A Year Ago.....

A year ago today, we experienced a really scary day with Meyers. I thought our scariest day with her was when she had her tonsils and adnoids out the month before, but no, this trumped that.
I would love to think that we will never have another day like this, but you never know.......

We woke up and realized that Meyers sounded really wheezy. As the morning went on, she was struggling to breathe, as well as talk. Watching your child struggle to take breaths is such a horrible thing to see. This had happened two previous times. We had been in the urgent care or ER in August and September already, so we were not new to this, but it still "snuck" up on us. It's like one minute she is wheezy, and the next she can hardly talk because she is having such a hard time breathing. We went to the urgent care and they did what they had done the previous two months and gave her a huge decadron shot (so sad!!!), and a few rounds of breathing treatments. I know breathing treatments are common, but I will never get used to seeing my 17/18 month old do them screaming. I can't think about it without wanting to cry......

Anyways, we were there for a couple of hours and then they sent us home. As soon as we got home, we realized that she sounded just like she did before we went. We called them and they told us to go to Lebonheur downtown to the ER. That really freaked us out! I remember calling my mom and trying not to cry. I knew my parents were at a friend's house watching the Georgia game, and I didn't want to bother them, but I wanted them to know what was going on. My mom said they were leaving right then to meet us, and I told her that we would be fine......I'm so glad that she didn't listen to me because we had no idea that we would need them that day.

I wish I felt like typing all of the details of that day in nice paragraphs. They are still fresh in my mind, but this pregnant girl wants to finish this post so I can go to bed:), so I'll bullet point the day.....

• Arrived at Lebonheur around noon, and were seen within the hour.
• We were then taken to a triage area (that is not the right name, but I never found out exactly what it's called) with a bunch of other kids with breathing issues.
• We were in that area for about 9 hours doing breathing treatments off and on. Seriously.......I was losing my mind a little. 9 hours!!!!!!!
  
• Keep in mind, we thought we were going to the ER to be seen by a doctor, get some medicine, and go home.
  
• We had not eaten, showered, or come to the hospital prepared for this. I remember at one point eating stale veggie straws that I found in Meyers's diaper bag.
• Seeing your baby have a chest x-ray is a horrible sight, and I will never get that image out of my mind.
• We had the worst doctor ever. A friend of mine that works there part time confirmed that. At some point, he even made a joke about Meyers smoking......SERIOUSLY.....you think that is funny, Dr. Idiot??????
• During the 9 hours in the triage area, I pretty much layed on the most uncomfortable bed ever with Meyers in my arms. I did leave for a minute to get some fresh air because I was losing my mind. I think it was 10:00 or 11:00 pm at this point. I couldn't get back in to the triage room, and I asked a nurse how to get back in. She was SO RUDE to me. She was young; I doubt she had kids, and I don't think she realized that you don't mess with a mama when it comes to her baby. I can't really remember what I said to her, but I was equally as rude back. I feel kind of bad, but being at the hospital with your sick child for the entire day can do that to you.
• There was a girl on the other side of the curtain who I'm pretty sure died that night. I don't mean that to sound funny. We listened (what else can you do through a curtain) as they tried to help her. At one point, I heard them say what her temperture was. I can't remember it exactly, but it was so low. Apparently she came in with major issues, not just asthma like Meyers. Her situation seemed so dire; I was shocked that she was in that same triage room as us. I just remember laying there crying and praying for her and her family. I also remember thanking God that our situation was pale in comparison to this girl's. So extremely sad.
• We finally got to our own room around midnight. My parents went to get us all food. We were starving because we had not eaten all day. Meyers was out like a light. She had had a rough day.
  
• We stayed at Lebonheur for 3 days. That was a tiny bit longer than I anticipated that we would be there.
  
• We had just moved into our new house, so we had to send my parents to our house and they got to have the great time of trying to figure out where all of our stuff that we need was.....clothes, underwear, socks, toiletry stuff, etc.
• It was a confusing few days. We never got to see our doctors because they don't round at Lebonheur. We saw the hospitalists (a term I had never heard of). Some of them were great, some not so much. Some scared us to death, some told us that everything was fine.
• I have vivid memories of laying in the bed with Meyers while she slept and watching her oxygen levels for hours. I knew it had to be at a certain level for us to be able to go home.
• It was confirmed (even though she has not formally been tested) that she has asthma. She was prescribed Flovent, a preventative inhaler, and we have been using it ever since. And even though Meyers has been sick since then, we have never been back to the hospital. Praise God!
  
• I am so thankful for modern medicine. I hate that Meyers has been on medicine for a year now, but it keeps my child breathing, so I'm okay with it.
  
• I didn't take a shower for two days. I know. Disgusting.
• I'm pretty sure my parents brought us every meal (thank goodness!), except one. John grabbed some gross food from the cafeteria one day for lunch.
• Once we were in our room on the second day we were there, Meyers seemed like the normal, happy child that she is. She appeared perfectly healthy except for her wheezing and oxygen levels. Everyone that would come in would be expecting to see this sickly child, but she was normally standing up hanging out in the crib being her cute self.
  
• I am in no way comparing our scary few days to having a child with a terminal illness, BUT being in the hospital like that for 3 days gave me the tiniest glimpse of what a horrible thing that is for families in those situations. Being in a hospital room not knowing when you will leave, not knowing what's going on, being so scared for your child, being so stressed..... My heart has always broken for those families when I've heard of them, but I feel like I have a glimpse of what their days might be like, and my heart breaks even more.
• I am beyond thankful for our healthy child.
  

At the urgent care between breathing treatments....


So exhausted from the morning that she fell asleep during a breathing treatment.



This was the day after we arrived. I am guessing my parents had not gotten back with our stuff yet since Meyers is in her same pants and the gown that they gave her to wear. Look at that hair. Poor girl needed a bath just about as bad as her mommy did!


The bed options were a crib (I called it the jail cell) or a regular hospital bed. One or the other. Not both. I did not want to have to worry about Meyers falling out of the bed, so we chose the jail cell. This picture was taken on one of my "breaks" out of the jail cell. I was losing my mind!!! Being stuck in a child's metal crib for several days can make you crazy!! John totally looks like he is in jail in this picture, which cracks me up. Oh, and Meyers looks like she was having a good ole' time, doesn't she?


I lowered the crib side so I could get a better picture. I guess hospital beds that drop side don't get recalled? Hmmmm.....never thought about that until now.

So that was a year ago today. Wow.....what a difference a year makes.