The last five days have been harrowing, our poor little princess has been in and out of hospital for the first time. It started with a tummy bug, but it just didn't let up. Lauren was being sick constantly. We got so worried we took her to the hospital on Friday morning, her temp was dangerously high at 39.7 and her blood sugars were very low at 2.9. They took her and stripped her down and put a fan on her, within minutes they had given her 3 suppositories to bring down the temperature. Then they gave her 5mls of fluid every 5 minutes. After two hours her temp had come down 2 degrees, and her blood sugar levels had come up. They checked her urine which was fine, then they did a chest x-ray to eliminate pneumonia, as her temperature was so high this was a possibility. We had the x-ray and Lauren was so distressed, it was so awful watching her have these procedures done and seeing her so upset. The chest x-ray was OK, there was some areas of concern which the doctor thought could be from an old infection ( she had two chest infections before Christmas) so they wanted to start her on an antibiotic.
They discharged us home to continue with this protocol, which we did for the whole day. Her temperature just kept on spiking, despite using the two different medications they had told us to use. The sickness was just not letting up, as soon as she would take in any fluids she wont be sick almost instantly. Her lips were chapped and her eyes were black, and she was so pale and listless. We were so worried we called the children's A&E ward back for advice, we knew they would tell us to bring her back in. While Derek was on the phone I was getting a bag ready. It was 1:00am and we were back in casualty again. We were seen within minutes, Lauren's temperature was much better and while her blood sugar levels were still low, they were better than earlier. She was clearly dehydrated and so they got her into a bed straight away. I was so glad I brought her blanket and pillow as we were to spend the whole night in this room. I sent Derek home with Dylan while I stayed.
They put in a IV into her arm and and gave her medication for her sickness, and they monitored her temp. They also took a blood sample. Her pulse was also high, so they were going to go ahead and give her some fluids through her IV, only the nurse managed to pull out the IV while she was accessing it. They decided they didn't want to put it back in and distress her any further, so we had to syringe the fluids of a quarter cup every 15 minutes. This was a re hydration solution, and Lauren was so good at taking it, I said to the nurse that I would prefer her to have the fluids intravenously, but she said it was the same solution and it was just important to get it into her. So I set my timer to go off every 15-20 mins and gave her the fluids religiously. Eventually the medication for the sickness started to work, and we got all the fluids into her for the first time that day. By 5:45 am her colour got better. Her blood results came back perfect, just showing that she was dehydrated which we already knew. They let me take her home about 6:00 am. She was absolutely shattered, as was Mommy. We got home at 7:00am and she slept until 3:00 pm in the afternoon, and then intermittently throughout the day.
Today she walked into our room for the first time in days, but she is still incredibly weak and listless today, she is eating little bits, but only barely drinking (which is worrying) but the doctor said as long as she isn't being sick, then whatever fluids we get in is good. I am really hoping and praying that she has a little bit more strength tomorrow. My heart is broken seeing her like this, I just want to see her running around playing and fighting with her brother again. I've never seen her so sick and I would do anything to make her well again;. My poor brave little princess, we have just been so unbelievably worried about her.
Here is my little lamb on Saturday night, I took a picture to send to Derek's phone, so that he could see for himself how much better she was doing. He was asking for constant updates, and I wanted to show him that her general colour had improved since he was so worried.
Get better soon our precious daughter, Mommy, Daddy and Dylan want you to be back to your old self again.
~ We Love you ~
Added note: we just got back home from A&E again, Lauren wasn't drinking well
and became quite listless and weak so our doctor told us to take take her back in for fluids. We took her in and they gave her fluids and observation. She's much better now: when she came home she had some toast, and some sips of her drink and she's just fallen asleep again. I really hope she continues to improve. These have been a long five days.
