Monday - A Day in the Hospital

We had a pretty rough night in the hospital. Gracie didn't fall asleep until 2:30 a.m. Her fever was 104+ degrees and we just couldn't get it to break. Add to that she was having trouble breathing and her little heart and lungs were working way too hard. The fever finally broke somewhere around 4:00 a.m. thankfully. She was given an oxygen mist to help her breathing and she slept in til 8:00 a.m. Needless to say she was one sick little girl and the pediatricians were frequent visitors to our room. They too were concerned.

The diagnosis is pneumonia, but we are unsure at this point if it is viral or bacterial. The probability is that it is viral, but we are treating it with antibiotics as if it were bacterial. With Gracie's compromised immune system, we just can't take any chances.

Gracie perked up midmorning and by this afternoon she wanted to get down and explore. A little hard to do with an IV in your arm and wires monitoring your breathing, pulse, heart rate, etc. Her breathing is still a bit labored and she has a nasty cough, but all in all, she is doing so much better. We were happy to be able to bring her home this evening. The minute we walked in the door, she was smiles from ear to ear. She layed on the living room floor very content and just smiled. She was in a very good mood this evening as well.

Our nurse today asked us if we had been in the hospital before, because everyone seemed to know us. This would be stay #4 and it's beginning to feel like family. I think we should hold off on visiting that family for awhile. Our medical team was fantastic!

We have a follow-up appointment with our primary pediatrician tomorrow. We need to keep a close eye on this.

We also decreased Gracie's Prednisolone to one dose today. I don't even think she got the full dose as she did not want to take it in the hospital. Once I finally got it in her mouth, she wouldn't swallow and let much of it drain out. She had better get past this bad habit.

She is now asleep and I think Jeff and I will be following shortly. It's been a long two days.

Thanks again for all of the prayers and good wishes. They mean alot to us.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie