February was an eventful month. We had just gone to Vernal, UT for my grandpa's funeral. When we came home, Howie, Tommy and Livy all got sick, a nasty cold virus that lasted well over a week. Tommy and Howie seemed to pull out of it, but Livy didn't. I kept thinking she would get better, so I am the one that put off taking her to the doctor. Over the weekend, she had three accidents. Livy had never had an accident. She was too sick to go to the bathroom. Monday February 27th, we took her to the night clinic. The doctor told tommy he wouldn't risk betting her life by taking her home, that we needed to go to the ER. Her O2 sat was 72. We had Howie with us because we hadn't been planning on this. So we had to go to the drive thru at Jack in the Box and then the ER (as it was 9:30pm and we hadn't had dinner yet). I am sure the ER said all kinds of comments about us eating in the ER room. Oh well, they didn't know our circumstances.
I knew it was pretty serious because that was the fastest we have ever been taken back and seen at the ER. Usually at the ER, you hurry up and wait for hours. The admitting nurse tried three different O2 saturation monitors because she thought they were broken because the reading was so low. Tommy told her that really was her reading. That is when everything kicked into high gear and we were rushed back to a room and instantly 3-4 nurses/doctors were swarming around us. She started getting breathing treatments, was hooked up to oxygen, and an IV inserted into her arm. She had 3 breathing treatments and was on 4 liters of O2 to get her oxygen level into the low 90's.
Shortly after Tommy left, the pediatrician explained the results of the x-ray, that she had a very bad case of pneumonia, and said they were sending her to Boise, to St. Lukes Children's Hospital because they didn't have the equipment necessary to treat her. I felt like she was the first honest-smack you in the face-person to tell me what was wrong with Livy. Everyone else was so calm and reassuring, making it seem like everyday stuff. Dr. Devoe was the first person to tell me how serious it was. Her concern brought me to tears. Dr. Devoe told me honestly they didn't have the equipment to intubate her (place her on a ventilator) if she stopped breathing. She wanted us to be next to the PICU. She also said they were sending her by ambulance, again, in case she stopped breathing. I broke down at this point, called Tommy. He said he would meet me in Boise with my mom. I am not sure how I had the presence of mind to take photos of this chaos. I did have that small fear that these might be the last photos I would be taking of my child. It was a pretty scary time.
In the ambulance ride, she wet herself again. She had lost all control over her bowels. As we got on the freeway, she said goodbye to me. I started to choke up asking her what she was talking about. I was pretty scared at this point. I found out from her that she was saying goodbye to the hospital because we were driving in the ambulance. Talk about a heart stopper.
We got to St. Lukes where they hooked her up to everything. There were so many doctors and nurses, I was overwhelmed. They informed us she was very very sick. Her breaths were shallow and rapid and very high. She wouldn't be able to eat until her resparations came down. It was a very long night. I fell apart and told tommy I was so very sorry for not taking her in sooner. I felt like she would eventually get better and she never did. It was good that my mom and tommy were there, because I broke down and couldn't be strong any longer.
She was started on antibiotics, arithamycin and ristassin, in case she was fighting an infection of some sort that we were unaware of. She was on IV fluids and tylenol to break her fever. In the morning (2-28-12), Dr. Hemenway ordered another chest x-ray. He said he normally doesn't order a second one, but she hadn't improved at all and he was worried. She was really dehydrated and they said the fluids would help hydrate her, but would also make her more mucusy. They told us to be prepared that she would sound worse today, even though we were at the hospital. There was still no sign of progress, except for hydration. Livy had to wear pull ups. I was hoping this event wouldn't make her regress in potty training.
Tommy listened to her chest (as he had been frequently through the night) and as a nurse, what he heard frightened him. He broke down and said he wasn't going to listen again because it was too hard hearing what he did and knowing what he does about pneumonia. I guess because I had heard them tell me this, I was prepared that today would be worse. I was stronger at this point than Tommy. Since she wasn't improving, they started her on solumedral, a steroid. Her chest x-ray came back and Dr. Hemenway informed us that she not only had pneumonia (viral), but had developed a secondary bacterial pneumonia as well. He also said that she had pneumonia in all of her lungs fields.
Broke my little heart to see her hooked up to everything like this.
Livy had a funny little thing she did with her feet. She would straddle the crib bar between her big toe and the little toes. She spent most of the week like this. Just a funny little quark we noticed.
Livy slept almost until noon. She wasn't very happy to wake to her new surroundings. The hospital gave her a puppy, but it wasn't like her stuffed pink puppy at home, so she hated it.
One of our favorite nurses, Jenny, fixing her IV.
Trying to see if she wanted to color or draw, but she was almost too tired. Julie, Steve and Seth Butterfield sent her some beautiful flowers to cheer her up. Thanks guys.
Then we had a special visitor, Bishop Hartley. He was actually in Boise at the other hospital, St. Alphonsus, because his wife was in knee replacement surgery. He came over to say hi. Bishop saw her at the worst she ever was. He teared up a bit, too. Livy was also not the nicest person to him. She wouldn't talk to him. She just cried and screamed that she wanted to go home. I told Livy that I wanted dad and bishop to give her a blessing. She screamed, "NO! I DON'T WANT A BLESSING!!!" Bishop was surprised. I insisted, and asked them to even though she was saying she didn't want one. She didn't fuss when they did give her one.
