Some days are worse than others
As you may have guessed from the picture below, not everything has been going as well as it had been. What started out as a sniffle (and was misdiagnosed as “allergies”) persisted for two weeks and turned into full blown pneumonia from a lung infection.
Keira finally feeling better after nearly 1 week in the hospital.
One of the first issues was that Keira’s nose was so plugged up she was unable to breath through it. This also meant she couldn’t eat because she could only breath through her mouth. Given that she had already lost 1.5lbs they couldn’t wait for the antibiotics to destroy the sinus/lung infection and her nose to clear up. So, they would suction out her nose every four hours.
Of course Keira still wasn’t feeling like eating much of anything since she was kept awake with staggered PT (percussive therapy), nebulizer treatments, blood samples, and IV antibiotics. Eventually, after 4 days of intense medical therapy Keira started to be herself again, but that didn’t mean she was out of the woods, however.
Around the fifth day it was discovered that her blood sugar level was through the roof. After 24 hours of insulin therapy and monitoring, it was decided that the IV solutions and inhaled steroids were to blame not juvenile diabetes. For which we were immensely relieved!
Once those hurdles were cleared, the last 4 days in the hospital dragged on and on. Although it was perfectly reasonable and prudent to keep Keira in the hospital until the doctors were sure everything would be alright, it certainly was a challenge to entertain and occupy a reenergized 2 year old. Which was why we were very lucky to have been given a tote full of kids games and activities by our local CF center.
Finally, I want to thank everyone who helped us through those rough 10 days. The outpouring of concern, assistance, and kindness helped to immensely lessen the burden.
