Words cannot even describe the week of Halloween... I'm terrible with words anyway. Elara started getting sick about Friday Oct 25. She had croup. It was bad that morning. Derek had warned me it was going to get worse because on day 4 and 5 it peeks before it gets better and it was already pretty bad on Friday morning. That night Elara got temperatures up to 103 at times. The next day we got it under better control and kept it between 101 and 103 with medicine. We had a friend come over Saturday night and help Derek to give Elara a blessing. That night was pretty hard for Elara. She started having a hard time breathing, so we decided to stay home from Stake Conference that Sunday. By Sunday morning Elara wasn't even getting up to sit up. I was so tired I took her in bed with me and when it was time for her medicine I got up and took her temperature and it was 104.3. That on top with her breathing about 70 breaths per minute had us freaked out a bit. I don't think I will forget this moment. Usually Derek is pretty cool and had been this entire time, but when he said we should take her to the emergency room and not just an urgent care I was starting to kind of freak out... Her cough was so bad. It was croup and stridor. She was having such a hard time breathing and wouldn't even lift her head up. It was about 12 when I left with her to primary childrens. After getting there I walked in with her and as I was registering within 30 seconds the nurse came to ME and asked to start looking at Elara as I was giving the information. Then she got another nurse to come and they immediately took Elara back. We didn't even have to go into the triage room they just took one look at her and whisked her back. Then the commotion started. The doctor came in immediately and I started answering all kinds of questions. They immediately started her on oxygen and getting her an IV and wanting an xray. They did a nose swab to check for which virus could be causing this ruckus. And, they were pretty for certain they would admit her, and from right there I was able to text Derek and tell him to come. I LOVE MY NEIGHBORS! Derek was able to immediately call neighbors to come watch Kael and Eden as they were coming back from stake conference. I'm so thankful for all the amazing people in our ward and our court yard who have prayed for Elara and just did anything whenever to help out! We were in the emergency room for only 3 hours before they got her to a room on the 4th floor. It was fast! The tests started coming back and Elara got hit with two different viruses. The rhino virus and the human metapneumo virus. It really was affecting her lungs and her ability to breath. Her oxygen was not saturating in her blood very well. A normal percent is 95 to 100% and Elara was close to 80% without any oxygen at times. It was really scary. Derek was able to come home and spend the night with the kids and I stayed with Elara. On Monday Elara was looking so much better! It's amazing what a little bit of IV fluids, rest, and oxygen can do for a girl! We were getting set to go home and keep her on oxygen for a couple of weeks until her breathing got better. It was great. She came home on .25 L of oxygen. Derek was flying out to his interview to Mayo on Tuesday morning so we asked my Dad to come stay with me while he was gone because having a baby on oxygen is A LOT of work. My Dad flew in Monday night after we got home from the hospital. Then, he was able to take Derek to the airport Tuesday morning. All day Tuesday Elara still wasn't doing very well. She was still not herself. Either me or my Dad held her all day long! She wasn't eating well and not drinking well either. Tuesday night her breathing got really really bad again and her fevers came back! I think I kept my cool this time pretty good. I knew she had a doctors appointment in the morning and I just wanted to make it to that appointment and I thought maybe they could increase her oxygen or something. We got Kael and Eden to school and my Dad came with me and Elara to the appointment. Let's just say it didn't go so well.
