April 30, 2008

We went to the ER on Tues. morning and she kinda went downhill really quick. By the time we got there they couldn't read her temp on the regular thermometers because it was too low. They used this new one that I've never seen where they rub it on her forehead and roll it down to the bottom of her ear. It showed she was 34 degrees Celcius which is about 93 degrees Fahrenheit. She was freezing cold to the touch. They took us into a room like the first night, but we didn't have to wait long for a team of dr.s to come and take us into the trauma room so they could warm her up. She was sitting on my lap and they kept putting heating packets, warmed blankets and heating lamps on us. They couldn't put an IV in her but they did hook her up to keep an eye on her oxygen and heartrate. They gave her a stress dose of steriods. They took some blood and later the endocrine dr. (hormone dr) came in and said that her sodium dropped even more down to 111. That's when I got scared one, because of the way she said it, two because I've done some reading online and know that seizures could follow. The endocrin dr. verified that it was a threat and they were watching her.

We sat there for what felt like hours, but I have no idea how long it was. They rolled us both up to the PICU and she is still there for the 2nd night tonight. Her temp has gotten normal and her sodium is now up to 134 last time I was there. They gave her the DDAVP this morning and they are going to hold it tonight to see what her body does tonight. One of my big concerns is her foley bag is leaking again and last time she got the UTI was during the time of the leaky foley bag so I really wanted it removed but because she's in ICU and they want a urine count every hour they are being persistant to leaving it in and I do want her levels accurate so we can hurry up and get home. I just don't know which fights to really fight sometimes. I made my concerns WELL known so I hope they know what they are doing. But I told Terry to ask them about using a preventive antibiotic to fight off any bacteria. If they insist to keep it in longer then I think the best route is to remove it and see if they have anyone in the hospital who actually knows how to put a foley bag in correctly. If she gets another UTI I think I'm going to go 'postal' on them. I just feel like I can't protect her very well.

She is looking a lot better but she's still pretty emotional. I have to watch what I say a lot. She also has the IV line in her right foot and the foley bag is taped to her left leg so she's laying like a frog again and her legs cramp up a lot. But she is a little more active and Dr. Sood told us we could take her off the Dilantin (the anti-seizure) med tomorrow. That's great because that med makes her really tired and kind of spacey. We were told that we had to 'wean' her off of it, so Terry is checking on that tonight too. We are thinking that we'll probably be in the hospital till at least Fri. but probably more like Sat. or later in the weekend. I hope we are out before Mon. because that's when Terry goes back to work, lol.
We will do our best to keep everyone updated. I know we'll get this straightened out and they told us that this could be a possibility so although we were hoping not this early, we knew it could happen.

With lots of love,Michelle


More current update:Terry just called and said that they changed their plans and she is going to a regular room and they took the foley bag out. They also gave her a half dose of DDAVP then her normal for at night and they said that her levels are doing well. They also cut down her cortef (which is her steriod) so that's great too! Sounds like things are looking up
Newest current update as of 11:59pm:Terry just called, now they think she might have a UTI. They are doing a needle blood draw and a catheder for a urinary culture. Then he tells me to get some sleep, hmmm. "I'm in the red Jules" and you want me to get some sleep? If it turns out she has one, I'll be needing some bail money if you guys could help me out with that...Jen do you know any good criminal lawyers? hehe - not really. I'm soooo fustrated!!!'">" or > missing in user HTML. Please fix the HTML. -->