That said, this past week has been a doozy! Melia has remained surprisingly healthy this past year. We have dealt with a few runny noses but that is it. Until this past week!
She started in on Wednesday night with a cough and fever. We were up most the night rocking and and trying to get the cough under control. I had the humidifier going, vaporub lathered on her chest and a sippy cup filled with water in her bed. The next day she seemed pretty good with Ibuprofen in her system but quickly went down hill when it wore off.
By Friday we took her in and the pediatrician said her fever was 103.8. She was grunting and breathing very rapidly between coughing fits but her oxygen saturation remained normal so after getting a negative Chest X-ray we went home and tried to control the symptoms as best we could.
The problem is my baby has Congenital Heart Disease and I am a Physician Assistant. The combination is not good and my mind was contemplating worrisome diagnoses like, "Could this be the beginning of heart failure or endocarditis? Could her excessive coughing throw her into an arrythmia? No, it's just a virus, but then again, what if?"
After a rough night and lots of labored breathing I called her cardiologist who agreed with the primary care doc that her symptoms seemed most like a viral infection and if her fever continued to rise over 101.5 off of ibuprofen I should take her in to the ER for another evaluation.
So, Sunday we took her to the virus infested waiting room at Children's Hospital and waited with many other sick kids for four hours to be seen by the overworked doctor. Low and behold her oxygen saturation was dropping and her fever was still high. So, we were admitted to the hospital under the care of her cardiologist.
Melia was on oxygen as an inpatient until discharged Tuesday in the late afternoon. During her stay one of the first things she had done was an Echocardiogram. Finally, my concerns were put to rest. Everything was functioning as it should and the cause of her illness was RSV (identified from a nasal swab).
Interestingly, I had lots of time while sitting in the hospital to think about Melia and this virus. Although, a child without CHD could get this illness her heart condition does put her at a greater risk. Over the last year I had kind of forgotten she had a significant heart defect. I mean, she runs and plays and laughs and whines and we are potty training her and all the other normal things that two year olds do so it's easy to forget on a day to day basis that my baby has a unique heart condition that can set her up for more worrisome illnesses.
At first, it made me a little sad and I thought that maybe we should be more careful with her exposures and contain her environment a little more. But, after thinking and thinking and thinking (the hospital got a little boring) my conclusion was different. I don't want to be careless about my daughter's experiences and exposures, but I'm also not going to treat her like she is so fragile that she can't do anything at all. She has been living life with our family to the fullest over the past year and it has been great. Yes, we will remain mindful of her heart, but it won't dominate our thoughts and take over how we live as a family.
We are home and she is on the mend. Friends and family prayed for us and our parents helped us out more than we could ever have imagined. We are thankful that this little scare reminded us of all the lovely, amazing people in our lives!! Above all, we are thanking God for healing her of RSV and for every day with her and her three siblings.
No comments:
Post a Comment