Home Sweet Home

Acalias was finally discharged from United Center Hospital on Saturday, September 17, 2011. We had spent the entire week in the hospital. We are so thankful for all of your prayers, Acalias is recovering and is doing well. Here's what led up to our week long stay at the hospital. It was a very long week, hence a very long post.

Derek had spent most of the early morning hours trying to calm Acalias. I just figured he was fussy and teething so I went to Stake Conference while Derek stayed home with him. When I return Derek said he cried all morning and that he had given him albuterol treatments. Acalias had RSV when he was younger so we had some leftover treatments. It seemed like to was such a chore for him to breathe so we thought a hot bath would open up his airways. His conditioned worsened so we took him to MedCare, the urgent care near by. The wait time at the urgent care is always shorter so we figured we'd be in and out in an hour.

As we waited in the waiting room, Acalias cried incessantly so Derek paced around while holding him. His name was finally called and the medical assistant checked his oxygen level, it was only at 80% when it should be 100%. He had intercostal retractions and rapid breathing. The Doctor rushed in and told us he didn't have the equipment to help us so he suggested we go to the ER. In my mind I was frantic, I wanted to run out of the room and take Acalias to the ER. The doctor kept talking and I could see that Derek was just as frantic as I was. He sent a referral to the ER and we were on our way.

On our way to the hospital, Acalias continued to struggle to breath. He was turning pale and falling asleep. I cried, feeling helpless and wanting to be at the ER right at that moment. We checked in the ER and the woman didn't bother to look at our son, in order to triage, she just told us to sit and wait. Derek stood and watched the woman continue to work, after a few minutes he told her that Acalias needed oxygen and to see someone now! A doctor came out to look at him and got him in as soon as she saw just how urgent our situation was. By then Acalias was limp, pale and wheezing. In the room 5 ER employees awaited him, while one put him on oxygen, the other held an albuterol treatment. Three nurses held him down trying to find a vein to insert an IV. After pricking him in both arms, they called in someone else who found a vein in his foot. I felt so anxious watching them prick him like a pin cushion. I had the same thing happen to me when I was in labor but I figured it was my dark skin and their lack of experience with dark skinned people. I guess Acalias and I have "difficult veins". They also taped monitors on his chest and a O2 monitor on his other foot. His oxygen level steadily rose up to 85% and after an hour we can see that he was starting to feel better. He was a bit annoyed with all the wires on his body, but seemed to be feeling a lot better.

It was a struggle to keep the oxygen on him and distract him from pulling off the wires attached to his chest.

The ER doctor came in and told us that we needed to admit him so that they could continue to monitor his oxygen levels and await the results to diagnose him. Shortly after he left another doctor came in and asked us if he had a fever and talked about shipping us to another hospital that was better equipped for babies. She was very aggressive with her questions, I almost felt like we were being interrogated at a police station. I could feel my heart rate increase as I pondered Acalias having something else so traumatic occur that he would need to be in a children's hospital an hour away. The doctor left and the ER doctor returned, both doctors were obviously not communicating with each other and that was evident as they both continued to swap places with different suggestions. Derek verbalized what I was thinking, the ER doctor assured him that the ER doctors were on the same page. We were then taken up to our room.

Our room had a sign near the room number that informed anyone entering that they must put on special gear. We were in isolation because they hadn't yet diagnosed Acalias and used extra special precaution when entering. The nurse strapped a hugs tag that limited us to the fourth floor, we weren't allowed to leave the room with him so the tag seemed useless in my mind.

The next few days were a sleepless blur. Doctors, nurses, residents, student nurses, IV teams shuffled in and out with the same mundane questions. Each time Acalias would finally dose off, someone else came in to do blood work, check vitals and so forth. The monitors blared with every tug and pull. I was thrilled to see that his oxygen levels improved each day. The Doctor said that we would be released as soon as his oxygen stabilized above 95%.

I missed my energetic little boy, it was so difficult to see him like this. I cried a lot. Prayed for strength and hoped that they would find out what was causing all his symptoms.

Three days later, we were still in isolation. The Acalias I know began to reemerge, he was squirmy and wanted to go out beyond our small room.

Thank goodness we at least had a big window with a breathtaking view.

Finally we were told that he was infected with para influenza which caused Bronchiolitis and a urinary tract infection. We were baffled by the UTI diagonsis, they later discovered high levels of sugar in his urin. The doctors started asking Derek about his diabetes and when he was diagosed. Derek was diagnosed at 18 months but his dad informed us that he was hospitalized with simar problems that Acalias had at 15 months. After dropping so many diagnostic bombs on us, they suggested we call home for support regarding the management of a toddler with diabetes. They lifted the precaution sign on our door and said we were free to walk around the fourth floor.

Yeah for wagons! they made this little boys next few days more managable.

His fever began to spike, although we were contnually being told we would be released the following day, something always came up. They continued to monitor his fever and monitor his sugars. Derek is currently rotating at United, so we were fortunate that he didn't fall too behind in his work.

We were in the hospital so long that Acalias began to identify the nurses because they all wear blue. He'd try to hide from them to avoid what he knew was coming. One night I'm pretty sure he kicked a nurse square in the face as she struggled to force an oxygen tube in his nose. I don't know why she thought he would keep it in his nose, after all he had already had his IV changed once because he yanked it out.

On saturday September 17th, they ran a few more tests, gave us a glucometer to monitor Acalias' blood sugars and sent us home. Halelujah!

We're recovering well, Acalias still gets up a couple of times a night but hopefully we will get back into our normal routine soon. His blood sugars have been reading normal and we have a follow up appointment later on this week.

We are so fortunate to have a loving family that kept us grounded during this difficult time although we are so far apart. The members in our new ward showed their support as well. Several of the males stopped by to give priesthood blessings, the relief society by brought us yummy homemade food (the hospital food got old quick) and spent time visiting with us.

We are so happy to be home again, thank you again for all of your prayers.