Sophia had a really good night without oxygen or IV fluids. The attending doctor came in this morning and said we could go home. Then, of course, we waited for 3+ hours for the paperwork to be processed before we were released. Sophia will continue ear drops and oral antibiotics for 6 more days but she is feeling much better.
The good news is we are all safe at home and looking forward to some well deserved rest and routine.
Thanks for all your comments. They are always appreciated.
Sophia is continuing to make progress. She is feeling much better. Yesterday she started eating and drinking much more and even felt well enough to go to the play room and do a craft/play with toys. Thanks everyone for all of your well wishes. We so much appreciate hearing from the people who read this blog. We will post more later.
Last night the attending doctor was concerned that Sophia’s heart rate was to low. An EKG was ordered and the cardiologist on staff today read the results of the test as everything being in normal range. Sophia’s oxygen has been turned down today and the doctors have decided to give her less breathing treatments as well. All if these things are a good signs for her recovery. Today she is certainly feeling better, eating more and drinking more. She still doesn’t feel well enough to play, but has really enjoyed the company of visiting friends and family. Sophia really just wants to sit on someone’s lap in the rocking chair and cuddle. Her grandma’s have of course been “eating this up”. So we had a pretty good day for being in the hospital. We are hopefully looking forward to getting home soon.
We are still in the hospital. Probably will be for a few days. Sophia’s diagnosis is somewhat unclear as her chest x-ray is pretty ambiguous. The doctors are treating her illness like a pneumonia but aren’t sure the x-ray actually shows any edema.
Sophia got a little overloaded with fluid and started to get swollen. She got an extra dose of lasix and peed it off. She is resting comfortably now and likely will the rest of the night. Although she will get breathing treatments every four hours.
Patty is staying tonight and I am going home to return in the morning.
I stayed here at the hospital last night and Patty went home and slept. Patty seems to be getting the same illness Sophia has and needs her rest.
Sophia woke up pretty grumpy, but seems in much better spirits now. She is very talkative with home being the primary subject of her inquiries. She ate some macaroni and cheese. And though she drank very little overnight, she is drinking water well right now. She is currently sitting up in bed watching cartoons.
I think we will just be continuing with IV fluids, oxygen, and respiratory therapy until she is well enough to go home. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
Sophia tested negative for strep. The throat culture they took will take a couple days to grow (or hopefully, not grow.) Her chest x-ray showed no pneumonia. So at this point they are calling her illness a “viral syndrome.”
No pneumonia is really good news. The main focus of her treatment is IV fluids, some oxygen, and antibiotics. I will update as things change.
Sophia saw the pediatrician this afternoon. After having a better morning and a nap (i.e. eating/drinking and slightly less lethargy), she woke with diarrhea, oxygen levels in the 60′s and a crackly chest.
So as you may have guessed, Sophia has been admitted to the hospital. Fortunately our cardiologist called a colleague at the hospital and had Sophia admitted as a pneumonia patient and we went straight to a room, circumventing the ER. I will post more info as I get it.
Thanks to everyone for checking in with us.
Perhaps we tempted fate with the last post about how well Sophia was doing or perhaps *fingers crossed* we are just burning off the last bit of bad luck from 2008. But whatever the cause, Sophia is pretty ill.
We think it started on Sunday when Sophia started to lose her appetite. By Monday she had developed a serious cough and sore throat. Monday we visited the pediatrician who was pretty sure she didn’t have an infection but because Sophia is often prone to lower respiratory infection he prescribed some zithromax.
Since Monday she has had an uncontrollable cough often resulting in her gagging and vomiting. Which means sleepless nights for Mommy and Daddy (mostly Mommy.) Yesterday she threw up her heart medications. We called her cardiologist and he thought we would be safer not re-dosing her. So she didn’t get her lasix or Digoxin last night.
Our main focus has been keeping fluids in Sophia and trying unsuccessfully to get her to eat. It would be optimistic to say she has eaten 1000 calories since Monday. She is really lethargic, sleeping between coughing fits. Patty had almost no sleep at all last night because the only way to keep Sophia from coughing to the point of vomiting is to hold her upright over our shoulder.
Today, Patty got an extended nap in after 12 noon. I tried to get Sophia to eat with no success and held her for about 3 1/2 hours. A few minutes ago we got her to eat about 1/4 of a blueberry muffin. She seems a little bit better since this morning when we were discussing the ER. She is talking a tiny bit more but just wants to sleep. We are hoping we have turned a corner but the evidence of that has yet to present itself. Hopefully, we will have a better night and get Sophia on the mend so she can start back to school on Monday. There will likely be another visit to the pediatrician in our future (tomorrow.)
Thanks for checking in, and Happy New Year to all of you.
Wow, I am really sorry I have not written lately. I have been so busy with the holidays. Michael and I hosted dinner at out house for nine.
I wanted to catch you all up on Sophia. First she had a cardiology appointment (6 month check up) last week. The doctor said she looked the best she ever has in her whole life. Her skin is a beautiful pink and her sweet little lips are red. Her oxygen sats were the highest they have ever been, once the monitor even hit 92. I asked if the reason she seems to weigh a little less is related to her heart. He said that because she is feeling so well that she is just more active and that her weight was just fine. The doctor was also very impressed with her development. He commented that her speech was much improved and that she was now able to run faster than him. Sophia was very well behaved for her echo and he gave her a book, a flower pencil and a sticker. The doctor and I were both really proud of her for being such a big girl during her appointment. He also said he wanted to see her back in six months and if she looked this good then he would skip Sophia’s annual summer heart cath. Awesome! There were no changes to her heart mediations. It was a great appointment and I walked away feeling quite relieved.
Sophia had her holiday concert at her school about a week and a half ago. It was the most darling thing I have ever seen and I cried through out the whole thing. My daughter was so cute and she sang every word to the two songs her class sang. Sitting in the audience that day watching her sing up there on that stage was the reason I wanted to be a parent. Moments like this really get to me emotionally because of how sick Sophia was when she was a baby. Her odds of survival were not good after her shunt surgery and all I have wanted for her since is to have a normal happy life and get to do all the things healthy children get to experience.
On January 5th we start transitioning Sophia into the the general education program of her school. She will attend the class she has been going to for the past year every morning and then at 11:00 spend the rest of the day in her new class. Her teachers, family, friends and especially Michael and I are so excited.
Santa was a big hit this year. Sophia did nothing but talk about him for two weeks. She got to see Santa about four times. Every time she saw him she asked for a bike, new bear and a puzzle. Since she had been such a good girl this year, of course Santa granted her wishes.
My love and total attachment for Sophia grows with each passing year. But I have to say that I just love the age that she is now, four. It is such a wonderful age. Sophia has been so cute the last couple of weeks and Michael and I have been so appreciating her good health because we know so many other heart kids who are not as healthy as our child. We are trying to not take Sophia’s good health and happiness for granted.
We hope you all had a nice holiday. Thanks for checking in on Sophia. Michael is off work until Monday and we are looking forward to some quality family time together. Best wishes to all in the new year.
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