PICU

Once again we've been surrounded by the love and support of our friends and family and many others as well. Thanks for rallying for us. Here's what's going on: 

Yesterday Keira had a pretty good morning,  complete with a doctor's appointment at which I was put at ease because the doctor heard no rattle at all in her chest, something I'd been mildly concerned about. However, Keira became sick amazingly quickly over the course of the afternoon. At 6:45, I took her to the emergency room because her breathing was becoming labored and she was continuously doing a red-faced gag/hack/wretch rather than a cough. 

The ER admitted us to At. Al's Nampa and they, in turn, transferred K via ambulance to the pediatric ICU at St. Luke's downtown. It was a looong night. They tried, for hours, to do an IV or a PIC line (she was stuck unsuccessfully in her hands, arms, neck, and groin) and finally did this crazy last resort battle ground type move in which they stuck the needle perpendicularly right into her leg bone. That lasted just long enough to give her some fluids because at that point she hadn't eaten in 12 hours and was getting dehydrated. 

Poor thing was so worn out that she wasn't even crying anymore. Just kind of laying there like she's in shock or something. I was finally able to hold her in the early morning and that made us both feel better, I think.

So they have run tests for RSV and done xrays for pneumonia. Doesn't look like she has either at this point. She probably just has the croupy crud that the boys have both had, but it's severely confounded by her size and her inability to cough the stuff up. So, she's in the hospital for observation. She isn't on any meds. She's getting oxygen and feeding through a tube. My mom is sitting with her right now. Her oxygen saturation is good but her heart rate is nuts (like 200) and her breathing is very shallow and labored. Hopefully we'll just be waiting this thing out for a few days. If it gets worse, they will have to sedate her, give her a feeding tube, and/or suction her lungs.

Jeff and I are back in that familiar mode where we are only planning for the next few hours. We've got all the kids (and ourselves) taken care of through tomorrow morning. We will keep you posted here and  call you if you can help us out. 

Thank you for loving my daughter. And the rest of us too.