I really have about 4 different posts to blog about but will maybe just start with one, and please excuse all grammatical errors. I'm not gonna go back and fix them.
To dive in.......
Late November Jesse started coughing at my mother in law's house in LA. Her pedi wanted to see her so I drove 4 hours with a 9 month old that was coughing to the point of gagging...for 4 hours.
They said she had strep and bronchitis and gave us a breathing machine that would help open her airways and suppress some of the cough. She was doing ok for the week and Ron left to go to Canada over the Thanksgiving holiday to hunt with his brother in law.
The next week Ron came home and went back on the road. Her cough came back a few days later, a little harder with more mucus. Tuesday it got to be where she was coughing every 10 seconds. After a few calls to her dr. and then to the night nurse after hours, she told me I should go to the ER. I didn't want to go all the way to a children's hospital for fear that she would start gagging and have a hard time breathing for the 20 minute drive. We went to a smaller local hospital. They took us back and did a breathing treatment of albuterol and gave us an oral steroid. It seemed to quiet her cough and gave her relief. The gen dr. gave us a prescription for cough meds, steroid, and albuterol. She seemed to really be doing better until we walked outside into the cold air. The coughing started right back up.
There were no pharmacies open so I felt at a loss to try to help her. That night was really bad and I didn't know whether or not to go back to the hospital. I knew though that I needed to get her meds filled and maybe that would help her. I didn't want to get her in the car and have to wait for her meds to get filled at the pharmacy. She was asleep so I walked to the neighbors to see if she could go to the pharmacy for me. She answered the door and I couldn't get the words out. I started crying from being stressed and scared. She hugged me and told me she would bring me the meds.
Jesse woke up and I could tell she was really struggling to get in air. I knew I needed to go to the children's hospital. I knew the drive would be difficult because the more Jesse coughed the more she cried which meant the more difficult it made it for her to breathe. I got a bottle ready and threw everything into her diaper bag. I gave her a bottle as we drove off hoping it would pacify her a bit as we made the drive.
She did fairly well but as we got closer I could tell she was really having a hard time getting air in her lungs. Her breathing was very labored and short and I was scared. I left my car at the entrance and ran in with her to registration.
There was a nurse at the front that I'm guessing was there to evaluate the patients as they came in, that asked me what was going on. I immediately teared up and couldn't say anything but he could see and hear how bad she was. They immediately took me back to get her oxygen measured. They got the wire on her toe and the nurse was listening to her lungs. Several people came in and the nurse kept saying that she didn't sound as bad as what the numbers were saying.
I heard someone say to take us back to the OR, and my mind was going all over the place. It was a large room and it quickly filled up with about 12 people. Some were on laptops, some were getting medicine, some were telling others what to do, and the rest were working on Jesse. They quickly got an IV started, put her on oxygen, drew blood, got a urine sample, and got her ready for a breathing treatment. She was very upset by all this, and I tried to comfort her as much as I could. She became less stressed but still so tired from struggling so much.
She was not in a good mood and when doing the albuterol breathing treatments it makes her very restless, even though she wanted to sleep.
My sister and brother came up to keep us company and brought us food. They were deciding on if they should put is on the regular floor or take us to ICU. Ron was driving in from Shreveport and I was very anxious for him to get there.
They were very good at trying to make us comfortable, considering all that was going on. She was very restless and they even brought in a vacuum cleaner to see if she would sleep. (Don't ask, but it has helped her fall asleep since she was born.
Ron got there and I felt like a I could relax a little. It felt really good to have my partner there to help with her.
They decided to put us in a regular room and soon they were taking us up.
She did well tolerating the steroids but was still so restless through the evening. We attributed it to the albuterol and her not being a great sleeper. We held her all night as she would sleep for 15 seconds and cry for 15 seconds. Sometimes the machines would beep and wake her up, or nurses in and out. We would switch off standing up and swaying her, but she could never really sleep. Finally at about 7am I sat in the rocking chair, wrapped her arms and legs around me, and put my arms over them to keep her from fidgeting. I held her tight and she was out for about 5 minutes when shift change started and the new nurses came in.
They started to get her vitals and introduced themselves when I felt Jesse's shoulder.....
That's when I almost fainted...
No comments:
Post a Comment