What a week. Glad it's over, and so glad Lilly is home. Last week, Lilly woke up with a tiny cold...so tiny, I contemplated sending her to school, but as the day went on she developed a cough and started having a hard time breathing. I gave her a "treatment" to try and help her to breath and told her to rest for a few minutes then we would see if she would start to improve. She started to become really lethargic and hard a hard time keeping her head up. I took her right to the doctors office (in hindsight, I should have just taken her to the ER). There, they did a triple dose treatment with no improvement. The moment they would remove the oxygen, her heart rate would shoot up, and her oxygen would drastically drop. That's when they called the ambulance and she was taken to the ER at Primary Children's. As her parents, we had a hard time holding it together seeing her put on the stretcher and wheeled out the door.
When they told her she was going in the ambulance, she freaked. She was so scared. But, when they arrived to pick her up, they were so cute with her that she ended up feeling OK about it. On another note, every time I pulled out my phone to take a picture, she would smile....trust me though, she wasn't really that happy. Poor thing could hardly talk.
We spent about 5 hours in the ER. They continued to try and give her treatments, which were not working...so we were informed that she was going be heading to the ICU, unless they could try and open up her lungs. The last resort before sending her there was to give her a steroid. The steroid helped immensely. From there she was moved upstairs where she stayed for several days.
The scary thing about when this happened is, it happened SO quickly, and by simply looking at her, you wouldn't realize she was SO sick. The doctors said at one point, they listened to the lower part of her lungs and couldn't hear anything, which means some of the valves or chambers had completely closed off. After the steroid, those "valves" began to open up, and there began to be some movement of air.
She can't officially be diagnosed with asthma because she is so young, but that is what we are calling it. She had a severe asthma attack. We now know that her "trigger" is virus related. So anytime she gets a cold, or the flu, she is more susceptible to have an asthma attack...which is really hard with a child in school. The doctors and nurses really helped us understand and educate us on what we are dealing with and sent us home with the medication that she will now have to use every morning and every evening, and another medication we will use when she does come down with a cold/flu.
It was a rough week. Lilly was a trooper though. And, that hospital is simply amazing. The nurses, doctors and staff could not have been better. They were so helpful and so great with Lilly. Every time I left to come home and shower, I would come back to someone playing a game with her or painting with her...they were awesome. I did however, become emotional several times, at how sad some of the situations are up there. My heart aches for so many of those families who are up there. When we got ready to leave I about burst into tears because the darling little girl across the hall from us (about Claire's age) isn't going home for a long long time, and it broke my heart as she and her parents watched us leave. It was heart wrenching. It was humbling and I was grateful that we were up there only for asthma and not up there for something much much worse. Another thing I learned...we are very blessed. Blessed to have such amazing family, and incredible friends. Lilly had so many visitors and so many phone calls asking how she was doing. So many people sent messages saying she was in their prayers. One friend came and stocked my fridge so when I came home, I would have something to much on. We have the most amazing people in our lives.
Lilly is doing really well now, and is back to herself. When we got home from the hospital, she ran and jumped on her bed and smothered he face in her pillow....she was happy to be home!
We love our Lilly bug so so so much.
We are glad she is home!
When they told her she was going in the ambulance, she freaked. She was so scared. But, when they arrived to pick her up, they were so cute with her that she ended up feeling OK about it. On another note, every time I pulled out my phone to take a picture, she would smile....trust me though, she wasn't really that happy. Poor thing could hardly talk.
We spent about 5 hours in the ER. They continued to try and give her treatments, which were not working...so we were informed that she was going be heading to the ICU, unless they could try and open up her lungs. The last resort before sending her there was to give her a steroid. The steroid helped immensely. From there she was moved upstairs where she stayed for several days.
The scary thing about when this happened is, it happened SO quickly, and by simply looking at her, you wouldn't realize she was SO sick. The doctors said at one point, they listened to the lower part of her lungs and couldn't hear anything, which means some of the valves or chambers had completely closed off. After the steroid, those "valves" began to open up, and there began to be some movement of air.
She can't officially be diagnosed with asthma because she is so young, but that is what we are calling it. She had a severe asthma attack. We now know that her "trigger" is virus related. So anytime she gets a cold, or the flu, she is more susceptible to have an asthma attack...which is really hard with a child in school. The doctors and nurses really helped us understand and educate us on what we are dealing with and sent us home with the medication that she will now have to use every morning and every evening, and another medication we will use when she does come down with a cold/flu.
It was a rough week. Lilly was a trooper though. And, that hospital is simply amazing. The nurses, doctors and staff could not have been better. They were so helpful and so great with Lilly. Every time I left to come home and shower, I would come back to someone playing a game with her or painting with her...they were awesome. I did however, become emotional several times, at how sad some of the situations are up there. My heart aches for so many of those families who are up there. When we got ready to leave I about burst into tears because the darling little girl across the hall from us (about Claire's age) isn't going home for a long long time, and it broke my heart as she and her parents watched us leave. It was heart wrenching. It was humbling and I was grateful that we were up there only for asthma and not up there for something much much worse. Another thing I learned...we are very blessed. Blessed to have such amazing family, and incredible friends. Lilly had so many visitors and so many phone calls asking how she was doing. So many people sent messages saying she was in their prayers. One friend came and stocked my fridge so when I came home, I would have something to much on. We have the most amazing people in our lives.
Lilly is doing really well now, and is back to herself. When we got home from the hospital, she ran and jumped on her bed and smothered he face in her pillow....she was happy to be home!
We love our Lilly bug so so so much.
We are glad she is home!
4 comments:
Oh Lizzy! I am SO glad she is doing better. I cant imagine how you were feeling. Poor little bug but what a little trooper!
Liz!! This is my worst fear as a parent. And I always worry I will put it off to long thinking it is nothing. So good for you for knowing what to do. I am SO glad she's doing better, what a little sweetheart. I am with you, good health is the greatest blessing!
That is so scary! I'm so glad that she is ok! You are an awesome mom and she is such a darling little trooper :)
As I was reading this post I started to tear up. It brought back memories of when we went through this exact thing with our 2 year old. It is a horrible thing to experience. And it happens SO FAST. To see a baby being taken on a stretcher and seeing them so sad and scared is heart breaking. It has happened to us twice because they didn't want to diagnose a baby with asthma, and in turn weren't treating him properly. Finally, we found an amazing pediatric asthma specialist that has made a HUGE difference. Let me know if you'd like her information. She has changed our lives. Good luck!
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