Reflections on Ellis in the Hospital
It is important that we document big events with accuracy, not just for our gentle readers; but also because this blog is, in a way, Ellis' baby book. So here are the details from our escapades at St. Luke's Medical Center.
At 3am on December 24th, Ellis stood up in her pack 'n play. Beth picked her up and tried to feed her, but Ellis wasn't going for it. She was strangely wide awake. We gave her a nebulizer treatment, which seemed to help and she finally took some milk. But when we laid her down in bed with us, she was extremely restless and was breathing short, heavy breaths -- more than 70 breaths a minute. So we took her to the emergency room.
They took her temperature, checked her pulse and oxygen
saturation levels and listened to her breathing before deciding to do a chest x-ray. Now, the way you take an x-ray of a baby's chest is to sit them on a saddle, pull their hands above their head and then wrap two clear plastic pieces around their chest (picture here). Ellis was quite strong and kept pulling her hands inside the plastic, so Beth had to hold her hands up so that the x-ray could be taken.
The x-ray showed that she likely had a viral pneumonia, though the test for RSV came back negative. To be sure it was not bacterial, they started her on two courses of antibiotics. They also started an IV, which we thought was unnecessary and seemed to cause great discomfort.
When we were checked in to our room (201 to be exact), the nurse Kristine took one look at the IV and said it should come out. So we liked her right off the bat. Kristine is sweet and gentle and comforting. She wore a Santa hat all day on the 24th and 25th.
Cassi worked nights and had an incredible gift for checking on Ellis (which included listening to her chest and taking her temperature) without waking us up. Melissa and Sue covered the rest of the time we were there. Sue remembered Mike's parents and was another very comforting presence. She checked in sometimes to check on Ellis and sometimes to get her "baby fix." Melissa dealt with Beth at her most frazzled but seemed unphased by it (quite a feat) and just tried a different approach. Beth was impressed.
We also dealt with 3 doctors, all of whom were kind and patient. Dr. Paris saw us at the clinic. Dr. Batch checked us in and Dr. Morse took over on Christmas. Dr. Morse never seemed to be in a rush, though we know she had other patients and a family to get home to. She would sit calmly in the room, talking us through every option and answering every question we asked, no matter how repetitive or silly. It would be nice to transport her -- or either of the other 2 doctors -- back to DC as Ellis' permanent pediatrician.
Finally, we had a few respiratory therapists. Rick started us off. And there was a woman who took care of us nights, but she was so quiet that she never woke us and we, therefore, almost never saw her. The third was a women (whose name is has escaped us in spite of the fact that she was wonderful) who also experienced Beth's outburst and handled it without any defensiveness, winning Beth over completely. She also finally figured out a way to keep the oxygen sensor on Ellis' foot -- by putting a sock on. Sounds simple but it took 2 days to figure out. We never did figure out how to keep the oxygen on. She ripped it off multiple times, going through 5 sets of stickies to hold it on to her face.
Back to the narrative. On the morning of the 26th, we were expecting to be released because Ellis had been improving. We extended our stay and were even going to squeeze in a day or two of skiing before leaving. But on Friday morning, Ellis relapsed and was struggling to breathe again. It was scary and frustrating. And it coincided with a turnover in shift -- so we had a new respiratory therapist and nurse right in the middle of crisis. Beth felt that people were not informed on Ellis' history yet were not listening to the information she was providing... and she blew up. But everyone responded with kindness and care and the situation was smoothed over quickly.
Dr. Morse suggested giving Ellis a super dose of oxygen. We had been giving her 1 liter per hour to keep her oxygen saturation level above 90%. Dr. Morse explained that our lungs do a strange thing -- when they are damaged and lacking oxygen, they constrict, reducing the amount of oxygen they can take in. So we upped her oxygen supplement to 5 liters, pushing her up to 97% saturation to help them to heal. And mid-day, it started to work. If it hadn't, we would have been flown down to Boise to get Ellis to a lower elevation, which would have made recovery easier.
