Yes, yes...I know it's Monday. I guess I'm 3 days late...or 4 days early...depending on how you want to look at it.
1. Mary-Grace came home after 5 days in the hospital. When she left her right lung was still crackly. However, it was such an improvement that the pediatrician thought we could manage it at home. The following Tuesday we had a follow up with her doctor. Again, her right lung was still crackly. In addition to the 3x a day Albuterol breathing treatments, he prescribed a steroid that we do 2x a day (also with the machine) So basically I have to get an almost 2 year old to sit still for 15 minutes 5x a day. Um...yeah. It's fun.
2. Apparently kids who are hospitalized with RSV have a 40% increase in asthma risk. That goes up with pneumonia (which she had). And then goes up even higher with family history of asthma (K had terrible asthma as a child). So, her pediatrician said rather than rent the breathing machine we should just look into buying it. Odds are, she will have asthma. The hope is that if we have the machine and medication on hand we can save ourselves an emergency room visit.
3. During our ordeal I witnessed so much that is wrong with our healthcare system. Oh my gosh! I don't want to get into to much detail right now because I'm still extremely annoyed and angry...but I want to touch on a few things.
*When we arrived at the ER that Tuesday evening MG's respiration was DOUBLE what it should have been. Her heart rate was also far above normal. She had a fever of 104.9 and she was have retractions with each breath (that is very, very bad). We were told by triage that there were lots of other children in the waiting room but that MG was second in line to go back because they take people based on severity. She said we might wait 30 minutes if that because 2 beds were vacant and just needed to be cleaned. We waited 5 hours! Now I know that 5 hours in an ER isn't that long (I once waited 12). However, for a 23 month old who is has all of the above issues...it is a very long time. Especially when I saw a child taken back for stitches in his forehead and another for a splinter in his heal.
*We made the mistake of going to the closest hospital that has a pediatric unit but is not an actual children's hospital. The people we dealt with were UNBELIEVABLE! It's like they have never worked with a toddler in their lives. The nurse we had was HORRIFIC! The pediatrician asked her to get MG a popsicle since she hadn't eaten in 5 days at this point. He wanted to see if we could get some calories in her because she was becoming quite lethargic. She was obviously annoyed that she had to do this. It took her 30 minutes to bring it. Then she came back an hour later and noticed that MG hadn't eaten any. She got mad! She was like "the doctor says she has to eat it!" I told her that he wanted her to try and we did try, but there was no way I could force her to do it. Have you ever tried to force a 2 year old to do anything? Yeah, not going to happen. She then stormed off. Um...ok. Once they decided that she needed to be admitted they wanted to get an IV started to get some fluids in her and get some blookwork. Now, I knew they were going to have to do something to hold her down. I completely understand this. The nurse came in with one of the guys who transports patients. He basically swaddled her in a sheet super tight with the exception of the arm that needed to be out for the IV. I asked the nurse to do it in her left hand since she favors her right. She told me no because her table (that is small and on wheels) was already on the right side so that's where she was going to do it. Then the tech held her down (again, totally get this) while the nurse began the IV. At this point, MG started flipping out. She was screaming. It was gut wrenching. She kept saying "I don't want it anymore!" which is what she says when she's super upset. So what does the nurse keep saying to her? "Well, that's not really your choice right now, is it?" Seriously??? The poor girl is terrified and you can't even be the slightest big comforting?
*They told us we were being admitted at 1:00AM. We didn't get up to pediatrics until 6:00AM. The nurse in the ER kept saying they didn't have a bed available for her yet. When we went up there I noticed empty room after empty room. Then the nurse up there says to me "We've been waiting a long time for you guys." I asked her what she meant and she said they had the room ready hours ago. Apparently they had her bed ready 30 minutes after she was admitted and called down to the ER to send her up. I don't even know what to say about that.
*The final straw that made me want to wring someone's neck was when I got a phone call on Friday from the financial person at the hospital wanting me to settle our bill right then, over the phone. First of all, I never pay for anything over the phone, EVER! Just not a good idea. Second of all, I need to see an itemized bill. I have had hospitals charge me for things I didn't receive numerous times. And third of all, MY KID HASN'T EVEN BEEN DISCHARGED! I'm sorry, that was so not my top priority at the moment. I have every intention of paying our bill, but sheesh.
Ok, rant over. I needed that vent!
4. I talked to a friend of mine who is a nurse the other day about how Mary-Grace has been acting since we've been home. This was obviously a huge ordeal for her and she seems to be pretty traumatized by it. She is extremely clingy. She throws up every time I have to give her medicine. Flips out if I leave the room for two seconds. And she is still babying the hand that had the IV and asking me to kiss it. If you could spare a prayer or two for her, that would be so wonderful.
Alrighty...onto better, happier things.
5. This past Saturday we had a birthday party for the girls. It was so much fun! I can't believe my first baby is going to be two on Thursday and my second baby one on Saturday. Time flies so fast. As soon as I (and by I, I mean Kevin) uploads the pictures to my computer, I'll post them.
6. We have 2 beach trips planned! And we don't have to pay or either one! Free vacation! Woohoo! The first one is in mid April. Kevin's brother and his new wife have a timeshare up in Destin. It's a 3 bedroom condo on the beach and they invited us to go with them. So basically we just have to pay for our food. Awesome! And since it's a condo we have a kitchen which is so nice when traveling with kiddos. The second trip is to The Breakers in Ft. Lauderdale with Kevin's job. We went a few years ago, pre kids. It was amazing and such a beautiful place. There is absolutely no way we could afford to stay at a place like this. Because it's a business trip, it's all expenses paid...even for me and the girls. K works for a small company so this is kind of a perk. Unfortunately K will have to be in classes most of the time so he'll miss a lot of time on the beach. But I know the girls and I will have a blast while we hang out with Kevin's cousin's wife (they work together) and their daughter.
7. Tonight I'm picking up a half dose prescription of my Zoloft. I'm going to take that for a week then break that in half for a week or so...then try to stop. I can't believe it's already been 6 months of this. I'm excited to finally be off (hopefully), but extremely nervous about side effects and possibly not being ready to stop taking it. Right now I feel great! I mean, I hosted a party on Saturday for about 50 people and didn't freak out once. My daughter was in the hospital and I didn't panic once. That is AMAZING for me. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! I have way, way more good days than bad. And when I do have a bad one, it's not terrible. Everyone has bad days, right? That's totally normal. So again, if you have a prayer or two to spare for me over the next couple of weeks, I would be so appreciative. And also, if you've ever weaned off of Zoloft or something similar and you would be willing to share your experience, that would be so wonderful. :)
