One Sick Rooster

Oh what a week. Despite Dany's history, I never thought we'd end up in the hospital with her again, and especially not for a four day stay. But, as of Wednesday night, that's where we were.

Starting Saturday night, she came down with this nasty fever that stayed high even with medicine, and took away both her appetite and her desire to drink anything. We took her to an Instacare on Sunday and were told it was just a virus, that the fever could last four to five days, and that there really wasn't anything we could do. Well, by Wednesday morning, I wasn't happy with that explanation anymore. My usually energetic, feisty, two-year-old chatterbox was listless and practically mute other than to moan or cry.

The doctor listened to her chest and almost immediately suspected pneumonia, and with her lack of drinking, decided we better get her looked at up in the ER. The poor thing was absolutely miserable, had barely slept for days, and was in obvious pain.


You know how you always seem to have to wait for hours when you're in the ER? Well apparently they have this new "protocol" where if the patient meets a certain amount of criteria, they get moved right through, and they get A LOT of attention right away. Dany fit that criteria, and we were escorted to a room immediately. She was given an IV pretty quickly, and because her sats were so low (hovering around 86-88) she got oxygen too. That meant we were staying at least overnight. Despite the unusual surroundings, poor Dany was so exhausted that she fell asleep almost immediately.



I'd hoped to see some immediate improvement with the IV and oxygen, but she still seemed like a totally different Dany when she woke up the next morning. I had to promise the nurses that she normally was a sweet little girl, because she seemed so incredibly grumpy and uncooperative most the time. We had a really difficult time getting her to drink anything, and she wasn't interested in food at all, except to try a bite of my pear.



We found out Thursday morning that the official diagnosis wasn't pneumonia after all, but a respiratory virus called Metapneumovirus. We'd never heard of it before, but it's apparently one of the biggest causes of hospitalization for children. Crazily enough Dany's six month old cousin Elyse, who lives in Connecticut, got the exact same thing at the same time, and was also hospitalized! Seems like a pretty scary virus for young kids.

By Friday, Dany had started to show real improvement, though was still far from herself. She wanted to get out of her crib, and even played with some toys on the floor for awhile when Grandpa and Grandma Rogers were visiting. She'd ripped out her own IV, despite the fact that it was very well taped to her arm, and so they thought they'd see if she could drink enough to go without it.



She had a lot of visitors, which I think went a long way to cheering her up. Thanks to all the grandparents, Uncle Matey, and Bishop and Teresa Hyde! Special thanks to Matey for being patient even after Dany peed all over him, and in a very conspicuous area. He'll be a great dad one day.

The nurses steadily lowered her oxygen every day, and we discovered that chocolate (or "shockit" as Dany calls it) milk was the secret to getting her to drink. She'd hold the straw to her lips and drink half a carton in one gulp! Friday night they took her off oxygen completely, and they gave her a bath and a new hairstyle:



Before the nurses shift change, Dany's day nurse came in and said that she just wanted to thank me for letting her take care of Dany, because she was just so sweet. I thought that was a very nice thing of her to say, and she was definitely one of the ones Dany warmed up to the most.

We worried a bit about how Maisie was handling all this, but she really blew our minds with her little helpful spirit. That first day, she started cleaning up the house, even sweeping up the kitchen without being asked! On Friday she got her own "patient" doll, with a kit full of treatment supplies, and she had a great time playing Dr. Maisie.





Dany managed to stay off oxygen all through Friday night, and by Saturday morning, they agreed to release her. Teag and I were both so relieved to have her back under our roof. Once she was home, Dany slept and slept and slept, and that really seemed to help her turn a corner, she's much more like her usual spit-fire self. Still not 100%, but getting there. She's lost some weight, and her energy is still fairly low, but we see improvements daily.

I'd like to thank everyone who called, and texted and emailed, offering help, concern, and food. We enormously appreciate all the prayers directed Dany's way, we're sure they played a big part in her speedy recovery. Thanks for all the toys and books, and to Teag's coworkers for the balloons and flowers. We can see how much we're loved by all our friends and family.