On the 27th, Ellis seemed to be on the mend and Dr. Morse let us go "home." We went to stay with our friends Paul and Patty and their boys Mason and Davis. Upon arrival, Paul mixed Beth a gin and tonic -- the single greatest thing anyone could have done for Beth at that point. The next morning, he also made pancakes from scratch, which were delicious. Paul and Patty couldn't have been more wonderful. Patty also visited us in the hospital with a gift basket of wonderful things, like a book for Ellis and beer, fudge and flowers for us.
Daryl and Mary also visited before poor Daryl came down with the flu. Beth had a wonderful conversation with Daryl and Mary at dinner on Tuesday night and had hoped they would get to visit more, but germs conspired against us. Greg, Michelle and Nathan spent time with us at the hospital. Nathan was a wonderful diversion for Ellis. And Greg and Michelle supplied lively conversation that made us forget where we were for a while. Dani was the first to call and check on us in the hospital, and Aaron brought the kids over to visit us at Paul and Patty's. Ellis developed a huge crush on him, flirted shamelessly and would not let him out of her sight.
Ellis did very well on the night of the 27th and the following day. But when we saw Dr. Morse, her oxygen saturation levels were still only around 89%. She decided that we should catch the plane, as planned, and get to swampy, sea level Washington, DC. And it worked. We saw the pediatrician today and Ellis' oxygen saturation level was 97%. We have more nebulizer treatments and another chest x-ray in our future, but we should be in the clear from here on out.
For the record, Ellis was a champ. The beginning was was a challenge. She cried for hours when we got to the emergency room. Combined with the dry air and oxygen, the crying left her hoarse, which is the saddest thing when she cries.
We were so impressed with how patient she was. For days she was poked and prodded and cooped up. But she took it easy, laying in bed, having books read to her and watching "Finding Nemo" and "Enchanted." She also got used to sleeping with Mom, so bedtime has become a challenge whereas it never was before.
Bottom line is: this is a brave kid. She continues to impress us every day.
At 3am on December 24th, Ellis stood up in her pack 'n play. Beth picked her up and tried to feed her, but Ellis wasn't going for it. She was strangely wide awake. We gave her a nebulizer treatment, which seemed to help and she finally took some milk. But when we laid her down in bed with us, she was extremely restless and was breathing short, heavy breaths -- more than 70 breaths a minute. So we took her to the emergency room.
They took her temperature, checked her pulse and oxygen
saturation levels and listened to her breathing before deciding to do a chest x-ray. Now, the way you take an x-ray of a baby's chest is to sit them on a saddle, pull their hands above their head and then wrap two clear plastic pieces around their chest (picture here). Ellis was quite strong and kept pulling her hands inside the plastic, so Beth had to hold her hands up so that the x-ray could be taken.
The x-ray showed that she likely had a viral pneumonia, though the test for RSV came back negative. To be sure it was not bacterial, they started her on two courses of antibiotics. They also started an IV, which we thought was unnecessary and seemed to cause great discomfort.
When we were checked in to our room (201 to be exact), the nurse Kristine took one look at the IV and said it should come out. So we liked her right off the bat. Kristine is sweet and gentle and comforting. She wore a Santa hat all day on the 24th and 25th.
Cassi worked nights and had an incredible gift for checking on Ellis (which included listening to her chest and taking her temperature) without waking us up. Melissa and Sue covered the rest of the time we were there. Sue remembered Mike's parents and was another very comforting presence. She checked in sometimes to check on Ellis and sometimes to get her "baby fix." Melissa dealt with Beth at her most frazzled but seemed unphased by it (quite a feat) and just tried a different approach. Beth was impressed.
