RSVP or Cheeseburgers "not in" Paradise

RSVP has a new meaning at our house this holiday season and it's RSV is the PITS!

Last Tuesday, December 6th Maddie Kate was a little lethargic and had a little cough. I didn't think much of the lethargy and sort of attributed the cough to reflux since we thought we were battling a potential milk allergy. I had taken her to the pediatrician the day before and her cough wasn't a concern and RSV wasn't either since she didn't have any noticeable secretions (read snot). We changed her formula and that was that. So, Tuesday evening MK just wasn't herself and had spit up most of a bottle...still thinking reflux, I just sort of overlooked it but then started noticing that she was kind of having trouble breathing and was retracting a little. I called the after hours nurse and they told me to just keep an eye on her and go to the doctor the next day if she wasn't better. A little while later I thought she felt a little warm so I used a new quick read thermometer to take her temperature. The first read was 100.4 but the thermometer wasn't quite working right. I took her temperature with another thermometer we have and it was below 100 but MK just wasn't herself and I just had a strong sense that something was really wrong. I went ahead and called the after hours nurse again and she suggested that we go ahead and head to the ER...I was a step ahead of her and was packing a bag while we were talking. She said that she had to tell me to go to the closest hospital which for us is Baptist. I thought we should probably go to Children's but I was scared to death by this point and just wanted to get someplace fast! It was after 11pm so I left Jim home with Landon and MK and I headed to the hospital. It was snowing really, really hard at this point so I was having trouble seeing and missed the exit to Baptist. I'm certain our sweet Jesus had the wheel. So, we headed towards Children's and I had to pull over once because I thought MK had thrown up and I was afraid she had choked since she was so out of it. She hadn't thank goodness. I was terrified!! We got to Children's and rushed into the ER. They took her temperature (still under 100) and weighed her and then sent us to a room. The nurses came in and started their evaluation and that's when it got a little crazy. There were several people in and out and they had to draw blood, get a urine sample and a few other things. At that point they weren't positive what was wrong and told me they may have to test for several things including meningitis. I felt awful and helpless...and I hated seeing my baby laying there struggling to breathe. They took her to a bigger room and brought in the x-ray machine for a chest x-ray. At this point I was praying it was only RSV! Everyone was so nice but they had me scared to death! A short while later they confirmed that our girl had RSV and they sent us to the PICU. Talk about scary! We got settled in our room and I was able to rock her for a while...and I didn't sleep at all! Jim got there early the next morning and the doctor that saw us that morning told us not to be surprised if she got worse before better...but she was already doing better by then so we decided not to believe him. Our nurse, actually a girl that Jim knew but hadn't seen in years, really thought we would be sent to a regular room that day or the next and we were so relieved. Our relief was short lived...the doctor was right. Our girl started getting worse and by mid-morning on Friday she was so bad there was a little talk of putting her on the ventilator. At this point they had already put in a feeding tube that bypassed her tummy since having a full belly from a bottle put too much pressure on her lungs...and taking a bottle made her too tired anyway. We were able to avoid the ventilator and everyone there was very reassuring in telling us that she was going to be okay but that it was just going to take some time...seeing her look so pitiful and hooked up to lots of things was hard! Monsignor Malone came to visit us on Friday and since MK hadn't been baptized yet we decided to have him baptize her while he was there...and guess what he used!? Her daddy's bottle of aquafina!! We thought that was pretty funny and were happy to have our girl baptized. We will do a ceremonial baptism without the water later...after germ season. Ha! So, by Saturday she actually started improving and by Sunday we thought we were going to a regular room but she started breathing a little hard again so they sent us to intermediate care. We spent one night there and they weaned her oxygen way down and on Monday we went to a regular room! I can't remember exactly when they took her completely off the oxygen but her oxygen saturation stayed up without it and they continued the breathing treatments they had been doing since early on. By Tuesday they had her feeding tube out and by Wednesday she was ready to come home!! She has a runny nose, a cough and snores a little but is otherwise healthy and we had a good first night back home!

And I'm glad to be back home and away from the Children's hospital cafeteria! I found comfort in cheeseburgers, french fries, cookies and gallons of diet coke...I surely need to detox and stick to salads and fruit for a while...after the holidays of course.

Maddie Kate,
You gave us quite a scare. Don't do that again. Next time you need a break from your crazy brother let me know and we will go shopping instead, ok? We love you so much and we are so glad you're okay. You are a very lucky girl blessed with family and friends who love you and have said countless prayers for you to get better. We are lucky too! We couldn't have made it through the week without the love and support from everyone. This holiday season we will remember the families at Children's who won't be home for Christmas and we will pray that they will eventually go home healthy and happy.
Love,
Mommy and Daddy


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