It was bound to happen at some point we knew but all of us were praying that little Lainey would make it through her first year without a hospitalization. Unfortunately that was not to be and at the young age of four months, Miss Lainey spent a week in the hospital.
Valentine's Day she started getting a cold that each day got progressively worse. She had a mild fever of 100.7 and we gave her infants Tylenol. An hour later, she felt warm and her temp was 100.9. Another hour later, it shot up to 103! Clearly at that point, my husband and I rushed her to the Emergency Room and called the metabolic specialist en route.
He called the ER ahead of us and thankfully, very little time was wasted getting Lainey into a bed and an IV started. None of the ER doctors had heard of her condition but thanks to our pediatrician and her specialist, (and our protocol letter that outlines exactly step by step what they are supposed to do) she was given the treatment she needed and admitted. (IV fluids, IV Carnitor and a whole slew of tests)
She was there FIVE LONG NIGHTS and six days. UGH. They tested her so many times! She had a ton of nasal congestion and the nurses would come in and pour saline up her nose and use a tube to suction it out -- it was HORRID to watch and to have to hold her down for that was awful. She had a flu test which if you haven't had or seen one performed, consists of inserting two wires down the nose to take samples from the back of the throat. LOTS of blood draws (that have to be from a vein, which in a four month old are not even visible)
Valentine's Day she started getting a cold that each day got progressively worse. She had a mild fever of 100.7 and we gave her infants Tylenol. An hour later, she felt warm and her temp was 100.9. Another hour later, it shot up to 103! Clearly at that point, my husband and I rushed her to the Emergency Room and called the metabolic specialist en route.
He called the ER ahead of us and thankfully, very little time was wasted getting Lainey into a bed and an IV started. None of the ER doctors had heard of her condition but thanks to our pediatrician and her specialist, (and our protocol letter that outlines exactly step by step what they are supposed to do) she was given the treatment she needed and admitted. (IV fluids, IV Carnitor and a whole slew of tests)
She was there FIVE LONG NIGHTS and six days. UGH. They tested her so many times! She had a ton of nasal congestion and the nurses would come in and pour saline up her nose and use a tube to suction it out -- it was HORRID to watch and to have to hold her down for that was awful. She had a flu test which if you haven't had or seen one performed, consists of inserting two wires down the nose to take samples from the back of the throat. LOTS of blood draws (that have to be from a vein, which in a four month old are not even visible)
Topping that experience off, the first night she was there, I got sick myself. I was vomiting for two days and barely able to function. I had to stay there since Lainey was exclusively breastfed so thankfully my husband also was able to stay to help me because I was so sick I could barely function. Did I mention there were no beds for us to sleep in? Two patio like chairs and this one chair that unfolded into a flat bed like surface.
The nurses there were great and didn't even mention the one parent a night per room rule - we are lucky to have such a great hospital nearby. The above picture, that mesh on her head was there to keep the IV in - it had to go into her head it was the only place she had a large visible vein.
It ended up that she tested positive for RSV except that she had no chest issues at all - even the pediatrician said she'd never seen a case where a child had RSV without the chest issues (The R in RSV stands for Respiratory, after all) Her thing was all sinus.
Leading up to, during and after, Lainey ate just fine. Never was she listless persay, but her body kicked up the temperature and that was the one sign that told us to haul her into the ER in a hurry.
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