WEEE-OOOO....WEEE-OOOO

Well, that title is supposed to sound like ambulance sirens. That seems what Libby and I have done for the past few days. I took her to the doctor Friday morning for her same old chronic cough and wheeze. Her pulse ox was 89%, then we gave her an updraft and it dropped to 84%. They gave her oxygen in the clinic and it didn't help a lot. So here we go for ambulance ride number one. I must say I am fairly disappointed that we didn't get lights and sirens, because that would have added a lot of flair to this story (as if we needed any more excitement). Wayne met us at the ER. He was super freaked out. The respiratory therapist performed deep suctioning on her and got a TON of stuff out. It was literally like more than 1/2 cup of yuck. She immediately sounded better. We stayed overnight in the infant toddler unit. They diagnosed her with non-rsv bronchiolitis, which is what she had in January. We went home Saturday afternoon. After we got home, she started to cough again and Wayne and I both thought maybe we had went home too soon. Boy did we ever. She didn't sleep Saturday night and obviously neither did I. We continued our updrafts every two hours. She was breathing about 80 times a minute, and just in case you didn't know, babies her age are supposed to breath about 20-40 times a minute. I finally called Dr. Baker, her pediatrician, Sunday at about 6p.m.. We decided to be safe and meet in the ER at Conway to check her out. Thank God we got there when we did, because her pulse ox was 77. Within five minutes we were already on oxygen, deep suctioned again and in our room. So there we were again, in the hospital with yes, you guessed it non-rsv bronchiolitis. Okay, Dr. Baker didn't really think bronchiolitis again. Dr. Baker was very upset that ACH had sent us home so soon, because she was hoping that they would go ahead and do some further testing as to why she was keeping this crap ALL the time! But she sounded so much better.
We thought they had cured us.
Not even close.
All night Sunday and Monday all day, she just didn't really seem to get better. Her appetite was fluctuating, but was never great. She continued to cough and breath super fast. We changed her meds and added meds, with no improvement. So the docs at Ark peds apparently had a little conference about Ms. Libby Lou. They decided we should go back to Children's.
WEEE-OOOO....WEEE-OOOO. Yes ambulance ride number two took place Tuesday around lunch time. Yet again we didn't get the privilege of the lights and sirens. Carter would be so disappointed.
When we arrived at the ER. We were immediately whisked back to a large room in the back of the ER. There were a dozen Dr's, nurses and RT's standing around us working on her. Her pulse ox was in the mid 80's on 3liters of oxygen. She was a gray purple color. Fun times, really fun times. The first things they tested her for were, can you guess. Ding, ding ---RSV. They also did a pertussis swab, cbc, bmp and blood gases. The way she was breathing, they were already trying to prepare me for her to be intubated. That would be based on her blood gases.
Because of all her fast, shallow breathing for so long, her carbon dioxide levels were really high. They started a high flow nasal cannula at 7liters to try to maybe open up any alveoli that had collapsed. They were going to repeat her gases in a few minutes.
Her repeats were much better. So we escaped the ventilator for now.
However, we did buy ourselves a room in the pediatric intensive care unit. I must say that our room was beautiful. And yes, I did take pictures. I will post them, if we ever get out of here. Two walls were full of windows and it was big. The staff was wonderful! Libby got updrafts every two hours and suctioning after each one. She slept pretty much the whole time in between them, because it had been so long since she had slept well.
Today, Wednesday, we have made progress , I guess. She does have a feeding tube now. I think that is such to be extra cautious. I don't think they want her doing any extra work to eat for now. We have moved to the step down unit of the PICU. The room is not as glam. But it does have internet access by her bedside. So I gave up my fab view for the chance to be able to blog once again. Hey, we all have to make sacrifices.
I just want to say thank you to everyone who is praying for us. I think all of your thoughts and prayers are what is keeping us strong. We are supposed to see the pulmonologist tomorrow. And yes, I promise, I really am doing okay. Don't worry, you all will know when I have a nervous breakdown.
A little footnote, Carter is having the time of his life at his Papa and Nana's house. I don't think he will ever want to leave. I will have to bribe him with a lifetime supply of milk, and probably change to lifetime supply of beer in about 18 years. We'll see.