Megan Hospital Status

Megan has had a temperature for the last couple of days and has been refusing to drink anything. Crystal weened Megan off of nursing about 10 days ago so we thought she just didn't like regular milk. Finally, this morning Crystal was determined to get her to drink, so we bought a new different bottle and put some formula and basically forced it into her mouth. She wouldn't drink but she would leave it in and just fall asleep. She did get about 1/2 ounce and then threw it all up and her skin was getting vary pale and splotchy. Crystal then decided to take her to the doctor at 10 am this morning and he said he thought it was pnemonia and saw how dehydrated she was. He had her admitted into the hospital for an IV to get her hydrated and get some tests to figure out what it is.

She was admitted at about noon today. They took a chest xray and sent that up to radiology and then hooked her up to monitor heart rate, oxygen levels, and respitory stuff. Then she had to get an IV and have a catheter to get a urine sample. The IV was a pretty big problem. She was so dehydrated they could not find a good vein. They had her legs and arms wrapped in hot packs to get some circulation and turned off the lights and had a light on her arms etc shining through it to try and see veins. Crystal, of course, can't take needles or blood so she was waiting outside. They weren't finding anything all that great but tried on the top part of her right hand. They couldn't get it in the vein because it was too flat, and then you couldn't see it anymore so they pulled out the needle. They then tried in the top of the other hand and they got it into the vein but the vein collapsed. That sounded really bad to me, but it isn't that serious, it just means the vein constricts so blood won't flow out, and the IV won't flow in. They said it happens a lot with babies and even more when they are this dehydrated. After another 20 minutes of trying to warm her up some more with hot packs and rubbing her arms and legs and using the light to try and find a vein. They then put the needle in the upper arm and got in the vein again and it collapsed again. They said the only place she has good enough veins is in her head. It has been about an hour from when they first brought her in to put in the IV. So the first attempt in the head started out really well but just at the wrong time Megan jerked her head which made that vein collapse as well. Poor little Megan, she was screaming and crying through most of this but was just so out of energy she was calm through some of it. The second try in the head finally worked, but when it is in the head they have to tape it quite a lot so it doesn't move around or get pulled out. They then put stuff on it to harden up so it's basically like paper mache blob on her head with a tube sticking out. Just a few minutes after they got that in her color started to get better. They then had to do the cathetar and a heal prick to get some blood for some tests.

As soon as she was done she went to sleep real fast. She is just resting now. The nurse did come in and tell us that the chest x-rays came back pretty good and they don't think it is pnemonia. We are still waiting for the blood & urine test results.

The nurse said she will need to stay at least overnight now to get enough fluids back in her. Depending on how she reacts to the IV and things it could be longer. They said if she throws up again, she will need to get more tests and probably stay longer.

The diagnosis as of right now is that she has an ear infection and something else that is either a bacteria or virus and the effects of that irritated her throat so much that any fluids would hurt it. So, since she wasn't drinking she got extremely dehydrated. The nurse said whatever she has, she is probably contageous, but won't exactly what until we get the results.

Thank you all for your prayers, it was right after Crystal texted several people that the IV wasn't going in and to pray that they got it in.

Here is a couple pictures of her, one right after they finally got the IV in and while they are trying to draw blood for the blood tests and another of Crystal calming her down right after all that.

We are in room 246 at American Fork Hospital on the second floor of pediatrics. Our home phone is forwarded to my cell that Crystal is carrying and I have my work cell which is 801 . 652 . 3793. You are welcome to visit or call or email, but since we don't know exactly what it is and it is probably flu like, it is contageous, so I wouldn't bring kids.