still nursing Mister Man while pregnant with her (until doc realized she wasn't growing enough). I don't know that *any* of that has to do with the lung issues, but I blame myself for all of them. I totally get the anxiety. Thank you for your support!

Melisa - Yeah, there were definitely some scary folks. On the plus side, this was not my first ER visit, so it's possible that tomorrow's post may be What To Take To Survive The ER. We'll see ;)

Feener - Thanks! So far, so good. We're admitted for now, and she's currently getting an IV for dehydration and off oxygen as she was staying up at good levels. She just had a treatment though and her oxygen is lower than it was before the treatment, so not sure what's up with that. Heartrate is the lowest it's been all day (128), which is also key. Thank you again for your support.

WeaselMomma December 13, 2008 at 4:30 AM  

I hope she gets better soon.

Jen December 13, 2008 at 7:52 AM  

I hope she gets better soon! It's so scary when it's lung/oxygen stuff. My little girl is also little (32 lbs soaking wet and fully clothed at just over 3 yrs). She was diagnosed with reactive airway disease and every winter so far has needed the nebulizer every time she gets a cold. (we've had one at home since she was about 6 months old) It always starts as a cold and then the wheezing starts. I hope your little girl feels better soon!!

Angela December 13, 2008 at 8:04 AM  

Oh Michelle, I am so sorry! Poor Little Miss! Hope she is doing much better today. Please update when you can. Hugs and prayers coming at ya!

Michelle December 13, 2008 at 10:32 AM  

Weaselmomma - Thanks! She actually is "feeling" better right now. Grandma came to visit and brought the Peter Pan DVD. Priorities, you know.

Jen - Thanks! It is scary, but it's also nice to know I'm not the only one with these kinds of issues. I just hope that they all grow out of these kinds of things soon.

Angela - Thanks, I appreciate it. She's doing a little better now that they brought her fever down again (up to 103.8 this am). She's still not eating though and very punky. Doctor thinks she'll be here overnight again tonight (and I was SO looking forward to the lessons of the carols at church tomorrow -- including taking Mister Man to the service instead of the nursery). We'll be re-evaluated in six hours to see if she can keep her oxygen up, eats/drinks something, and the fever stays away. Basically I was told that she'd need to be skipping around the room and jumping on the doctor to be discharged today. Thanks for your concern and support!

♥ Braja December 13, 2008 at 10:52 AM  

I hope Santa brings you more hours in the day and no more phone calls from school ... :)

Cookie December 13, 2008 at 2:57 PM  

Oh My! I hope she feels better soon. After reading your post, I'm starting to feel lucky that my family is all sick but at least sick at home and nothing that scarey. I do hear that cookies often help to feel better :)

Cookie December 13, 2008 at 2:57 PM  

Oh My! I hope she feels better soon. After reading your post, I'm starting to feel lucky that my family is all sick but at least sick at home and nothing that scarey. I do hear that cookies often help to feel better :)

Jeff and Charli Lee December 13, 2008 at 11:03 PM  

Aww poor kid. Hope she's feeling better... for BOTH of your sakes.

Beverly December 14, 2008 at 4:40 AM  

Let me add my wishes for a speedy recovery. Hugs to you and her.

I hope you are able to keep us updated on her status.

Isn't it interesting how reading a person's blog makes you feel connected to them? I do not know you personally, but it feels like I do, and I am concerned for your little one.

I will include you in my prayers this morning.

Bev

Karen December 14, 2008 at 6:30 AM  

Poor Little Miss! Hope she's feeling better soon. And yes - a full moon brings out the crazies every time. My husband works at the hospital and the stories he tells are rather colorful.

Michelle December 14, 2008 at 3:36 PM  

Braja - Thank you. I'm certainly hopeful of both, as well! At least I know I won't get a call tomorrow from school since she won't be there ;)

Cookie - Thanks! Sadly, she didn't even want cookies most of the time she was in the hospital. Or popsicles. Or ice cream. Or french fries. She really was down and out. Good news, she's feeling better now -- and I hope your boys feel better soon, too!

Jeff - Thanks! I appreciate it. Fortunately, she's doing better now and is upstairs taking a nap.

Beverly - Thank you. That is very sweet. I couldn't get an internet connection for awhile and so couldn't update, but she's doing much better now with clear lungs. And yes - very connected!

Karen - Ohhh, I'm sure he has some stories. I didn't realize he was at a hospital, but if you're ever short material, you know you've got some there, right? ;) (Not that I expect you to *ever* be short material with four children!)

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