Peek a boo ICU

This year we are thankful for the amazing doctors and nurses at Seattle Childrens Hospital. Unfortunately we had to spend our Thanksgiving in the hospital but we recognize how fortunate we are to have such a fantastic facility so close to us.

Anya has been sick with a cold and pink eye so we were doing our best to keep her away from Elin but the germs were determined and they found their way into Elin's body. She was coming down with a cold and started to get pretty fussy Wednesday afternoon while my parents were taking care of her and Myles, Anya and I were at a Mary Poppins play. When we got home Elin's eyes were getting red and she was very upset and acting unlike herself.  A short time after, Myles told my mom he thought she was about to have a seizure and sure enough she did. She wasn't coming out of it so he gave her the rescue medicine (midazolam) but still no real change. The medics were on their way and he gave her another dose without any luck. She continued to seize and her breathing was becoming intermittent so they loaded her into the ambulance and rushed to SCH.

Upon arrival she was still having a seizure despite being given another larger dose of midazolam in route to the hospital. She was taken to the large ER room and there was talk of another IO (drill into the bone IV) since they weren't having luck with the regular type of IV. I made my opinion known that I did not want her to have to have another IO and it had to be a last resort for me to consider it.  I was not interested in watching them drill into my child's leg again. Thankfully, they were able to get an IV in her arm and the IO was avoided.

We weren't as lucky with her breathing however. Since they had loaded her up with so many benzodiazepines she wasn't breathing voluntarily. They had a bag and mask and had been breathing for her but since she wasn't coming out of it and doing it on her own they had to intubate.  This was the second worst thing we have had to watch happen to our baby. They temporarily paralyzed her so they could insert the breathing tube. She was limp, unresponsive, seizing and not breathing; pretty much a deadly combination had we not been at the hospital.

After she was intubated we were moved to the PICU for the night. We were told that when she woke up and fought to have her breathing tube removed they would make sure she could breathe on her own then remove it. She woke once at 12 but wasn't opening her eyes so they wanted to wait until she was more cognizant. She spiked a fever of 103 in the early morning hours so she was fitful and we were concerned about another possible seizure. At four she was really coughing and rejecting the tube so they took it out. Her IV was blown so they had to stick her again and it took about three tries in different spots to get a good vein. She was breathing on her own and fell back to sleep for a while.

The next day, Thanksgiving, her fever was being controlled with Tylenol so we monitored her and
tried to make her comfortable. She had tested positive for a virus, had pink eye and an ear infection. Her throat was raw from being intubated and she was not easy to console when she was awake. We were eventually downgraded and moved to the medical unit. One saving grace was since she had a virus we were in isolation. Normally you wouldn't think of this as a positive however we got our own room so that was excellent news.

Since she was stable Myles was able to get away for a couple hours and surprise his family and Anya at his sister's house for Thanksgiving. He returned to the hospital and brought me some leftovers so I was able to have a few bites of turkey. Elin was taken off her IV and she would drink milk but cried every time she had to swallow. Poor thing!

The private room did provide a quiet sleeping environment and all three of us got a pretty good nights rest. Friday morning we were ready to leave and were told by the doctors, nurses, attendees, neurologists, and others that we would be discharged in a matter of hours. That was at 10am. It's now 4pm and we are still here. We are hopeful to leave before 5 at this point.

So Thanksgiving did not turn out to be great or even good, but we are thankful we have our little girl with us and that is worth celebrating.

Hola Mexico

For Halloween this year the girls were She-Ra (Anya) and a ladybug (Elin). In case you don't remember, She-Ra was a 1980's cartoon character, the Princess of Power, and twin sister to He-Man. Anya has been watching old cartoons on You Tube after she asked me what I use to watch as a child- she was hooked and decided She-Ra was her ideal princess this year. Both Myles and I have some experience as He-Man and She-Ra from a Halloween years ago- (BC- before children) so we could easily recreate a costume in a smaller version. My mom helped with the sewing and the end product was nothing less than fantastic. We went trick or treating with friends in Newport Shores and Anya scored more than one full size candy bar- cha ching!

Bright and early the morning after Halloween we flew to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Our flight left at 7am so I do mean EARLY!!!

Our original destination was Cabo, but after it was hit by the terrible hurricane our timeshare (and much of the city) remain under construction.  Our travel companions were Susie and Karl and they have the timeshare hook up so Karl was able to get us re-booked in two lovely condos in Puerto Vallarta. Alaska Airlines even changed all our tickets for free and didn't charge us extra even though PV is farther than Cabo.

The trip was lovely but got off to a little rocky start when Miss Elin had a seizure in the airport as we were leaving to get our rental car in Mexico. Thankfully she came out of it and we didn't need to use her emergency medicine. We had the airport doctor/nurse check her out and give her some blow by oxygen. She seemed to be acting like she normally does after a seizure so we opted to just get to our condo instead of head to the hospital. She recovered after about an hour and the rest of the trip was smooth sailing with her.

Her little incident did leave all of us a bit on edge the entire time though. Plus we didn't have cell service so if Myles and I went out by ourselves Susie and Karl wouldn't be able to reach us if anything happened. What in the world did we use to do before cell phones? I don't know how I could survive without mine now having a medically fragile child. Sheesh.

Anya had a blast and was swimming like a fish by the end of the week. She was also asking when happy hour was so she could have drinks in the pool- like mother, like daughter. Elin loved the pool too and wore her waterproof CI in the pool everyday. Based on the amount of stares we got, we assume they don't see a lot of CI's in Mexico.

It rained a bit more then I would have liked but it was warm and beautiful most the time so I can't complain. Myles and I had some amazing massages on a pier overlooking the beach and got some much needed R&R. Travelling with grandparents is the only way to travel (if you need to bring your kids with you). Susie and Karl played with both girls and Myles and I were able to get quality one on one time with each of them as well. Elin liked her one on one with us at 6 am which we didn't really appreciate but it extended our days so we could get more in.

We took some day trips to Sayulita to check out the town and play in the surf. Anya spent hours in the ocean swimming, floating and getting thrown over waves by her dad. All and all the trip was a major success and everyone returned home happy and rested.