We also dealt with 3 doctors, all of whom were kind and patient. Dr. Paris saw us at the clinic. Dr. Batch checked us in and Dr. Morse took over on Christmas. Dr. Morse never seemed to be in a rush, though we know she had other patients and a family to get home to. She would sit calmly in the room, talking us through every option and answering every question we asked, no matter how repetitive or silly. It would be nice to transport her -- or either of the other 2 doctors -- back to DC as Ellis' permanent pediatrician.
Finally, we had a few respiratory therapists. Rick started us off. And there was a woman who took care of us nights, but she was so quiet that she never woke us and we, therefore, almost never saw her. The third was a women (whose name is has escaped us in spite of the fact that she was wonderful) who also experienced Beth's outburst and handled it without any defensiveness, winning Beth over completely. She also finally figured out a way to keep the oxygen sensor on Ellis' foot -- by putting a sock on. Sounds simple but it took 2 days to figure out. We never did figure out how to keep the oxygen on. She ripped it off multiple times, going through 5 sets of stickies to hold it on to her face.
Back to the narrative. On the morning of the 26th, we were expecting to be released because Ellis had been improving. We extended our stay and were even going to squeeze in a day or two of skiing before leaving. But on Friday morning, Ellis relapsed and was struggling to breathe again. It was scary and frustrating. And it coincided with a turnover in shift -- so we had a new respiratory therapist and nurse right in the middle of crisis. Beth felt that people were not informed on Ellis' history yet were not listening to the information she was providing... and she blew up. But everyone responded with kindness and care and the situation was smoothed over quickly.
Dr. Morse suggested giving Ellis a super dose of oxygen. We had been giving her 1 liter per hour to keep her oxygen saturation level above 90%. Dr. Morse explained that our lungs do a strange thing -- when they are damaged and lacking oxygen, they constrict, reducing the amount of oxygen they can take in. So we upped her oxygen supplement to 5 liters, pushing her up to 97% saturation to help them to heal. And mid-day, it started to work. If it hadn't, we would have been flown down to Boise to get Ellis to a lower elevation, which would have made recovery easier.
On the 27th, Ellis seemed to be on the mend and Dr. Morse let us go "home." We went to stay with our friends Paul and Patty and their boys Mason and Davis. Upon arrival, Paul mixed Beth a gin and tonic -- the single greatest thing anyone could have done for Beth at that point. The next morning, he also made pancakes from scratch, which were delicious. Paul and Patty couldn't have been more wonderful. Patty also visited us in the hospital with a gift basket of wonderful things, like a book for Ellis and beer, fudge and flowers for us.
Daryl and Mary also visited before poor Daryl came down with the flu. Beth had a wonderful conversation with Daryl and Mary at dinner on Tuesday night and had hoped they would get to visit more, but germs conspired against us. Greg, Michelle and Nathan spent time with us at the hospital. Nathan was a wonderful diversion for Ellis. And Greg and Michelle supplied lively conversation that made us forget where we were for a while. Dani was the first to call and check on us in the hospital, and Aaron brought the kids over to visit us at Paul and Patty's. Ellis developed a huge crush on him, flirted shamelessly and would not let him out of her sight.
Ellis did very well on the night of the 27th and the following day. But when we saw Dr. Morse, her oxygen saturation levels were still only around 89%. She decided that we should catch the plane, as planned, and get to swampy, sea level Washington, DC. And it worked. We saw the pediatrician today and Ellis' oxygen saturation level was 97%. We have more nebulizer treatments and another chest x-ray in our future, but we should be in the clear from here on out.
For the record, Ellis was a champ. The beginning was was a challenge. She cried for hours when we got to the emergency room. Combined with the dry air and oxygen, the crying left her hoarse, which is the saddest thing when she cries.We were so impressed with how patient she was. For days she was poked and prodded and cooped up. But she took it easy, laying in bed, having books read to her and watching "Finding Nemo" and "Enchanted." She also got used to sleeping with Mom, so bedtime has become a challenge whereas it never was before.
Bottom line is: this is a brave kid. She continues to impress us every day.
Comments
PS - let's not do that again, though - okay, guys????