I write this blog for many reasons - obviously to keep up with our family and friends, but also to preserve a bit of the history I am creating for my daughters. I also want them to never doubt my motives in the decisions I made for them as children. This blog is mostly for Madeline - to read when she is 25 and vaguely remembers her trip to the hospital in Caracas.
My dearest Madeline,
You woke up with a virus night before last — fever, runny nose, cough — nothing out of the ordinary for you having a cold. We gave you some cough and fever medicine and you slept pretty well the rest of the night and into the morning. I kept you home with me and you had a pretty good morning. Your fever would come and go, but you were cheerful, and played most of the morning with your (conveniently) sick neighbor and best bud Ryder who I was watching for his mom as she was at a Chevron function. You and Ryder were having a great time watching TV, coloring, playing Lego's and Pet Shops.
I left you with Julia our housekeeper at about noon to go to the supermarket, and when I got back an hour later, you were again.
It was not your usual cough, it was a dry, hacking cough — like the one Katherine gets with her asthma. Katherine's asthma is much better as she is older, but at your age, every time she got a virus, we were doing breathing treatments into the night. I always thought we were fortunate that you did not seem to have asthma nearly as bad as she did. I gave you some cough medicine, and had to leave to pick up Katherine from school.
It was not your usual cough, it was a dry, hacking cough — like the one Katherine gets with her asthma. Katherine's asthma is much better as she is older, but at your age, every time she got a virus, we were doing breathing treatments into the night. I always thought we were fortunate that you did not seem to have asthma nearly as bad as she did. I gave you some cough medicine, and had to leave to pick up Katherine from school.
While I was at school, you had Julia call me. You were worried and wanted to know when I was coming home. You were coughing a lot on the phone and I was getting worried. When we got home from school at around 4:00, you was laying on the floor of the kitchen, coughing. Every breath led to a dry hacking cough. I grabbed my stethoscope and listened. You did not seem to be moving air very well. I grabbed our inhaler with the spacer and gave you a couple of puffs of albuterol. This has ALWAYS worked in the past for you. I waited about 15 minutes, and your fever spiked. Then you became more lethargic and coughed more.
I scooped you up and went downstairs to our neighbors, the Turners. Tara is a nurse, and her son Hayden is 14 and has had hospitalizations (one recently here in the ICU during a bout with swine flu) due to asthma. She is an expert. She whipped out her nebulizer and meds and we gave you a breathing treatment. I took you back upstairs, and watched you continue to get worse.
I scooped you up and went downstairs to our neighbors, the Turners. Tara is a nurse, and her son Hayden is 14 and has had hospitalizations (one recently here in the ICU during a bout with swine flu) due to asthma. She is an expert. She whipped out her nebulizer and meds and we gave you a breathing treatment. I took you back upstairs, and watched you continue to get worse.
You crawled up into my lap and said, "Mommy, I don't feel good." I called our doctor here who is on retainer with Chevron. We are fortunate as she is half Canadian half Venezuelan and grew up bilingual. I explained to her what was happening, and how this was very abnormal for you. She told me to take you to her clinic and she would meet me there. I realized I had sent the driver back to Daddy at the office, and they were looking for pediatric masks for our nebulizer. I had no car! I called everyone I could think of for a vehicle — but it was prime time for traffic and picking up spouses from work and no one had a car handy. I called Daddy, and he said they would head straight home. Fortunately, traffic was not too bad for them, but it was a LONG 45 minutes for me. We got to the doctor's clinic — and she saw us in the hallway waiting. She took one look at you, and suggested we go to the ER which is in the same complex as her office.
I had no idea what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by an ER which could easily have been in a small rural community in the US. It was clean, neat, but just not fancy. The staff were patient with us, and thank goodness my spanish is coming along and medical terms are basically the same in any Romance based language. They started you immediately (no crowds, no waiting) on inhaled steroids, and by the second huge breathing treatment we could see you were getting better. Your coughing finally stopped after about 45 minutes of nebulizers. They had to draw blood and start an IV. You was not happy about it, but Maddie, you are so brave, it still brings tears to my eyes. They gave you IV steroids as well. You were feeling much better when you went for your XRAY. You were the cutest, bravest little slip of a girl you have ever seen in front of that big machine. I interpreted for you to take deep breaths and hold them, and you were a perfect patient.
Your blood work was consistent with a viral syndrome, and although your XRAY was not normal — there was no pneumonia. Dr. Vega let me take you home to continue steroids and breathing treatments at home. You has rested very well overnight and hardly coughed at all (thanks to the IV steroids) and I am sure by Monday you will be back at school.
I had no idea what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by an ER which could easily have been in a small rural community in the US. It was clean, neat, but just not fancy. The staff were patient with us, and thank goodness my spanish is coming along and medical terms are basically the same in any Romance based language. They started you immediately (no crowds, no waiting) on inhaled steroids, and by the second huge breathing treatment we could see you were getting better. Your coughing finally stopped after about 45 minutes of nebulizers. They had to draw blood and start an IV. You was not happy about it, but Maddie, you are so brave, it still brings tears to my eyes. They gave you IV steroids as well. You were feeling much better when you went for your XRAY. You were the cutest, bravest little slip of a girl you have ever seen in front of that big machine. I interpreted for you to take deep breaths and hold them, and you were a perfect patient.
Your blood work was consistent with a viral syndrome, and although your XRAY was not normal — there was no pneumonia. Dr. Vega let me take you home to continue steroids and breathing treatments at home. You has rested very well overnight and hardly coughed at all (thanks to the IV steroids) and I am sure by Monday you will be back at school.
You are feeling much better today. We watched Black Beauty, played the Wii, read stories, did the computer Starfall reading program and did all of the homework your teacher sent home for you. I am so glad you are feeling better, and I although I hated you being so sick, I loved spending time with you.
Mommy
No comments:
Post a Comment