We got in the room and her oxygen saturation was back in the 80's ON OXYGEN... She would drop to about 86. Her heart rate and breathing were high again. The nurse said, "This doesn't look so great, I'm going to find the doctor." Then, the resident came in and looked at her and said, "She really doesn't look that great, I'm going to find another doctor to come look at her". Then, the attending doctor came in and said, "She is really sick still and needs another x-ray and blood work and an IV". I could get her admitted now, but the doctors won't look at her until tonight and I think she needs to go to the emergency room!" Ok... By this point my phone was dead. I had to try to find babysitters and rides from school. Inside I was kind of freaking out now. Derek was gone and in the middle of one of his most important interviews. I knew what was coming. I was there the last time they held her down for an x-ray. I was there when they poked her for an IV and got blood. I was there over night with her as she struggled to breath. Inside, I was kind of losing it. I was a mess. THEN, we got to triage and the nurse looked at her and we took her back. Right away, in came EVERYONE. The tech, the respiratory tech, the nurses, the doctor... Then, to repeat the story for 3rd time that day. I'm so grateful I have the medical training I do have. I'm SO grateful I worked in the emergency room before I had kids. I'm so grateful I knew what to expect and how to help my baby. I did NOT like knowing what was going to happen, but I liked being able to at least know what was good and what was bad. Being confused would have made it so much worse! Elara was so sick this time they couldn't get an IV and blood. They poked her hands, her foot, her hand again, and finally her head. :( Then, they called the IV team in. They really wanted her to have fluids and to start her on an antibiotic. I'm really glad I had my Dad here. It would have been really hard to go through all of this by myself. They finally got the head IV and then one in her hand. Once things calmed down we decided to call and let Derek know. His flight wasn't scheduled to leave until the next morning. My Dad had a big church history trip planned with my Mom they were leaving for the next day. Once again, my ward to the rescue. In this time I was able to run home and grab a bag to keep at the hospital with me, our friend Patrick came with me and helped my Dad give Elara and me a blessing and then he drove my Dad to the airport. We got admitted to the fourth floor again. Elara had an x-ray in the emergency room which showed that her lungs were worse and it looked like the virus caused her to get bacterial pneumonia. The poor girl was started on ampicillian IV antibiotics and that began our stay until Saturday. She had to have no fevers, slowly decrease her oxygen, and be eating and drinking well before we could take her home. By Thursday night her fevers were gone. Friday night her oxygen finally got stable OFF oxygen! She would not drink hardly anything Thursday or Friday. Then, Friday night shortly after the doctors decided she should stay another night until she was drinking better she started drinking and drinking and wouldn't stop. We had to deep suction her about every 6 hours since she was admitted and we decided to do the blue bulb syringe instead that night. I started noticing she was having trouble breathing so the tech came in suction her nose and that's when she threw up all over me. The poor girl! She just couldn't get a break. She started breathing better after that. She slept so much better that night and I even got a little sleep instead of the usual up every hour from beeping monitors! That meant her oxygen stayed high enough that she was doing better! All she had left was to eat and drink and we could go home. She didn't want to drink anything the n0hake and that seemed to do the trick! She was spoiled rotten. We tried everything! Apple juice, milk, grape juice from a CAN, a popsicle slushie, water, popsicles. The winner was the chocolate milk shake. Once she started drinking that all kinds of possibilities opened up. It was finally time to go home!!! No more oxygen! No more IV! Just some pink amoxicillian and that was it! I was so nervous because I just did not want to come back. Slowly ever so slowly she is getting better every day. I think she FINALLY back to her old self with only 2 days of medicine left.
After all of this I just have to say thank you to my Heavenly Father for getting me through it! Thanks to friends and family who helped along the way! Thank you to Primary Children's and the amazing staff! After being at Primary's I just have to say I am so grateful we have only had to deal with pneumonia. There are so many sick children. On Halloween I went to grab some free food that someone donated for the parents, (There are so many volunteers and other donations all the time at Primary's) and there were Halloween parties going on and families were able to have a great time! All the doctors were dressing up. Elara's doctors all came dressed up Peter pan themed. They had a crocodile, Peter Pan, Hook, Wendy, a lost boy! It was great. Another team were the Minions from Despicable Me. There were princesses and scary costumes. I started feeling so sad that I was missing Halloween with my big kids and that we weren't all together as a family. Elara wasn't allowed to leave her room because she could get other kids sick. As I walked down there was a little girl with her head shaved in a princess dress and an IV getting her picture taken. I had a chance at perspective. That family was having a great time. I'm so grateful for 3 beautiful, HEALTHY children. It could have been a LOT worse. My baby is HOME. My baby is healthy! I AM GRATEFUL! It could always be worse. As I ran to the pharmacy I was in the elevator with another Mom. She had her hands FULL of syringes, tubes, medicines, bandages, etc. In my excitement we started talking. I brought up going home, and she said, "US TOO!" It brought on the next topic, going home will NOT be easy for her, but there is no where better to be than HOME. I got my little girl home, and it IS easier for me now that she is better. Other families go home only to have to learn new skills how to keep their children alive. I AM BLESSED!
This is the only picture I got of Elara at the hospital the second time. It was about 2 AM when the nurse took the picture for me. She was one of my favorite nurses. She took such good care of Elara and helped me out in every way. You can see Elara's head IV in this one. She came home with bruises and cuts on her hands and feet from all the pokes.
