Our Hospital Stay, Day 1

Okay, so shortly after we arrived at the hospital, got triaged and put into a room, we saw an ER resident, who said she would be getting a CT scan with contrast to confirm it was an abscess and determine the exact location. The nurse came in a little later and started her IV fluids. Obviously, she did not like this, especially because she'd just had several vials of blood drawn from her arm at the doctor's office, but she finally settled down and soothed herself by saying "okay okay okay okay" over and over again and fast. It was sweet and sad all at the same time, and something she did many times over the next 5 days as she realized she'd have to accept whatever the nurse or doctor was doing to her at that moment.

She sat in Baba's lap almost the whole time we were in the ER, from about 2 to 6-ish. 

When we were at the pediatrician's office, I told her I'd get her a snow cone for being a big girl, and I was planning on doing just that, as there is a Sno Biz pretty close to her doctor's office, but since we went to the ER, we never got to, so all day on Friday and every time someone came in and did anything to her, she'd say "I want a snow cooooone!" It was kinda sad, and can someone tell me, why on earth would Children's Hospital not have snow cone machine?!

Pretty soon after they started the IV, we went in for the CT. I decided to go with her and well, there's just really nothing positive to say about that. She was a big girl though and even "laughed" at certain points. I held her hand and tried to talk her through it, but it was just plain scary and hard!

The ENT confirmed it was an abscess, specifically a retro-pharyngeal abscess and said it was in a location with a lot of important structures. For that reason and because she'd had a grilled cheese sandwich that morning they decided to hold off on surgery to drain it. They started her on IV antibiotics (Unasyn, the IV equivalent of Augmentin). At this point though, I'm getting the message that surgery is still likely.

After a good bit of waiting in the ER and Lu complaining she was "hungryyyyy," we finally got to go to our room. She was perking up a bit from the fluids, but she still rode up there in a wagon, which again was sweet but sad.

After she finally ate, she fell asleep for a bit, but of course was woken up a little later by a pretty bad fever.

And that is pretty much how the rest of the night went for us, sleep a little then wake up because the IV machine or pulse ox machine (just from her moving around and missed readings) would beep and wake us up. Sleep a little then a nurse comes in the check vitals.

Every time she woke up, she wanted me to rub her feet to get back to sleep, so I went back and forth between my makeshift couch/bed and the recliner next to her bed. The first night was no bueno.

The next day I wasn't really sure how to feel. I mean the night was pretty terrible, I still had no idea whether surgery would be in our future or if the antibiotics could possibly work on this thing. Nick had to go home and spend the night with Z (which is exactly where he needed to be). I was just feeling sad, scared and lonely. That's when my sis called and said, I'm coming, and I'm bringing coffee and toys. Hallelujah!

Somewhere around mid-morning the medical team came by for rounds. Our resident Dr. Madeline had introduced herself the night before and said they'd be making rounds, so then I had the attending physician, her, and several other people who were like backup singers talking to me about what was going on. It was a little overwhelming and intimidating, but all that mattered was her and getting her better, so I hung in there and listened to every word they said.

Long story short, the attending, Dr. Fargason felt we'd already been on some form of Amoxicillin for several days and we didn't see any appreciable change, so maybe it was time to change antibiotics. A new plan! Yay!

My sister came in right as we were going over everything with the team with a Starbucks cup the size of my head and a big Olaf that spins around and talks for Lu.

She perked up a lot for D and Olaf. She was laughing and singing songs, and because there was a large dry erase board in our room, we started playing school. Sometimes she would be the teacher

And sometimes she was the student. We played a lot of school and ballet as the days passed and she was feeling more like herself, and seeing her up and around was like medicine for my mama heart!

Nick came around lunchtime, and I drove D home and went to take a shower and get more things we might need/want. It was so weird being in my quiet house seeing signs of the previous week, thermometers and motrin spread out over the kitchen, pillows and blankets on the couch where she'd been lying for days. It was nice to get cleaned up there, but I couldn't wait to get out of there and get back to my girl.

When I got back, Faris was there visiting and sharing his third year medical student insights on the results he'd been able to see. It was good to see him.

Now, you might be wondering where Z is in all of this. My sweet sweet friend (and really their whole family is friends with our whole family) who's son goes to Z's school and already picks Z up on Mondays, picked him up Friday afternoon and brought him to her house. They then added Z to their plans of eating at Mellow Mushroom and going to the UAB basketball game! Words cannot express how relieved we felt to have Z not only with the best of friends, but also having the best time, and it was seamless! We're so thankful for sweet family and friends, all the time, but especially during times like these.

(Technically the dad picked up Z, hence the photo of the no booster seat, but don't worry they only drove a couple of miles to their house like this.)