Back to the ER

Many of you already know of our little trip to the hospital yesterday but in case you don't here is the update.

Kinzie finally had one of her "episodes" yesterday that she had in PCH frequently. PCH was always stumped as to what they were and why she did them. All we know is that she apparently is growing out of them by learning how to handle herself better. They are brought on by her getting mad whether because of nose suctioning, being poked, temperature taken, reflux, gagging, bottle feeding, etc. Once she gets that mad she holds her breath, immediately turns purple/black (skipping blue all together), then usually poops and/or throws up and then has "neurological irritability" for up to an hour which looks like seizure stiffening with facial droops and head turns but is not.

So yesterday I was suctioning her nose (from her cold) and she got really upset. Wierd because I do that all the time. She doesn't like it ever but usually protests very little. The differences in yesterday's fits were that she did 5 in a row of going purple and coming back. Luckily we still had O2 in the house and could throw that on her. She also did not do the siezure like activity at all! That is a huge improvement. However, because of the repeated breath holds we called 911 in the middle of them. We had her stable by the time the paramedics arrived but not when the officer arrived (poor guy, the EMTs said we scared him pretty bad - he didn't stick around). They did find though while mointoring her that she could not hold her O2 without the oxygen on. So they and our doctor advised a trip to the ER to see why. We refused transport and drove her ourself (20 minutes) due to her being stable and on oxygen.

We were at the ER for 5 hours mostly waiting. They did a CBC, RSV test, took a urine sample, and some other blood work. They also took a chest x-ray. They found that the lungs do look bronchilitic, meaning they do have an infection. The RSV test came back negative but the doctor said he still thinks she has RSV. The test is only 80% accurate and can miss 20 kids in a 100. The influenza also came back negative but is only 50% accurate. The urine came back "suspicious." 3 of 5 markers were present and thus they suspect a UTI and put her on new antibiotic. The CBC (complete blood count) showed white blood cells to be slightly increased but still normal. The chest x-ray also showed that the streakyness from two weeks ago was gone.

Bottom line - they were 50/50 on admitting her and left it up to us. They said they would basically just be watching her and treating for RSV which is to put them on oxygen (we have that already) and frequently suction their nose secretions (already do that too). So we decided to bring her home rather than create trama again by putting her in a hosptial and making her suscpetible to hospital bugs.

She does have to be back on oxygen as she drops to the 70s immediatley without it. The RSV could be responsible for this but it could also be related to her way of handling stress which is to shut down, in this case possibly shutting down having to deal with the infection in her lungs and breathing. I suspect in a couple weeks she will bounce back. That's just Kinz!

We are continuing with her blessing today but will leave right after to minimize her exposure. We have delayed it for too long and feel she needs that done.

She is a fighter and handling this all very well. She is exhausted from the episode but that is normal for her too. Thanks again for all your prayers. We feel them and appreciate them.