At the beginning of April, me and the girls headed to Utah for my brother's wedding. The weekend was incredibly busy, and so wonderful! It was great to see all of my family, and the wedding festivities were beautiful. The events ended late Saturday night, and we were supposed to fly back home to Texas on Sunday afternoon. Kaelisse had other plans...
I went to sleep really late Saturday night, and was awakened around 3:30 am when I heard Kaelisse crying/screaming. She had been sick for a few weeks, and I could tell she was congested. I thought it would help if I held her while she slept, so I grabbed her and headed downstairs (at Kelsey's house) to sit on the couch. She calmed down for me rather quickly, but wasn't falling asleep. It sounded like she was having a bit of a hard time breathing, but I was uncertain so I thought I would just wait a little to see what happened. I held her for about 20 minutes, but I had a nagging feeling that I needed a second opinion. I peeked my head in Kelsey's room and got her attention. She came out to help me assess. We searched for information online, gave Kae a hot shower in a steamy bathroom, and finally decided to get in touch with the on-call nurse. Ultimately, I still didn't think there was any reason to fret, I just kept thinking that I wanted to make sure it would be safe to put Kaelisse on an airplane that afternoon so we could get home. The nurse recommended that we take Kae to an urgent care or emergency room...so at about 6:00 am we headed off to the nearest hospital.
Kaelisse was experiencing respiratory distress and her oxygen levels were very low, so they started us on breathing treatments. Kelsey was my source of strength all morning, and I feel like I held it together fairly well. Mom showed up a little bit later, as soon as she got Kelsey's message that we were at the ER. At some point in the day, I talked to Brent, and he started searching for a flight. Amid all of it, I really didn't feel like there was a lot to worry about....until the respiratory therapist got honest with me.... We were all waiting for the pediatric doctor to come down from another floor, and the RT said, "I'm a respiratory therapist, not a doctor, but this girl is making me very nervous." My insides started to get all jittery, and I realized that the situation was more critical than I originally thought.
 |
| Breathing Treatment at the Riverton Hospital |
When the pediatric doctor showed up and did his assessment, he started talking about transporting her to Primary Children's...that's when I finally broke down a little bit. We spent the next hour or so waiting for arrangements to be made. During that time, my dad and my brother-in-law showed up, dressed to the nines, to give Kaelisse a blessing. I can't tell you what a comfort it was in that precious moment to have them exercise their priesthood power on her behalf. It was...a tender mercy.
The ambulance showed up, and we were on our way. They had me sit in the front, which really bothered me at first. I hated that I couldn't' see what they were doing and how she was. A few minutes into the trip, however, I was actually glad--it allowed me an opportunity to calm down a little bit and get my thoughts together...to prepare for the next stages of the process.
When we arrived in the ER of Primary Children's, there was a blur of bodies, machinery, and questions. Essentially, they determined that she would need to be put onto high-flow oxygen, which meant she would have to be in the PICU. It was a good thing she ended up there, because she was struggling to get better. The doctors had to try many different medicines and contraptions before they found something that stabilized her and started her on the road to recovery. During all of this, we sure learned a lot about the character and abilities of our wee little girl.
First, our little Kizmo is STRONG, physically. She hated all the stuff that was attached to her, and would try to rip it off any time she was awake enough. They gave her sedatives...and then another sedative. When things took a little turn for the worse, they had to put her onto CPAP/BiPAP. Well, she had to wear a full head mask...but wasn't going to accept that without a fight. They gave her a THIRD sedative, and the nurse said she still put up a major fight--for 45 minutes!!
 |
| The CPAP/BiPAP mask that she wore for a couple days. |
Next, our kid is an incredibly sweet, loving little girl! The nurses were instantly in love with the little bundle of joy who was happiest when someone (anyone) was holding her and snuggling her. She would let anybody in the room pick her up, and then would bury into their chest and neck and fall right to sleep.
 |
| One of the nurses giving her a bit of TLC. |
 |
| Doesn't it just break your heart!? |
Tylie was a little bit neglected during all of this. She stayed at my sisters house (Kelsey, I can't thank you enough!) and had plenty of cousins to play with. That kept her happy most of the time, but she still missed mom and dad. Even when she came to the hospital for a few visits (Thank you, Mom, for playing chauffeur!) she really couldn't go up to the PICU, so we would take her outside and wander around the hospital grounds. I think it helped a little for her to see us, but she also asked about sister a bunch and didn't really understand why she couldn't see her.
 |
| Making wishes in the water out front. |
 |
| I was a super-proud mommy when Tylie wished that Kaelisse would feel better! |
Our little girl is a FIGHTER! The doctors and nurses continued to worry about Kaelisse for the first couple days. She was working so incredibly hard to get air in and out of her lungs! They said many times that little ones often spend so much energy breathing, that their tiny bodies break down and can no longer do the work they need to....if that happened, they would have to intubate. Kaelisse never even entertained the option! She breathed her own way through all of it, and came out with rock-hard abs as her reward!
