Hospital Stay

So, this past week has been a bit...hard. Nali was taken to Primary Children's Medical Center for Tracheitis (spelled wrong). As parents part of the coping process was taking way to many pictures. I don't know why I did, but it made me feel like I was doing something. Here are some pics of Nali's past week.I thought I would start with her "Look I feel better" picture. Thank you everyone for your phone calls, prayers, food, and everything else. Our family has felt so blessed during this to have such great friends and family. This picture was taken an hour before they released her.
On Monday I took Nali to our doctor because I thought she had croup. Sure enough she did, so he gave her a steroid shot and sent us on our way. The next day she got worse so my mom and I took her to AF hospital. Luckily the staff there was totally on the ball. As soon as the admitting nurse saw her she ran us back and got the dr and respitory team working on her. They did several breathing treatments and recemic epi which helped her airway open back up. The dr. said we could either leave or stay overnight. He said he would feel better if we stayed overnight, and Curtis and I agreed. This is a picture of Nali up on the kids floor. She was doing pretty well and we all thought she would be coming home in the morning.
About an hour later, the doctor decided she was doing a lot worse and she needed to be life flighted to P.C.M.C. Before life flight got there her o2 level was at 80 and they had 4 breathing machines trying to keep it up. This pic is of her getting ready to be life flighted. We are so grateful for the staff and Doctors at AF hospital for being so capable, and also for knowing when it was time to call in backup. They were great at determining their resources were exhausted and they quickly called lifeflight. They are great.
Call me crazy, but I can't talk about life flight or even look at these pics without crying. These men are amazing. Nali wouldn't have made it to P.C.M.C without life flight. When they got her there, her O2 had dropped to 40. The Doctors said that life flight kept her alive because an ambulance couldn't get her there quick enough. What a remarkable service. It is hard to put into words how grateful we are for them. If I end up with a life flight tatoo just smile and nod.
I heart life flight.
This is about four in the morning at Primary Children's. They got the tube in and started to run tests to find out what was going on. Curtis and I were a mess, but the staff up there took great care of Nali and of us. They weren't able to put the tube in that was supposed to fit Nali's age. They had to go two sizes smaller because her airway was so swollen.
Another pic of the P.I.C.U. If you ever find yourself up there, you should ask for a nurse by the name of Nichole. AMAZING. Love her. Here's another intersting thing about being up there, you sit in the cafeteria worried, and feeling sorry for what your child is going through. Then you sit next to someone who has a child that is terminally ill, and it puts everything in perspective.
While Nali had the tube in, we couldn't hold her. Anyone that knows me knows that before this all happened Nali was a pretty needy kid. I was always saying that she wanted me to hold her all day. Well, I missed holding her so much. I can't get enough now. It was so great to know that she was doing better and to watch her improve.
Curtis is the best daddy ever. While he was up there, he noticed that her I.V. in her left hand didn't look right. He called the nurse over and within a couple of minutes her I.V. went from bad to worse. She got I.V. infiltration. That means that her I.V. was either not in the vein anymore or it was leaking. Some of the drugs they use are really good for your body once they are in them, but super toxic for your skin.
Unfortunatley, the drug that was being put in at the time this happened is highly toxic. Her hand has a big wound on it that will take a long time to heal. The wound team has been taking care of it, and hopefully there will be minimal damage.
On Tuesday they had her feeding tube out and it was looking like we were going home, but then she rebounded a bit. Nali had several more breathing treatments, but luckily no need for the tube again. After that she did awesome and we were able to come home on wed.