Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Scariest Day Ever.

This has not been a good day. Of course it really started late last night when Ella spiked a fever. Well at 5am I heard her coughing and being restless so I went in and got her up. She had a fever and cough so I called the oh so lovely nurses line (for the base after hours,) of course the base was not open today so I had to take her to a walk in clinic. The doctor asked if anyone at home was sick so I told him that Hunter has bronchitis and he looked at her said she has bronchitis and an ear infection (which thrilled me cause she just had tubes put in 2 weeks ago) gave me a prescription for antibiotics and sent me on my way. So, around 5ish this afternoon my grandad was holding Ella and told me to come and take her temp cause she was getting hot. So, I went over and took her temp and noticed that she was kind of gasping for air, I lifted her shirt and saw that she was struggling a bit. So, I called the clinic and of course the Dr she saw was already gone, so I had to call the nurses line. I told the nurse what was going on and she said to call 911. I didn't really think that was necessary, I told her that she was sitting up fine, I just needed authorization to take her to the ER. She said "I'm an RN and have seen children up and playing one minute and down the next." I said, can't I just take her right now. She said "No, something could happen in the car." Okay. I'll call 911. As soon as I called Ella started going down hill quick. She started really struggling, and then started panicking which made her breathing even worse. She was gasping so loud, it was SO scary, I was just sitting on the floor holding her crying my eyes out and singing to her trying to calm her down. She turned purple when she would cough, it was bad. Luckily the fireman got her very quick and put some oxygen on her, her O2 stat was 80% which is not so good. The ambulance showed up a couple minutes later and off to the ER we went. She got a breathing treatment in the ambulance, then another one with a different drug in the ER. She was still breathing hard but her stats were up. Finally they gave her a liquid steroid and her breathing calmed way down!! So, the final diagnosis is Croup. Really? Is it supposed to be that traumatic and come on that fast??? Anyhow, she still struggles a little bit here and there, NOTHING like earlier. Oh and the ER doc looked in her ears and said that they are NOT infected. Hmmm.... can I ever trust a doctor??? Anyhow, my grandparents are going to stay an extra day, which is great. I am not going to get any sleep tonight, I'm going to sit up with Ella so they can watch the kiddos tomorrow while I take a nap : )

It's strange to say this but, I was definetly more scared today than I was when she choked on her vomit when she was 3 weeks old and stopped breathing. Of course I was scared then but, I don't know, maybe I am just SO much more attached and in love with her, I know thats weird. When she was 3 weeks old I was still in such a fog, and really all I could think was "wow is this how it's going to be?" Obviously I've come a long way since then and just cannot fathom my life without her in it.

9 comments:

Tricia said...

Oh my gosh, I am so glad she is doing ok now! I feel like this really taught me a lot and I will now know when I ought to call 911 too! Thank goodness for that nurse!

Get some sleep, and get better, Ella!

Amy Flege said...

oh no!!! how scary!! we have had croup but nothing like that!! thank goodness the nurse pushed you to call 911~~~
I hope she is feeling better and you can get some sleelp!

Melanie said...

I am so glad she is ok. Logan had croup when he was about 5 months. It was also very scary. We were very close to calling 911, and when I got him to his doctor they sent us straight to the hospital and we had to stay for 24 hrs. The night he started the scary breathing and coughing I sat with him all night and was on the phone with a nurse several times. They had us ride it out til morning, but I wish I would have taken him to the hospital during the night. His breathing was so loud and his chest would retract way in. I am so sorry you had to go through that. I hope she is doing much better now.

rylie's mom said...

that is so scary. I'm glad she is ok.It is good that the nurse knew you needed to call 911

I can't believe a doctor misdiagnosed something as simple as an ear infection. I was suprised when I first read that since she just got tubes. I wonder why they thought she had an ear infection.

Liesl said...

oh, wow! glad you got the ambulance there. give me a call if you need help--i'm one minute away!
elijah had croup so bad (called strider--and also had rsv) up at my parents when he was 18 mo. old. we took him to emergency and stayed 3 days! yeah, you can't mess with croup. their airways are so tiny already--that rn on the phone was another one of your angels, kacey!

Shannon said...

Kacey! How scary! Jenn had asked if I'd read your blog, which I hadn't at that point...call me if you need ANYTHING! Is her breathing still getting easier? Are you doing ok now? I'm glad you got a good nurse when you called...praise the Lord! Talk to you soon...

Michelle said...

oh I can just imagine how scary that was to go through! I'm glad she's doing better now!

Mommy to those Special Ks said...

WOW how scary!!! Croup can be pretty scary stuff, Kennedy was really sick with it once too and she turned blue. I thought I was going to have a heart attack!
I'm thinking the doctor who diagnosed the ear infection probably couldn't see her ear drums well enough so just diagnosed her to cover himself. It's not right, but it happens.
Anyway, thanks for stopping by my blog! Ella is the little thing and she reminds me SO much of Kennedy at that age... pigtails and all! It's nice to meet another military family too! I hope tricare hasn't given you too much drama!
Renee & Kennedy

Mommy to those Special Ks said...

I have a love/hate relationship with tricare! LOL I absolutely detest the military hospital here. They were horrible when Kennedy was born and almost killed her twice. I finally threw a fit and they let us see docs off post. Then when the bills started rolling in from her chemo for her leukemia they made me fill out this "third party liability form" where I had to answer dumb questions like "who or what caused this problem?" Uhhh... it's CANCER HELLO! It took me months, literally, to fill the dumb thing out because I just didn't want to. I finally did though and my answers weren't very pleasant. Now I wish I would have saved a copy! LOL BUT Tricare is paying every last cent of her medical bills except for copays on her prescriptions, so I can't complain too much. My husband is staying in till he retires (so 15 more years), Kennedy's medical bills since May are over 1/2 a million dollars. If we got out and she relapsed I don't know what we'd do! That being said, my mom lives 4 miles from us, so that helps A LOT!!! I can't imagine not having her close! OK nuff babbling from me! LOL