Tough Weekend...

This weekend has been a trying one for my family…

Thursday night my niece, Kyra, was fussy all night and she seemed to be stuffed up. My sister thought that is was because Kyra was teething (she had 3 teeth about ready to break skin), and didn’t really think anything of it. Friday morning, Kyra was dropped off at daycare as always and my sister and her husband went about their normal workdays. At about 11:00 the daycare called my sister and said that Kyra had not stopped crying and she was having trouble breathing.

My sister left work, picked Kyra up from daycare, and took her to the doctor. After running a few tests they realized that her oxygen counts were low, so they did two breathing treatments on her and neither was successful. The doctor then decided that it was time for Kyra to go to a children’s hospital.

An ambulance came and picked up my sister and Kyra. Once she got to the hospital she was immediately admitted to the PICU (Pediatrics Intensive Care Unit). They ran a few tests on her and deemed that Kyra had bronchitis and RSV. I have not allowed myself to do any Internet research on either, but from what I know is that neither are good for babies at all.

My sister and Kyra stayed the night in PICU (only one parent was allowed to stay) and I don’t think that either of them got much sleep at all. They had Kyra on an IV and were having her breathe through their oxygen feeds. Throughout the day they dropped her oxygen levels and monitored her closely. At 7pm on Saturday they allowed Kyra to leave PICU and move to the Pediatrics floor of the hospital. 

According to the nurses, they are moving Kyra through pretty quickly. One nurse said that most cases that come in like Kyra’s usually stay in the PICU for 5 days! So being that Kyra was only there for about 24 hours seems promising.

All day Sunday they continued to drop the oxygen levels they were feeding her, and to monitor her closely. Once they have her completely off the oxygen feed for 7 hours they will consider her stable and ready to go home. Hopefully this will be sometime today. Kyra is not one to stay still and is going stir crazy being stuck in the hospital room.

Watching my sister go through this has been heartbreaking; I really don’t know how she has managed to keep it together. When we went to visit her at the hospital, it was extremely difficult to not break down crying right there. Seeing sweet Kyra with all of the tubes and IVs sticking out of her and being poked and prodded by the nurses was something that I never imagined I’d see. Kyra, being the smarty pants that she is, would try to hide whatever body part she thought that the nurses were going to go for. I swear, she is incredible and never ceases to amaze me. The whole time were visiting her she was in good spirits and was laughing and playing, and she was even learning how to maneuver around without letting her tubes get in her way.

Thankfully that child is strong and is going to make it through this entire ordeal okay. Once she is out she will have to be monitored for a while to make sure that this does not turn into asthma, but other than that there should be no lasting effects. We said lots and lots of prayers this weekend, and it appears that they have all been answered.