Sunday, January 6, 2008

Crazy, traumatic, December





The day Ty came home from the hospital, she was so happy to be home.


In the crib she was in for 9 days!


Hawaii-
December started out wonderful. The day after Thanksgiving we left for for what we like to call our hometown of Hawaii for 9 days!! Dave's parents came to stay with our kids so no kids on top of that. We went with all the adults in my family, minus Mel & Kev. We of course had a blast, went to the Big Island for the 1st few days, then to Oahu the rest. I really wouldn't recommend the Big Island to anyone. It was fun but not a whole bunch to do unless you want to drive for 5 hours. Oahu is the place to be. We did all the touristy things- mopeds, diamand head, snorkeled hanama bay, pcc, the temple, surfed waikiki, it was all a blast. Me and Dave went off one night to reminisce our old stomping grounds. We walked around byuh and then up on the point where we used to live and met, man so many memories, living there with Dawn and Nancy. So we had a blast and everything went well back home. Tyler absolutely loves her "mama" (Dave's mom). And it was nice for Michelle and Maile to come keep them company.

Hospital-
Tyler had a little cough and runny nose while we were in Hawaii, nothing serious, and about a week after we got home she got a really bad fever one night. The next day was Sunday, she continued to have a really bad fever all day, was throwing up, and was grunting while she was breathing. We had called nurses and they said just take her to the doctor the next day. Again she was up all night, I took her in first thing Monday morning and almost as soon as the doctor saw her, she said we need to go to the hospital. Of course I freak out and just start crying, the doctor couldn't really tell me what was wrong, just that her oxygen level was low and she wasn't breathing good. She gave her a breathing treatment and some steroids to help open up her lungs then sent us to the hospital.

We go right to the hospital where they check her right in and do an x-ray. They see it's pneoumonia and say they have to do some blood work and tests. They hook her up to an IV for antibiotics and fluids. They said we should be in the hospital 2-3 days. Getting the IV in her was the most traumatic part of the whole experience. They had to poke her and dig in her vien 5, yes 5 different places before they could get a "good" one. I left the room after they couldn't get the 1st one in and let Dave try and hold her. Poor, Tyler, she's not even 2 and doesn't have the slightest idea what's happening to her. The next few days any time a nurse or anyone came into our room she would start to shake and stress out. (You could just tell from her heart rate machines hooked up to her) They would come in every couple hours and give her breathing treatments and do percussions (pounding on her back), and check her vitals and more meds., yes all night long too. So we never got to rest much.

Wed. comes and after not eating or drinking for 4 days she actually woke up and asked for fishies and juice!! I was so excited she was getting better. Then they did another x-ray on her and when the doctor came back in to showed me the results my heart sank. She had gotten alot worse! She was developing fluids all around her lung (essentially pushing her lung in so it can't expand to let her breath). She would have to have surgery to drain all the fluids. That was the last thing in the world we wanted to hear, that our baby was gonna have surgery.
They put us in an ambulance and transferred us to Phoenix Childrens Hospital where they would do the surgery. Thursday they performed the operation where they drained the fluids. They then had to leave the tube in her to continue to drain. The surgery went well but the next few days were not fun. It hurts to have that tube in you, she was hooked up to oxygen tubes in her nose, couldn't really move much, but did get alot of morphine. We pretty much just sat there and watched Wiggles and Doodlebops all day. She always wanted me right by her side. They told us we would probably be in the hospital for Christmas!! So devistating.

They took the tube out 3 days after her surgery and she was doing pretty good with her breathing and her fevers going down, so they gave us the option to take her home with her IV still in and do antibiotics. At first I was really nervous (what if something went wrong), but they told me it was safer for her to be at home away from all the other sick people and that way we could be home for Christmas.

Coming home: it was sooo nice to come home but Tyler was in the hospital for 9 days, laying in a crib and hardly eating her drinking anything. So you could imagine how week she was. I set her down and she tried to walk and she totally fell on her face. So sad! I had to hold her had most of the first day. The next day she was sitting in the middle of the room and tried to stand up and her legs weren't strong enough. Her bottom lip totally started quivering and she was about to cry until I ran over there. She didn't understand why her legs weren't working. She had to keep the Iv in for 7 days where we had to give her her antibiotics every 8 hours. Yes waking her up in the middle of the night.

By Christmas she was running around happy and we had a wonderful Christmas. Of course our best gift was having Tyler back home.

Like I said before, be so thankful for your health and the health of your kids because without that nothing else matters. I just got a small taste of what it was like having a really really sick kid in the hospital. I couldn't imagine being one of the parents in there of kids with more serious problems (like cancer). Me and Dave said we couldn't do it, but like the Doctor told us, you find a way and just do it.

I thank my Heavenly Father everyday that Tyler is healthy again and for our wonderful family and the blessings we have. Although we go through trials that we hate more than anything (like watching little Tyler suffer) I know we can always overcome them becoming stronger in the process.

6 comments:

Dawn said...

I'm so sorry to hear about Tyler. What a traumatic experience for all of you. I'm glad to hear she's doing great now! Hope to get to see you soon, it's been way too long once again!!

Katie said...

I am so glad that everyone is happy and healthy now. It would have been fun to see you in Utah but we will have to plan something else. I love your blog. I can totally hear you when I read it. I was looking through mission pics the other day, you were the best. Thank heavens I got you. Happy New Year, lets be better at keeping in touch.

Dusty said...

It is great to see you in the blogging world. When I sent the Christmas card I was wondering how you guys were. I can't believe that you had to go through all of that with Tyler. There is nothing worse than seeing your child in pain. You are a good mom.

Jacque said...

wow! poor tyler! i know how traumatic having a child hospitalized is! cohen was in the hospital when he was 12 months old for 4 days. it was horrible. it's so true that nothing else matters when your kids aren't healthy. i'm so glad tyler's better! and it's so nice that she was able to enjoy Christmas at home!

Nancy said...

Kimber, so heartbreaking, I'm glad that Tyler is okay now, what an ordeal to go through though. Hopefully she's young enough that she won't remember any of it. Wish I could have gone to Hawaii with you, glad you reminisced for us!

Toria said...

Jealous you went to Hawaii!!! Not jealous you had to have Tyler in the hospital. That's so heartbreaking. Asher was hospitalized a few times around that age and it's so hard to see them so out of energy. Fun to be able to catch up on your life a little more. It will be fun to see you next week.