 |
| Snuggles from daddy, who finally arrived late Sunday night. |
 |
| Doing a tad better (no longer on BiPAP), but still in a tough spot. |
Brent and I definitely needed to get out of the hospital for a while, and Tylie was in dire need of some mommy and daddy attention, so my mom picked us up and we all headed to temple square for a couple hours. It was nice to get some fresh air, great to be with Tylie, who I missed, and wonderful to be in such a peaceful place during such a stressful time!
 |
| Playing in the reflection pool |
 |
| Exploring a tiger's massive teeth, then giving him a kiss on the nose! |
 |
| Staring at the moving water. |
 |
| Throwing leaves down a drain. I love how entertained she was by the small things. |
This picture is one of my favorites! Tylie is getting a flower lesson from one of the top gardeners that I know! Mom, I hope we live close enough some day for you to impart all your green-thumb knowledge to her!
 |
| Gardening lessons |
We found out just how many people love Kaelisse when the surprises started flowing in. We got letters and pictures from cousins, balloons and stuffed animals from family and friends, a gift bag of coloring tools and edible treats, and innumerable phone calls and messages to check in on the sweetheart.
 |
| A name tag made by her nurse |
 |
| A stash of goodies from people all across the country (literally) |
This marks the beginning of the recovery process. It was a slow process, but we were so happy to be on the up-hill climb! They had to get her off of pretty much everything before we were allowed to go from the PICU to the floor. Each thing they had her on had to be weaned in a step-by-step fashion. At this point she had to go from BiPap to CPAP, then to high-flow oxygen (which she started at an 8, and had to get to a 3), she was on multiple sedatives and 3 or 4 bronchial dilators (incl. continuous Albuterol), a feeding tube and an IV...and I imagine there is more that I'm forgetting. Needless to say, she had a long road ahead of her. I love this series of pictures....you can practically see her healing right before your eyes!
We found out that Kaelisse really seems to be fairly self-aware. As the doctors were dutifully going through the weaning process, and monitoring heavily every step of the way, Kaelisse already knew she was ready to be better. She pulled out IV's, her feeding tube, and even the high-flow oxygen way quicker than the doctors planned! Every time she did so, the doctors would keep a close eye on her to make sure she was going to handle weaning earlier than they planned. And every time, she was fine! She sped the process right along...thank you, Kaelisse!
We learned what an incredibly happy, optimistic nature Kaelisse has! With everything going on, she really came out of it all with a smile on her face, and a lot of love for everyone helping her!
When we finally got moved to the floor, it meant considerably fewer cords, cables, and machines attached to her...which meant she finally had a little freedom to roam about. And which also meant that sister could finally come see her!
 |
| We had to stay an extra day or two because Kae wasn't eating and drinking like she needed to. |
 |
| Thank goodness for popcicles that finally got her heading in the right direction! |
 |
| Playing together for the first time in a week. |
 |
| Tylie checking out the fish while we waited for discharge orders. |
When they finally released us to go home, it was such a relief! We were so happy that she was healthy again! And, we were all ready to get back to normal life---including mom, who had stayed in town to help out, and Kelsey + family who had adopted an extra kid for the week! The final diagnosis was a standard virus plus restrictive airway disease (potentially asthma, but too soon to tell). We left Utah with two healthy kids, lots of stuffed animals, an "asthma bible," a rescue inhaler, and probably a gazillion dollars worth of medical bills! :)
The Adventures Continue
Only a short three weeks later, Kaelisse caught another cold, and landed herself in the emergency room again. It was pretty much a week-long deja vu situation...
We had tried the rescue inhaler at home, but didn't see much improvement, so we took her in late Sunday night. We spent a few hours in the nearest ER, then were transported to Cook's Children's hospital in Fort Worth. If you want to know what our week looked like, re-read the post above...only start a little closer to the recovery stage. We caught it a little earlier this time, so she wasn't in as critical condition. We were able to go straight to the floor instead of the PICU, and didn't have to do feeding tubes, fluid IV's, BiPAP, CPAP, or even high-flow oxygen. She was on much fewer medications, and stayed for only 3 days. PHEW!
The hospital gave us a voucher for their in-house Build-A-Bear and we figured that Kaelisse had plenty of new stuff, so we made a two-year-old's day by taking Tylie. She had an awesome experience there, and came away with a new stuffed puppy. One of my favorite moments is when the lady finished stuffing the dog. She told Tylie to grab a heart to put in, and then said, "Why don't you grab two hearts...one for you and one for mommy." Tylie walked to the heart bin, turned to look at the lady, and said, "And one for daddy and one for Kaelisse." When I told her that Kaelisse was baby sister who was in the hospital, she was happy to let Tylie put FOUR hearts in her doggy...and had Tylie kiss them all before stuffing them inside.
Another favorite moment was the naming process. We sat at a computer and filled out all the "birth certificate" information for the dog. When it came time to enter a name, Tylie said, "doggy." So I explained that the doggy needed a name just like Tylie and Kaelisse. I threw a few normal dog names out, and Tylie repeated each of them to me. Then, she thought for a second and said, "Doobie!" I have NO earthly idea where she got that from, but I loved it! And more importantly, it came straight from her and SHE loved it. So, welcome to the family, Doobie!
So...sigh...can we figure out how to stay OUT of the hospital now!?!
