Emma's trip to the Hospital

Well, last Saturday was an awful day.

Emma woke up about 5am crying that her back hurt. I thought that the boys had been too rough with her and pulled something so I gave her some motrin and rubbed her back. By 7am it was even worse. She was crying really hard and saying her chest hurt too. Then about 8 she started screaming that it hurt to breathe. We decided to take her to the same day clinic at her dr's office. The dr monitored her oxygen level and it was down to 85. He was pretty sure that she had pneumonia so he had an xray done. The xray showed that she didn't have pneumonia but that she was having what was called an "A Typical Asthma Attack". Her lungs were FULL of air that couldn't get out. The doctor gave her a nebulizer treatment and she seemed MUCH better. He sent us home with some steroids to keep the airway open. We went home thinking all was well. After about 2 hours it started again. The crying and screaming was MUCH worse. I did a neb treatment and that didn't seem to work. We called the doctor and he said to take her to the ER.

When we got to the ER, they put in an IV, did blood work, xrays, and couldn't figure out what was wrong. Her heart rate was up, and so was her breathing rate. When they listened to her breathing she was grunting and "splinting" (which means she wasn't taking full breaths). On top of that her blood sugar was WAY up (they think it was due to the stress on her body from all of the pain). They decided the best thing to do was admit her. Finally after about 8 hours in the ER, they got her into a room and gave her a pain killer. The poor thing had been in pain for over 12 hours. About 11 that night she started getting a fever, so that made them feel much better. That meant it was most likely pneumonia (that they couldn't find on the xray) or a virus. They spent the rest of the day and the next morning doing tests. As long as her pain killer was working she was just fine. We watched movies and played board games. The steroids that they gave her increased her appetite, so Miss "I only will eat two bites", turned into a hungry bear. She would eat entire plates of food!

In the end they decided that she had a virus (her blood work showed she was fighting something), even though there were no symptoms like a cough or runny nose. They said the pain came from a secondary symptom called pleurisy (inflammation in the lining of the lungs). They were very baffled by the extreme secondary symptoms that this minor little virus caused. They sent us home with more steroids and had her take motrin around the clock to keep the pain away. Within 3 days she was back to her normal self.

Her asthma doc increased her daily meds so hopefully she won't have another asthma attack like that and we have to follow up with her pediatrician on Tuesday to check her blood sugar. It was still raising as we left the hospital, but they were pretty confident that it was because of the stress.

So, that is another chapter in the crazy life of Emma Rose!

The great thing about the hospital is that they will give you whatever you want if you will take your medication. This is Emma eating chocolate ice cream and washing it down with chocolate milk after she took her nasty steroids. They also gave her a huge nail polish kit after she took some other medication and a build a bear with an outfit after they did some really NOT fun tests.