In Hospital & Back Home Again

I want to apologize for the lateness in this post.  I did not have my laptop with me, and was unable to post anything from my kindle....BUT....I wanted to say that Peyton was in the hospital this week.  That said, she is home again!!

On Monday afternoon, her home nurse was concerned about her.  Her heard rate was elevated and she was noticing some other subtle changes.  She was convinced we needed to go to the ER.  I wasn't...but that's just me.  Finally I relented, and we were going to go.  We were getting Peyton situated and were about a minute from heading out the door when she coughed up a bunch of blood.  That did it for me.  Definitely convinced we needed to go.

So we went to the ER and along the way, she did the same thing again.  We got to the ER shortly after 7pm Monday.  About 2 hours later, we knew she was going to be admitted.  She wound up in the step-down unit of the PICU again.  Same place as last time - just a few weeks ago.  By sometime after 11pm, we had her in a room.

The main concern was the blood.  Her chest x-ray seemed improved from a few weeks ago when she had the pneumonia, although they could tell it was still {mildly} present.  She'd received a couple different antibiotics via IV {one dose each} but then they were discontinued.  The main reason for the stay really became about the blood.  So, I suppose after all, my leaning towards not going to the ER was ok, but because of the bleeding, we did the right thing.

The ICU doctor was wonderful but he transferred Peyton over to the general peds team on Tuesday.  They monitored her til Wednesday and we were back home by 4:30pm on Wednesday no worse for the wear.

She seems ok now.  Still getting over the initial illness from a few weeks go, but she's generally improved.  Since the two episodes of coughing up blood, she hasn't had that happen again - and they never did determine why it happened.

This site was not playing nice with others as far as my kindle goes, so I was unable to post here.  However, I did post a couple updates on my blog, which you can check out HERE and HERE.  If you have been following me on twitter, facebook, or on my blog, then these two links won't be new to you.

I'll invite you to follow along on my blog anyway.  Just click HERE to get to the main page.  I tend to write a lot more on there anyway.

We're so grateful for the love and prayers we've received the past few weeks since Peyton was first hospitalized.  Thank you to those who have prayed, sent well-wishes, brought meals or coffee or whatever helped to get us through.  It's been a really challenging past few weeks.

Thanks so much!!

Keep the Prayers Up Please!

As you know, Peyton was able to come home from the hospital on Saturday afternoon.  Since she's been home, she's gotten just a little worse.  Not shockingly worse.  Not enough to go back to the ER...yet.  However, it's enough to raise our concern level for her just a little.

This afternoon, a nurse from the step down unit of the PICU called just to check on Peyton.  I explained to her what our concerns are right now.  She, in turn, contacted the gen peds doctor, who then called me back.  We discussed everything and there is enough concern to warrant bringing her back to the ER.  We agreed that we'd watch her overnight and see how things go, but if there is no improvement, we would bring her to the ER in the morning.  The doctor was going to give the ER a heads up just to say we might wind up back there.

Essentially, Peyton's lungs sound really "wet" still, which is consistent with the pneumonia.  Her last day in the hospital, she was on room air.  We haven't really been able to get her off oxygen at all (even while awake) since we've been home.  Her heart rate was back down into the 120s and low 100s/90s while sleeping - which is much better.  However, this evening, her heart rate is back up into the 130s/140s.  She slept for several hours today as well.

Please continue to pray that she improves significantly overnight so we can avoid another trip to the hospital.

Home!

This is just a really quick update to let you all know that Peyton is home from the hospital.  I can't believe she got home on the 4th day!  Usually it is much longer for something like this.  Considering her status when we arrived at the ER, I have to believe that it is all those prayers going up for her that got her home as quickly as this.

Thank you all so much for your support!

Still In Hospital

Peyton is still in the step down unit of the PICU, although it is because there is no room at the inn, so to speak. They have a request for a regular room in, but no space is available over there. Meantime, they have switched her to the peds team from the PICU team so her doctor is now one who is familiar with her. Her potassium and phosphorus are low so they had to give her some. They will be keeping an eye on that. She is improving overall, so that is good. The doctor this morning commented on just how sick she was when she came in, so we are truly blessed and grateful for the excellent care she has been receiving here. I didn't realize til she was in he ER how sick she was, although she did become much worse between home and hospital. It was not good and I am seeing that more and more with each comment a doctor makes like this. I am so grateful for your prayers. Will keep you updated.