November 11, 2009

Madison goes to the hospital...

Wow, the past two days have been such a whirl wind...yes, even more than the usual speed things seem to pass through my life! On Tuesday morning, I was doing my usual laundry/cleaning routine when I found that Seattle and Madison had been quietly been eating Paris' ENTIRE bag of Halloween candy! Luckily there wasn't much chocolate...but man, there were wrappers EVERYWHERE! Ugh...so I cleaned up the "evidence" and went in search of the two thieves. To my surprise, I found them both plopped down in front of the t.v. in the loft...which almost NEVER happens! What I should have thought was...wow they must be sick...instead, I thought...this day might just start turning around! HA!

An hour or so went by and I noticed that Seattle had perked up and was ready for lunch, but Madison didn't want to eat or drink anything. I thought she was still feeling sick from earlier, she didn't have a fever and wasn't complaining of anything! She was just acting super tired and ended up falling asleep on the floor (which isn't like her anymore)! After her nap, I noticed that she didn't look quite right. You know the look. She still didn't have a fever, but I started to notice a small cough and she seemed to be having a little labored breathing, where she seemed to be breathing with her entire body. I could see that she just didn't have any energy, so I started our humidifier and set her up on the couch in front of the t.v. so she could watch her favorite cartoon, Scooby Doo. Which normally would be golden...but she just couldn't seem to stay awake. After she woke up from this long string of "cat naps" I noticed immediately that she couldn't walk very well and that she wasn't able to take in very deep breaths. After I carried her downstairs, so I could make dinner, she immediately got sick. Even though, I had been telling Phil about her strange behavior during the day...I guess it didn't hit home until that moment! He then started noticing the labored breathing and decided he was going to take her to "Good Night Pediatrics" immediately! Wow...what a flip!?!

Anyway, I know I should have went...but seeing that I had 5 other children who needed me at home, I let them go alone. Here's the problem with that. One minute he's texting me that she's doing breathing treatments and seems to be doing okay and will call me when they're on their way home and the next minute (literally!) this is our conversation:
Phil-"Okay, so she can't keep her oxygen levels up, so they're going to be transporting her to St. Jo's Hospital."
Summer- What? When you mean transport, you mean by ambulance?! Phil that seems really bad!"
Phil-"Yeah, it pretty much is. They checked her X-Rays and said she might have a possible pneumonia, so they've already called ahead and they're waiting for her to arrive there now."
Summer-"Okay, so I need to get there, like NOW!"
Phil-"Yeah, so just call Shavonne and tell her to come over, so you can meet us at the hospital."

No joke! He was so freaking calm! It's probably a good thing I had a half an hour to deal with it before seeing him. Shavonne and Greg came right over and Greg was sweet enough to come to the Hospital with me so Phil and he could give Madison a blessing.

When we arrived, Madison had a cute little doll (straight from a box) that the hospital gave her sitting right next to her! Her name was "Hope", but Madison named her Paris...because she had blonde hair! So cute! She had oxygen tubes coming from her nose and a heart/oxygen monitor on her pointer finger, and didn't even smile when she saw me! My heart was broken:(

After Phil and Greg gave her a blessing, they both left. Yeah, as luck would have it...the next day, was the one day of the month that Phil's quarter and month end "financials" were due to corporate and he couldn't miss!

After a LOONNG night of sleeping next to Madison in her bed, having her oxygen level alarm go off every 10 minutes, or so it seemed, and doctors coming in and telling me that it would be a minimum 3-5 day hospital stay and respitory therapists telling me what a sick little girl she was...I was mentally and physically drained the next morning. She kept telling me, "I want to get out of dis pwace!" "Let's go home to Madison's house, Mommy!" She didn't want to keep the oxygen on, and I didn't want her to have to, but everytime she took it out, her oxygen levels would drop below 90 and an alarm would go off! She was fighting her respiratory treatments...I was at road block, seriously!

Luckily, my mom caught the first plane in on Wednesday morning, and arrived at the hospital by 10am. She was a breath of fresh air! She was determined that physical interaction and her mental spirits were the key to her getting better. She scooped Madison up in her arms and started playing with her and bouncing her and soon Madison started to laugh again! It was amazing! She went from barely being able to sustain her O2 levels above 90 to having her oxygen turned off in a matter of hours! The doctors were amazed! She started being able to talk again, which when she started to get rude, made me miss the silent treatment! They kept telling us that kids are so resillient, it's just a miracle she's done a complete 180. I was just so glad that all the prayers and blessings were answered!

MY post is already incredibly too long, and I apologize for that, but hopefully I will NEVER have another experience like this again, and I can one day, look back at this experience and actually want to remember my feelings?!?

Status Update:

Madison was sent home with a nebulizer for breathing treatments to be taken every 4 hours and a steroid prescription to reduce inflamation in her lungs. After 2 days of being home her pediatrician has taken her completely off the nebulizer (unless she needs it) and we never even had to give her the steroid prescription! They still don't know why she couldn't breathe and the hospital listed her reason for being hospitalized as "Asthma related", even though she shows no further signs of Asthma. We're as confused as all of you are, I'm sure! So once she kicks this runny nose...life should be great again!


The rest are some shots of Madison on her first night back home!

It started with the kids just wanting to give "Madison a Kiss"...Then more people wanted to get on the bed..."to give Madison a Kiss"Notice Haven's "bracelet!" She's so sweet! Her and Madison are like 2 peas in a pod lately, so Haven talked Madison into giving her, the "hospital bracelet." I think Madison was glad to be rid of the thing!Then things just started to get wierd! What is up with this picture? I'm not even sure what goes through boys heads! Of course this is why they ALL wanted on the bed! The pictures were just their invitation to get on the bed...once they were on it was only a matter of minutes before this was happening. SO before I clipped this scene, I snapped a picture...ONLY because it was cute watching Madison try to be normal. After this shot...it was bed time for all!

This was Madison on Thursday morning...using her "Smoker"! My mom's camera has all the shots from the hospital...so I'll post them when I get them...





3 comments:

UpdikeUpdates.com said...

So glad Madison's on the mend. I love how excited they all were to have her back... especially Haven. I love the pic where she's totally showing off the "pretty bracelet." And the picture of Madison being such a good girl with her breathing treatment that she called the "smoker." Classic. Love you guys!

Krystal said...

its so sad when kids have to be in the hospital. and that last picture there with the mask over her face is SO sad :(

Maylene said...

Wow...that must have been really scary. I'm so glad she is back home and feeling better. I hope you guys are doing ok! Have a fun Thanksgiving.