A Big Bump in the Road

And I'm not referring to my growing baby bump either...Mary Louise and David relapsed with their colds yesterday. Again, Mary Louise notably worse than David. I'll give the general basics below and add more as we know more...

WEDNESDAY: David's nose was a little runny - no fever or any other symptoms - he seemed a bit tired and a little over grumpy...

WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY: I heard David snorting a little in his sleep. During the night, Mary Louise had a sudden coughing fit and begged to "fock kock" - I realize how that sounds if you say it aloud, but she means "rock rock" - ha - even at 3 in the morning it makes me smile to hear it and see her standing there with the blanket her Mere made her when she was born. As I rocked, I heard an all too familiar wheeze and knew we needed to get back to the doctor asap. We went as soon as we could get in mid morning - she'd already progressed to bronchitis - no lower chest congestion noted via stethoscope. David was diagnosed with a viral head cold - no chest congestion noted. Mary Louise was started on antibiotics mid day yesterday for her chest congestion - but was thought to also have the same viral cold.

By the afternoon, I was sick as well - thank Heaven Brent was home and local with work yesterday...

THURSDAY NIGHT: David went to sleep without much difficulty. He slept quite well with only a little tossing and turning.

I literally stayed up almost all night with Mary Louise - taking a short cat nap here and there. She was extremely restless for quite some time - but did well with rocking and settled in for a few hours at one point seeming to be resting comfortably. At 4am she woke again and sounded terrible. She was putting forth extra effort in breathing but her color (around her lips, nails, etc.) was good. She rested with Brent in the rocker for some time and they made their way to bed for a little.

FRIDAY MORNING: I was up at 6am with David. They came down at 7am and I listened to her chest. Brent and I made the decision to take her back in - she was working too hard to breathe and was obviously getting worse. Her MD office has lab and xray capabilities so we could do diagnostics there rather than sitting hours in the ER. I felt (and feel awful) but David seems on the mend - playing, eating, etc. Oh - and I'm in the middle of my 24 hour urine collection to boot...

Brent took her in first thing this morning. They see 2 different doctors at the office - the one first available this morning saw her a few weeks ago when this initially started. He is very serious, very dry, but I like that he is extremely thorough and cautious. Anyhow, they saw him...then Brent called...

They'd immediately done a breathing treatment with little difference noted. Blood work showed extremely elevated white cell count and very high viral loads. They are doing a chest xray and trying one other breathing therapy and making a decision on admitting her to the hospital. Her regular doctor who was at a clinic about 20 minutes away was called and is meeting Brent and Mary Louise to assess as well since he just saw her yesterday.

It's wonderful that they are being so proactive and seem to be doing everything to expedite the diagnostic and treatment process. Brent seems pleased with the care - Mary Louise is understandably scared but doing ok under the circumstances.

Ma Mere and Pops are dropping everything to come and help us for a bit...and I'll keep posting little updates here and on Facebook as I know more...

xo,
Heather