Sick Already and Admitted to the Hospial

Well, yesterday the home health nurse came for one of her bi-weekly check-ups. She was concerned about the mucous I was having to suction out of Isaiah. She called his pediatrician who ended up speaking with me. The pediatrician said that although he had his Synergis shot, it sounded like it could be RSV. I thought, "Oh dear Lord...not that!" We ended up making an appt for him the next day at 10am. The next day, we got to the office. I had just signed in and the nurse took me right back to a room so we wouldn't have to wait in the waiting area with the other kids.

Nurse Carla took some info, then she tried to get Isaiah's oxygen saturation level. It was in the 80's. She asked me what his normal levels are and I said mid to high 90's. Sometimes he would go down in the 80's but then come back up. She was only getting about 84 and became concerned. She started calling for other nurses. Two nurses came in and Carla started telling them what was going on. Mucous issues, coughing, De-Sats (O2 levels dropping), etc. One of the other nurses asked the 3rd to go get Dr. Stuppy right away. The Dr. came back in within a couple minutes along with a Nurse Practitioner. She began to check Isaiah's breathing, listen to his lungs, etc. She said she didn't think is was necessarily RSV but a similar bronchial virus that was similar and took on the same characteristics. She felt that because he was wheezing and the excessive mucous, he should probably be admitted to Children's Mercy (the downtown location since that's where all the specialist primarily were.) She had a nurse call to see if any beds were available.

Dr. Stuppy was talking to me a little bit and said, "I know you didn't expect this especially since he hasn't been home very long. But, CMH can do a better job at suctioning him out and keeping an eye on him to make sure everything is good." I honestly felt like I was going to lose. I became very emotional but was able to hold it together because Micah was there with me. Dr. Stuppy left for a few minutes and came back to tell me the hospital was sending a transport team to come get Isaiah. He would be transported by ambulance to the hospital. It would be better then me driving him and dealing with him not getting enough oxygen and having to deal with that on the highway. I could go in the ambulance with him or follow. I thought about riding with them, but that wasn't an option since I had Micah and drove and didn't want to leave the truck. I called Antwan to tell him what was going on. He said he would meet me at the hospital. I asked him if he was going to pick MJ up, if I should take him with me or if I should have someone pick him up from the Dr. office. He said it didn't matter. I thought about calling AM to see if she could come get him, but remembered she had a ton going on. As much as I didn't want to call her, I went ahead and did it. I couldn't reach her, or Jess, or my manager D. So I called my co-worker Cola to see where everyone was. I told her what was going on and she ended up getting AM out of a meeting. They told me that Cola could pick up Micah and take him to my work and AM would get him and keep him for me. I said I'd call back. After hanging up, I asked MJ if he wanted to go to the hospital with me or hang out with AM. He said he wanted to be with me. At that point, I realized that I needed him to be with me anyway. I called Antwan back and said I would be driving and taking MJ with me. D called me back while waiting for the transport team and I informed her that Cola did not need to pick MJ up and I would keep them updated.

The Dr. left to go check on other patients so I told her I would suction Isaiah out. At this point, it was just me. MJ and Isi in the room. After suctioning him, he started to cry frantically. The only time he cried in this manner was when he wasn't getting enough oxygen. I calmly asked Micah to open the door and walk to the nurses station to tell one of the nurses that I needed them. He walked out there and said, "Excuse me, my mommie needs you." Two nurses came in and I told them that I suctioned him and right after he started acting like he wasn't getting enough O2. They began to monitor his O2 levels while I explained that he would cry like this for a couple minutes then he would start breathing to try to catch his breath then would pass out from exhaustion. He did just that. His oxygen levels dropped to the 70's. So they stayed in there with us until the transport team arrived. Once the transport team finally got there. They brought in a stretcher with a ton of equipment sitting on it. One guy had me filling out paperwork, a second was asking me questions and the third was checking on Isaiah. Dr. Stuppy, and 2 nurses were back in the office at this point.

Needless to say, there was a lot of commotion in the office. Isaiah still has people on their toes. They got him situated on the upper portion of the stretcher. It was really weird to see this big stretcher and a little bitty baby strapped to the middle of it. They took him out and we followed behind with Isaiah's stroller, monitor and oxygen tank. They left and I MJ and I followed. We stopped to get Micah some food then made our way downtown. We got there and went up to the Pediatric ICU. I had to wait a while before going in to see him. Mainly because the nurses were not told I was there so they didn't call the desk to let them know he was stable. I had to inquire about it before any calls were made. By this time, AM had made it to the hospital. She kept Micah for me and ended up taking him with her. He was happy to go. D came by to check on him as well.

They did an echo on Isaiah to make sure it wasn't anything going on with his heart or lungs. His cardiologist is actually working the next couple of weeks so she came in to check on him. She said that the RSV rapid results came back negative but the viral cultures were still pending to see what he did have and hopefully whatever he has wasn't anything that would postpone his surgery. If so, it could be delayed up to 6wks. Not what I wanted to hear. They had Isi's oxygen up to 2 or 2.5. With all the suctioning and O2 support he was on, they said he looked really good and would probably go to the general pediatric floor within days. Finally some good news.

I got to the hospital a little before 1pm and didn't leave until about 6pm. I went to get Micah, get some Boston Market, then headed home. On my way, Dr. Stuppy called to check on what was going on with Isi. I filled her in and she said that she was very impressed with how I was handling everything (from the pregnancy complications, to delivery, NICU stay and now this). She commented on how strong I was. I still just see it as my everyday life....nothing to do but deal with the situation, handle it as best as I can and continue on with everyday life. By the time I got home, I was so exhausted. We all went to bed about 9:30. You'd think I would get to catch up on some much needed sleep, but hence, overly tired and sleep don't mix. Restless night it was. By the time I woke up this am, my body was hurting and I was still tired. I still had a big day ahead of me. Baby shower in the afternoon. I'll fill you in on that in the next post as I think this is waaay long now and just want to relax. Yeah right, there is stuff screaming to be done so I may find a little bit of energy to try to do a LITTLE something.

Until the next post....goodnight! And please keep praying for our family.