Just plodding through

Not much progress has been made in the last day but here is whats been going on. I just spoke to Dr. Haddad and he said the virus she got will act like RSV, in that the lining of her lungs will be sloughed off and she will have to cough all that crap up before she feels better. Not sure how much of that I explained back in January 2013 when she got RSV but I remember it was a long recovery even after she got out of the hospital. The doc said 9 doses of Ribavirin then we will see how she is feeling and go from there. That puts the last dose around 2PM tomorrow so I'm hopeful for an exit strategy by Tuesday.

On to how Maddy is feeling and how the stay is going so far. Only two words to describe it "Not Good". She has gone through three IV's so far and the fourth one is already about to blow. She needs to get one of those deep vein IV's that only the vascular access team can put in but they have been too busy to get to her. The nurse put in an order yesterday afternoon to have them access her and as of 11AM today still no team. I spoke to her nurse today about it and she said the team is usually swamped and understaffed so there is no telling when they will be able to access her. This whole situation made a bad treatment schedule even worse.

Here is how last night looked.

7PM - finally gets to eat dinner after it gets reheated
8PM - Respiratory treatments begin. 15 min bronchodilator, 30 minute inhaled antibiotic
10PM - Ribavirin treatment begins. 20  minute or more to set up treatment then 2 hours in a tent while treatment is administered. No one can be in room unless they wear a duck mask and stay 5 feet away.
1AM - IV antibiotic. This was delayed because they had to put in a new IV because vascular access never came the night before. This takes anywhere from 45 min to an hour to infuse. Then a loud alarm goes off to let you know it's finished at which time you page the nurse and hope she comes in to turn it off quickly because the alarm goes off until she does.
4AM - Lab team comes in to take her blood. No you can't get the blood from the IV site you have to get stuck every morning!
6AM - Ribavitin treatment begins. Same procedure as above.
8AM - IV Antibiotics again
8AM - Respiratory treatments, same as 8PM.

And then the doctor wonders why Maddy is so tired and trying to sleep when he comes in between 9 and 10 AM. Maddy of course rarely stands up for herself. This morning I was around to tell Dr. Haddad what went on all night last night so he didn't give her any flack for sleeping today.

Hey, it's 11:20 and vascular access has arrived! Hopefully he will be able to get a good deep vein that won't give her any more problems.

One more thing, the poor kid is still experiencing flu like symptoms, chills, body aches and now this terrible cough from the lining of her lungs dying off. So it's no wonder she just wants to sleep and be left alone.

So thats the update. Hopefully she will start to feel a little better by later today or tomorrow. I have been going home at the 10PM ribavirin treatment and coming back in the morning after the 6AM treatment is finished. I will have to go to work tomorrow morning so I won't be able to get here until afternoon sometime. But I try to e around to get her better food as often as possible. She did have Jayson hang out with her for most of yesterday so that was a good thing. Guess I will update again when we know the exit strategy.