Hospital Rounds

Unfortunately for Abby we have become even more familiar with the staff at Huntsville Hospital.

Last Friday evening while I was out shopping, Abby spiked a high fever and went into a prolonged seizure. She had been running a fever for almost 6 days with no other symptoms. By the time I got home she had been seizing for more than 10 minutes and had not slowed down even after my mom had given her the Diastat. I was so thankful my mom was with her! She has such a calculated, calm presence of mind in times of crisis! Thanks mom for taking such good care of all of us!!

After giving Abby Tylenol very quickly for her high fever I rushed to the ER with my poor, baby girl struggling to breathe in her car seat. The ER staff immediately started working on Abby giving her more than 6 doses of different drugs trying to stop her seizure. She would stop temporarily, resting for a minute or two, then start up again. CT showed no changes in her ventricles, no abscesses in her neck. X-ray showed clear lungs and blood results showed no infection. Probably a virus.

Two hours after we arrived at the hospital Abby was finally resting, although her breathing was affected by all the heavy medications she had received. They moved us to the PICU where we spent the night, listening for Abby's breathing and watching her heart rate and O2 sats on the monitor. The next day she was stable but extremely lethargic, and for the most part knocked out! We convinced the doctors that we would do better at home, and were discharged early Saturday evening.

Monday things were not any better, and Abby's fever had climbed higher. She slept, and slept and didn't move unless we moved her. By early evening she had spiked another high fever and was struggling to breathe. My mom helped hold her upright while I bulb suctioned the mucous building up in her throat. It didn't help. As we watched her skin start to mottle and then turn bluish, we decided it was time to head to the ER... again.

This time she stabilized more quickly and was able to rest after another dose of Motrin and some IV fluids. We even got to see the nurse stick her vein using their nifty Vein Finder machine! It shone a green light on her skin which made it possible to see her veins clearly!! He got the IV in on the first try. After Friday night's events, and more than 5 pokes, we were not in the mood to see her become a pin cushion again.

Another unchanged CT, mostly clear x-ray and clean spinal tap. We moved to the 4th floor to get some rest. After only being on the floor about 30 minutes Abby spiked another high temp (103.6) and started acting like she was going to seize again. I started to panic until I looked at the monitor and saw that she was breathing fine, although her heart rate was high due to the fever. More Tylenol. Finally at about 4:30 am she fell asleep.

Next day we finally found the source of the fever. She had pneumonia! We were strangely relieved to hear the news, knowing at that point it wasn't something more serious.

She's home now and on antibiotics. Her tummy is upset, she's still coughing some, isn't taking her feedings well and she seems unhappy some of the time, but at least she is home. Praise the Lord for antibiotics! He is good to our family and still holds us in the palm of His hand.

As much as I like having her on monitors so I can see that she really is ok, it feels so much more normal to be home. I think Josiah is settling into his routine again too... except now he can't stand for me to leave his sight. Makes me feel loved!

Here he is goofing off under Abby's bed in room 414.
Poor guy had to find something fun to do!