The Johnston Family

The Johnston Family

Monday, March 16, 2009

Las Vegas and Primary Childrens

So the past oh about week and a half have been almost a complete blur to me. On March 5th we packed up and drove down to Las Vegas to show my parents the sights. My mom had a training thing down there at the Sams Town hotel(where we stayed) Thursday when we got down there we attempted to take Elizabeth swimming for her first time, but the pool was outside, and the wind was pretty chilly, so she was only in the water for about ten minutes, but I think she liked it! That night we went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner, and got the Volcano for dessert, Tony made himself sick! Then we went over to the coke store for my mom, and the M&M store for me, Elizabeth fell asleep in the coke store and was completely out in the front carrier the rest of the night! Friday, Tony and I went to the hotel's buffet for breadfast, it wasn't the best but we made do. Then, since my mom was still in meetings and my dad was on his morning walk, I told Tony after showing Elizabeth off to one of my mom's freinds from work(who is also now a member of the Elizabeth fan club) that I really needed some fresh air so we went outside and walked around the outside of the hotel, and then to the Walmart across the road. By the time we got back to the hotel my mom was done with her meeting so we went to lunch at the Sherwood Forest Cafe in Excalibur, Then we walked through Ceasers Palace, made a stop at FAO Schwartz, got Elizabeth the cutest softest teddy bear ever, and it was just her size! Then we walked down to the Belogio to watch the fountains which we got there just in time for. Then we were going to go to Freemont Street, but traffic was way too bad, so we just went back to the hotel. Sat we had breakfast and went to one of the outlet malls, where it was all about Elizabeth. You see as I was re-organizing her closet, making the transition from 0-3 month clothes to 3-6(when she was like 5 1/2 months old) I noticed that she had PLENTY of 3-6 clothes and VERY little 6-9 month clothes, so in the outlet mall they had an Osh Kosh, a Carter's, and we even wandered into Gymboree but the only things we would pay that kind of money for was a simple strawberries headband and socks. They also had a Disney outlet store form the year we went there ofr our first anniversary, so we got some things. Then we went to The Mainstreet Buffet for lunch/dinner. It was very very good, then we went over to Freemont street, to watch a show, and let my parents browse the gift shops. Sun we got home about 8:30 pm and Elizabeth was not sounding very good, so I called the on-call pediatrician and he suggested we get her looked at, so we went to Kids Care, and they said it still sounded like Bronchiolitis, they also did a deep suction of her nose and throat(which she absolutely HATED!!) and sent the "stuff) they collected to be tested, they also did a nebulizer treatment and sent us home. Mon we went to Skool Days at one, and she was still not sounding the best despite breathing treatments. Around 3:30 it was clear she was not feeling well, and her teacher told me so, I told her to take her temp and let me know, she came running in a few minutes later, to tell me it was 103.4 degrees. They covered the rest of my shift and I called the pediatricians office on my way, they told me to go to Primary Children's. So I called Tony and we met at the Arby's on 90th and tried to hurry there as much as we could in a snowstorm. I cried and prayed the entire way there. After hours of waiting the dr finally looked at Liz and said the same thing we heard the night before, and also told us that the test they did turned up RSV Positive on top of the Bronchiolitis. So they did some deep suctioning, and gave us a prescription to take her to there "suction shack" anytime we needed for the next week. Monday night was awful we were up nearly all night listening to Liz not being able to breathe so at 5 am we decided to take her to get suctioned, before we went to work, my mom was going to come down and watch her. Well when we got there the dr said she didn't have much to get suctioned out, but that her Respiratory rate was WAY too high, in the 80's when normal is between 30-40, and her oxygen was starting to drop, so he sent us back to the ED(emergency department) where she was looked at and suctioned again. By about 9am they decided to admit her to the hospital. and the roller coaster ride began. we got a room at about 12:30ish and got her settled, my mom had come to sit with me, as Tony had to go to work for at least a half day. They had her on oxygen mostly to help her not have to work so hard to breathe, but she was pretty well hydrated but they put an IV in to get blood to do a work up on, put didn't put any fluids in. Then she started going down hill, she started getting diarrhea, and high fevers of 104, so her pediatrician looked in her ears and thought she probably saw an infection in the right ear that may have been causing the fevers. So now they were dealing with RSV, Bronchiolitis AND an ear infection, shortly thereafter she stopped wanting to eat, and quickly got dehydrated, so they had to start giving her fluids, then they started her on a general antibiotic to treat the ear infection. And the diarrhea got worse and her eating got worse, so come Thursday when it was originally thought we would probably be going home, she was as bad off as ever. Still having high fevers, diarrhea, hard time breathing, needing suctioning every few hours, and still not eating well, it looked bleak. Her pediatrician couldn't figure out what was happening with her. BUt then she finally started getting better her breathing improved, she wasn't needing suctioning as often, her fever finally broke, and even her diarrhea wasn't as bad, still there just not as bad. but she still refused to eat. So Sat morning when they were really planning on sending her home, they had to put her back on fluids because she wasn't eating and therefore getting dehydrated, so they couldn't send her home, then the IV impacted and her hand and arm swelled up big, so they had to take it out, that's when we started feeding her 2 ounces every 2 hours, just like when she was born. The saddest part about it was that Thursday was her 6 month birthday, so I took some pictures just to have something, but they're the most heartbreaking pictures I've ever taken. Happily she perked up, and ate her two ounces every two hours and Sunday afternoon, after being there about 6 days, they discharged us!!!!! We're sooooooooo happy to be back home, even though she does still have diarrhea I have to deal with and one of the worse diaper rash I have ever seen, and still needs to be bulb suctioned, and is still on antibiotic, it's better at home! I am so very grateful there is a place like Primary Children's Hospital to take care of our little one's, the nurses are amazing, and so very helpful. But I hope to never have to see my child like that ever again, it was completely heartbreaking. Here are her 6 month pictures.
WARNING: HEARTBREAKING PICTURES!






2 comments:

Nicole said...

What an ordeal to have with a little one. I can't imagine having all three of those at one time. I am so glad to hear that things are getting better.

PrincessKatie said...

What a scary and awful situation to go through. I hope that you are all doign so much better. my sisters baby had rsv when she was a month old and it was awful seeing her so miserable in that horrible hospital. I can't even imagine how hard that must be. We have had bronhitis around here nad it is no fun. Keep her healthy and hopefully your lives can get back to normal sooN!