but by the evening, Ken noticed that she was breathing really rapidly -- 60 breaths a minute. So I took her to the emergency room around 9 pm, and she was admitted with a diagnosis of viral pneumonia.
She wasn't improving, and within 24 hours, the
attending doctor decided it was best to transfer her to a children's hospital that has an ICU. Ken was with Bryn during this traumatic turn of events, and while he rode in the ambulance with her during the 45-minute drive to Wilmington, DE, he wasn't allowed to ride in the back with her.
Here's the text of the e-mail that Ken sent out after Bryn was transferred to duPont Children's hospital:
"She was moved to Dupont Children's hospital at the request of the Dr in the pediatric unit at Bryn Mawr Hospital. They weren't comfortable keeping her in case she got worse. They said it was a precaution but she had a spell just before we left that convinced everyone it was the right move to get her to a picu, but it just about convinced the dr in the amublance that she shouldn't be moving and he nearly aborted the trip. The nurse in the ambulance talked him into watching her for a few minutes and Bryn calmed down, so Bryn and I were quickly loaded up by the ambulance team and went on the 35 minute drive.
I have no idea how she wasn't scared to death by the experience because I nearly was. She had to ride in the back on a stretcher attached to oxygen, iv, and monitors while 3 people worked around her. She could hear me in the front but she couldn't see me - somehow she fell asleep. Everyone was nice and good at what they did but it was still so much for anyone let alone a 5 year old to have to handle.
The picu at Dupont had a team waiting for her and within an hour or two they started her on fast flowing oxygen to try to reinflate parts of her lungs that were slightly collapsed. Bryn's nurse tonight, Patty, is a very experienced nurse practitioner who knows how everything works at Dupont and only has 2 patients so Bryn is getting great care.
Nichole just called me to say that he pulse is down to the 115 range - the lowest in a few days and her breathing rate is down to the 40s - also the lowest in a few days and her blood oxygen is well over the 93 level that it has to be and most importantly she is resting. Hopefully this improvement will stay and continue.
I am at home relieving Luke's favorite babysitter Nicole who came over on a moment's notice. Luke knows something is up (and will be jealous once he hears his sister got to ride in an ambulance), and he has been on his best behavior.
I am going to try and sleep and as soon as Nana arrives tomorrow, I'll head down to the hospital to join and relieve Nichole.
The current diagnosis is a viral pneumonia on top of strep - on top of some asthma is why it has gotten so bad.
Bryn has an IV (which she watched!) and has had blood taken and been poked and prodded and done numerous respiratory treatments and the only thing that has really made her cry was the bad-tasting antibiotics for the strep.
We have our cell phones but we'll keep you posted."
Bryn got worse before she got better, and the vapotherm that was delivering very concentrated oxygen to her at a very high rate -- like a dog sticking its head out the window -- was no longer sufficient. So she was instead put on a BiPap machine, which helps to ventilate the lungs as it delivers oxygen and requires wearing a full-on mask. The mask made it difficult to hear what Bryn was saying, which added more frustration to the whole situation. Thankfully, though, Bryn was never intubated.
Bryn was tested twice for the flu, and both times the results were negative. She also tested negative for RSV, the nasty respiratory virus that Luke had last November when he was hospitalized. Despite the negative results, the hospital staff continued to treat her as a patient in isolation, and they all put on fresh masks as they entered her room. After a day or two Ken and I were told that we, too, needed to wear masks while in Bryn's room. I can only imagine how the masks might have compounded Bryn's experience; she couldn't even see me and Ken smile at her.
In the ICU, Bryn was completely listless. While on vapotherm, she wasn't allowed to drink anything -- not even ice chips, in case she needed to be intubated at some point. Poor Bryn went days without anything to eat or drink. Finally, while on BiPap,
a nurse introduced us to swabs that look like lollipops with sponges, and we were able to let Bryn suck on the swabs as needed.
A few days into her stay we didn't know whether Bryn would be home for Christmas. In the end, her stay in the ICU lasted 5 days, and she was transferred out of the ICU once she was back on a simple tube of oxygen. Her last day in the ICU, Bryn
did a couple of laps around the unit, with an IV and oxygen tank trailing behind her, and she got a kick out of offering the
doctors and nurses holiday petit fors that she had received as a gift.
Bryn was transferred out of the ICU around 8:30 p.m., and she made remarkable progress. As she was falling asleep, her oxygenation was in the low 90s, and the doctor on call told me that she might have to go back on vapor therm during the night. Shockingly, though, she was taken off of oxygen altogether around 1 a.m., and she did beautifully through the rest of the night. She was also taken out of isolation, so the next day we were able to spend in the hospital's playroom with no IV and no oxygen tank. The playroom facility was terrific -- huge with every craft imaginable, Legos, video games, pool table, and more. Bryn spent the entire morning playing, and after napping successfully without oxygen, the doctors began processing discharge orders.
In total, Bryn spent 7 nights in the hospital, 5 of which were in the ICU. She got home December 18th -- in plenty of time for Christmas. There's no question that Bryn recovered from this ordeal faster than Ken and I have. Bryn returned to school the first week in January after being out for three and a half weeks, and I'm so relieved to have this ordeal and holidays behind us. Bryn's hospitalization has been our most harrowing experience to date.
Here's to a healthful 2010.
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