Saturday, January 20, 2007

Our Hospital Stay

On Friday, January 6th we took Kaitlyn to the hospital. We got in to see a doctor around midnight and they hooked her up to an IV right away, well after five tries they finally got the needle in. Turns out she was more dehydrated than we thought and her veins either popped or they couldn't find them. Dave and I had to hold her down as they tried to get it in. Kaitlyn screamed and struggled, it was so hard emotionally!!
After running some test they decided to book Kaitlyn into pediatrics. We ended up in isolation because the doctors weren't sure why she was throwing up. Through the tests we found out that she had a bladder and urinary track infection, probably from the diarrhea that accompanied the flu. Once they started treating the infection she stopped throwing up and started to get better.
Spending four days in isolation was hard. It was a small room and Kaitlyn would stand at the hall window waving at the nurses as thy went by, she wanted to get out so bad. Dave brought toys from home and the nurses brought toys and movies to help pass the time. Kaitlyn even played Super Mario on Dave's Nintendo DS, and she actually got places in the game!
It was surprising how fast Kaitlyn got used to the IV, stepping over the cord and only using her left hand, she seemed to accept it without question. Ethan stayed in the hospital with us the whole time. He was amazing, just hanging out, charming the nurses and providing some form of entertainment for Kaitlyn.
I found the sleeping accommodations to be the hardest. I had to sleep in a chair that converted to a cot, and it was hard, I was so stiff, and, to make matters worse, across the hall from our room was the room where they took kids to put in their IV's, so when I finally got to sleep I was awoken by screaming kids. Dave spent two nights sleeping upright in a chair, so he was totally drained. The last two nights he slept at home since he had to work. Kaitlyn was finally discharged on January 9Th and put on oral meds, I was so happy to be going home! When we got home Kaitlyn just stood there looking around smiling, she was happy too!!! Now ten days later she is back to her normal chipper self and has a bigger appetite than ever, its great!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

thanks for uupdating your blog. Your new home looks wonderful and everyone looks like they have settled in. I am so glad that Kaitlyn is better.
Talk to you soon.
Love, Mom Anderson