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.
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