Mom and Maria came over later and were saints to bring me a list of items I needed from home: change of clothes, shampoo, livy's pink puppy, her favorite blanket, deodorant (you wouldn't think, but it was a huge thing for me), etc. Maria brought her some cute balloons. Thank you both.
The hardest thing at the hospital was livy crying telling me how hungry she was. We weren't allowed to give her anything. They were afraid she was aspirate (choke and get it in her lungs) because her little body was trying its hardest just to breath. Food would come later. We begged and begged and were given permission from the night doctor to let her eat popsicles and ice cream if she was under a certain respiration rate.
Trying to get her to eat a popsicle. She didn't do very well, didn't eat very much of it at all.
(simple pleasures, freshly showered, what a difference that can make!)
I needed a break, so I went out with mom and Maria, shopped for clothes and brought back some dinner. That was a nice break.
We read books to pass the time away.
Trying to get her to eat ice cream. Chocolate was all she would consider.
Monday night she just wanted to be held by mom. Plus she wanted out of the crib, so I rocked her while we watched cartoons.
A little while later, we had a sweet treat, canine therapy was in the hospital that night and came by to see if we would like to pet their dog. Livy was excited, but didn't want to pet it. That was so nice.
Aunt Becky called and I talked to her a bit. For some reason, Livy got upset. Becky asked if she could sing her a song. I put it on speaker phone and Becky sang I Am a Child of God to her. Livy calmed right down. She sang another song or two and helped Livy to relax. Thanks Becky for the call/songs.
Later we found out that we had been put in isolation. Every time a professional came in the room, they had to be wearing a gown. That was interesting for us to learn. We were borderline, but not quite bad enough to be in the PICU. We were completely okay with isolation. Tommy wore a mask for a while as he had a cough and probably something left over from the cold he had.
One night around 10pm, we convinced the nurses to let us go for a walk. It was quite the ordeal, with everything we had to bring with us. But, we managed to make it work. I was surprised how quickly Livy got tired and weak. It was a very short walk.
Don't those painfully sad eyes just make you want to cry?
We tried the walk thing the next night too. She wanted me even though I was taking the picture, so this is her crying, trying to get to me. You can see the female nurse's sympathetic face.
Dr. Hemenway was AWESOME. He was so on top of his game. He had really good bedside manner. He put Livy first. She was the patient, we were just there. It was like out of consideration he told us what was going on, but he focused on her. We were so thrilled for his excellent competency and skills. What an awesome doctor. The peds unit is lucky to have him.
Another fun visit from Brandon and Ashely and the girls. Livy moved from the bed to the couch to visit with them. You can't tell from this picture, because she looks like she is sleeping, but she really did have a lovely time with Hailey and Brooklyn. And Ashely brought us dinner! That was lovely since by this point in the latter part of the week, hospital food was highly overrated.
Livy sat on the couch, longing to go home. She is still hooked up to everything, just out of her bed. She told us over and over that she just wanted to go home. It was so sad and heartbreaking.
The next day, we got some more visitors. Our home teachers, Randy Bowns and Kory Hansen came to see us. That was so nice of them. Livy really was happy, you just can't tell. Thanks for the visit.
Michelle and Mark Dudley came to visit one evening. Livy had had a great day, improved lots, and even wanted to color. They got to see a pretty good version of her. Thanks for the visit and goodies. Oh, have to mention the steroids. Livy on steroids was a horrible combination. It made her flip moods rapidly, making her demanding, and difficult to deal with. The Dudleys got to see first hand what we were having to deal with. She cried she wanted to play Tommy's ipod. So, he asked her if she wanted to play a game, she screamed no, she wanted to play Angry Birds. He quickly got it set up for her and handed it to her when she yelled at him that she didn't want to play ipod. That was just one of the many many many examples of her violent mood swings. From this experience we learned what people mean when they use the term Roid Rage. Her nickname at this point was livie on Roids. We crossed our fingers that this would be temporary.
Sandy Bowen (family friend as well as Tommy's coworker) also visited that evening and brought her a pink bunny. It was nice to visit with Sandy. We talked to Sandy about the steroids and she just warned us that it was a taste of her future teenage years. I sure hope not! Thanks Sandy your visit lifted our spirits.
The intern doctor working on his residency checking on Livy.
So sweet, dad and livy asleep at night.
Another breathing treatment. They had fun makes, trying to make it less scary for kids.
Finally feeling better. She loved this little magna doodle. she also discovered that she could have purple popsicles and chocolate ice cream whenever she desired.
We will forever be grateful for the doctors and nurses at St. Lukes who helped us with Livy's recovery. After a 5 day hospitalization we are extremely happy to be going home.
*** Update two weeks later: One small side effect from this: Livy thinks she can eat chocolate ice cream and purple popsicles any time she wants.***
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