Sunday, April 4, 2010

Molly's Weekend Adventure

Just a little update on our weekend. I spent all day Saturday comforting a sick little boy. Zach was suffering from Spring allergies. He took two naps yesterday, which is quite rare, and the rest of the time was spent in my arms.  He was pitiful. Finally about 6:15 I gave him a dose of Motrin and put him to bed. Mercifully, he immediately drifted off to a peaceful sleep.


Molly had been coughing off and on all day, but nothing worrisome, just a little normal allergy, which is common for her this time of year.  It occurred to me that it might be a good idea to give her a breathing treatment (as we have a nebulizer at home just for this type of occasion)  I gave her a quick treatment and decided it was time for a quick, yet much overdue, shower. But, then I remembered I needed to put together the Easter Baskets. So I quickly closed my door and lovingly put them together and hid them back in my closet.


I opened my door to find Molly coughing worse than ever. I decided to give her another breathing treatment. It is at this point that things went from bad to worse.  She could not stop coughing and was barely able to catch her breath. I quickly called my brother to come over and stay with Abby and Zach.  Will got to the house in record time and I quickly zoomed off to the emergency room.


Now ER's are tough for me. It takes a whole hell of a lot for me to feel the need to visit an ER. I just do not go running for every sniffle, knee scrape or cough. This, however, was bad. This was scary. This almost had me calling for an ambulance. On the way to the hospital Molly kept looking as though she were either going to pass out or go to sleep. I was not sure which, so I just kept gently saying her name and asking her to look at me. She looked so lethargic. At one point she asked me to open her window and I am sure this was pure instinct and a desire for more air.


We arrived at the hospital and they quickly took us through triage and registration. They had us in a room in less than 10-15 minutes max. They gave Molly another breathing treatment, a steroid injection, some Pulmicort, epinephrine, and tried (against my advice) to give her oral Motrin (suffice it to say this did not end well, take 3 adults, hold down a sick child to try and force medication down their throat and it rarely ends well). They did a chest xray, which did not show anything, yet my sweet girl continued to get worse.  


Finally she dozed off, the Dr came in and listened to her and decided to send us home. Well, just a few minutes later she woke up with a horrible coughing fit. The Dr quickly returned and said we were being admitted to the children's hospital at the Medical University of South Carolina. Ok, this is where the tears appeared in my eyes. I was so frightened. They came in and administered another breathing treatment and hooked up a cool saline mist to gently blow in her face which really did seem to help. 


The ambulance showed up and she was strapped in her car seat which was strapped to the gurney and we were on our way. At this point she was fairly calm and colored in a coloring book a bit on the way. The EMT even gave her a pretty little teddy bear to cuddle. Funny story, on the way their Molly saw a billboard for Wendy's (yes she knew it said "Wendy's") and instantly began requesting we make a stop.


Finally we arrived at MUSC. They took us straight to our room and we were finally able to get a bit settled. The Dr came in about an hour or so later (must have been about 2:30am) and checked her out. By this time Molly was sound asleep and we had to wake her for a few tests, which did NOT make her happy. She kept telling me, "I just want to sleep".  It was pitiful.  It is at this point we noticed tiny little red dots on Molly's face. Apparently she had coughed so much and so hard she had burst a bunch of capillaries in her face. They will, obviously, heal.  We were finally able to get some sleep (ok I joke, we were in a hospital, Molly got some sleep, me? Not so much).


About 8 am Molly woke up starving. I called to order her some breakfast (MUSC has a room service type deal, you make your choices off a menu and order them to be delivered). Molly requested: scrambled eggs, sausage, a biscuit and grape juice. At this point it occurs to me it's been about 16 hours since I had had anything to eat or drink and decided to make a quick trip to the cafeteria. Molly's nurse came in and sat with her, as Molly kept trying to take the pulse ox meter off her toe and walk around.


I came back up to the room with my eggs, bacon and biscuit thinking Molly's breakfast would be there and we would eat together. No such luck. Needless to say Molly ate my breakfast, but I figured when her's arrived I would just eat hers. Ha! Molly ate hers too! That little girl was hungry! Bless her heart all that coughing had really worked up an appetite.


Finally things were calming down and we were able to go home a little while later. Molly is doing much, much better. We have a prescription for Flonase and Zyrtec to accompany the nebulizer as needed. But what an ordeal. I feel I have been hit by a truck. Completely exhausted from the sheer emotion of it coupled with the lack of sleep.


I will take Molly to her pediatrician for a follow up tomorrow and hopefully between now and then she and I will be able to catch up on some rest. But, whew. What an ordeal. We are so grateful to have such a positive outcome.

5 comments:

Musing Madman said...

I am so glad you are back home and Molly is doing better! Hope you get some rest and recouperate ok from your "exciting" weekend.

Unknown said...

I will keep you and your family in my thoughts and prayers. I know you are glad to be back home and have Molly feeling better.

Jay said...

Glad she's home safe and sound. Getting to ride in an ambulance is kind of cool. Can't believe they wouldn't stop at Wendy's for you guys though. haha ;-)

Franny said...

Please give Ms. Molly a big hug from Franny and Uncle Mike. Keep us posted. Keeping you in all my prayers.

Evil Twin's Wife said...

Poor little wooby! I'm glad she's home and doing better. Time for you both to get some rest. :-)