Tuesday, March 24, 2009

MIA


I've been Missing In Action lately. Things have been busy (but they always are); mostly I'm just being an overly sensitive bitch. When I get in my moods I really don't want to deal with anyone.


Last week Roo wasn't feeling well but Thursday night it turned ugly. I knew I was in for it when she came home from school and literally didn't move off the couch. She looked exhausted and was coughing constantly. Out came the nebulizer and Albuterol! I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this little machine.


Here's some history for those of you that don't know: Roo got sick when she was about 6 months old. Daycare called and asked that I come and pick her up because she wasn't feeling well. I get her home and make her an appointment for the next day. Roo got worse and worse through that night. I thought she had a cold; I'm a new mom and honestly didn't' really know better. So we get to Pediatrics the next morning and her doc listens to her lungs. It becomes apparent to me rather quickly that something is very wrong. The next thing I know they have all these machines hooked to her to monitor her breathing - and she stops breathing! They have her on oxygen and albuterol (an inhaled steroid). I think I went into shock about now. Once they got her stable and breathing again they admitted us into the hospital. They took x-rays of her lungs and ran tons of test. They couldn't' find anything wrong with her. The had her hooked to a machine that monitored her heart rate and it would keep dropping. All the nurses and docs would run in...it was horrible. On top of all this we had to keep her on breathing treatments every 2 hours just to keep her breathing normally. After 4 days of this we got to go home and Roo was hooked to a machine when she slept that would set an alarm off if she stopped breathing.

We went though this same scenario off and on for another year. They sent us to heart specialist who said nothing was wrong with her heart. They gave her so many EKG's I can't even count them all. They put tubes in her ears, it helped but she'd be fine; but when she got sick we'd be back in the ER and then admitted.

At this point I was at risk of loosing my job. Roo got sick again. I was numb to it and brought her to Pediatrics. I was unable to get in to see her doctor and the doc who saw us wouldn't listen to me when I was trying to tell her about Roo's condition. By the time I finally got someone to listen to me they couldn't get her stable. They called in the EMT's from the Children's Hospital who came in and transported Roo and I do the Children's Hospital via ambulance. Once there; they admitting Roo into Peds ICU. They brought in all the children's specialist and finally diagnosed Roo with sever respiratory distress. The hospital got Roo to see the correct specialist and that was the last time we've been admitted.

Hubby and I gave Roo breathing treatments with a nebulizer 2x a day for almost 2 years.

As she has grown out of it we've moved to an inhaler 2x a day but when she gets sick or has an attack...we get to go back to the nebulizer treatments.


So that's how I spent most of my weekend. Breathing treatments every 4 hours...

I have to say; for everything she's been through Roo is a trooper about it all. She can take her inhaler on her own and once I get the nebulizer set up she can do that by herself to. She still goes to a specialist every 2 or 3 months and probably will for a long time.


Unless people know about her asthma; they'd never guess. She's just like any other almost 4 year old little girl (we just have to take a few more precautions with her). Yesterday she went to the gym with me (my gym has a kids zone that is very cool) we had to park way, way, way back in the parking lot. So she says "mom, lets run" huh? OK. Off we go. We're running along and she slows down.

Roo - "I'm getting tired mom"

Me - "OK, lets walk"

a few steps late

Roo - "I have to catch my breaths cause sometimes it hurts when I try to breath"

Me - "I know, baby, I know" as I fight back tears.


This is one of the saddest things she's ever said to me.


3 comments:

Matter Of Fact Mommy said...

oh dear god, i'm so sorry! i can only imagine... i've got to take my 5yr old to the pediatric ophthalmologist because he stands directly in front of the TV to watch it and puts his portable DVD player 1 inch from his face. thanks to daddy, he has the shitty vision gene. Shit!

anyway, glad you got it figured out... best of luck with the asthma in the future.

btw, your little Roo is an absolute DOLL!

Samsmama said...

What an absolutely precious little girl!

And what a heart breaking little thing to say, bless her heart! My baby has been hospitalized twice, but not nearly as traumatic as what you guys have been through!

Keli said...

Poor Roo! Man it was so hard seeing her in the hospital! And that last comment, break my heart!!! Geesh I miss you guys! You're the only person that gets in the same moods I do!