home from the hospital

We were sprung from the hospital this morning. After Dr. Setia came by and examined her and talked with me, he released us. He said that her lungs sound perfectly clear, and her throat looks great. Basically, this is hyper-reactivity to the respiratory infection. The symptoms are simply hanging on. He prescribed an antibiotic on the 9th that treats a mycoplasmic infection. The normal course of treatment lasts 5 days and he prescribed 10 days. So, she is not contagious. The reason she tested positive for this is because she still has the antibodies (and will for some time). He said this is a very common infection that lots of people have. He sent us home with a nebulizer and an Rx for 3 types of inhaled medications (to open her airways and dry up secretions). He also said she can go back to school tomorrow. That seems weird to me since she was just in the hospital, but after thinking about it, I guess it makes sense. She's not a danger to anyone else (other than possibly annoying them with her cough), and she is in great spirits (when she's not coughing). The reason that she was in the hospital was to manage her symptoms and to ensure that she didn't need rescue during the night (e.g. oxygen or suction) when her coughing tends to be the worst.
I asked Dr. Setia if Jim and I should worry about ourselves. Bless his heart, he looked at me and said, "You're not sick, are you?" I said,"I know, but what about incubation periods?" He looked at me and shook his head in a way that seemed to say, 'No no no. You idiot'. I looked back and said, "Right. She's been sick for a while and we'd have gotten sick by now." He gave me a fond look that one would give a retarded child. Ha. I love this man. He's very intense but totally no nonsense. Anyhow. So, that's that. Adventure for March. Thank you all so very much for your concern and offers of help. We could almost hear the prayers all the way down here in Athens.

Eve is in the hospital

Although Eve's cough showed signs of improvement, she kept having these choking coughing fits in which she would struggle for breath. It is pretty scary. So we took her to the on call doc yesterday (Sunday) morning. After explaining her symptoms and her mito, he suspected that her illness caused a regression in muscle functioning leaving her muscles not strong enough to clear secretions. So he called Eve's neurologist to consult. Dr. K (neuro) seriously doubter this was a muscle thing and thought it might be more whooping cough. Long story short, the on call doc sent us to the hospital for monitoring and testing. They did a chest xray (clear), blood tests, and a nasal swab. They hooked her up to machines to measure heart rate and breathing. The culture for whooping cough won't come back for 4-5 days. She had a tough night last night. Didn't get to sleep until 10pm and woke up every hour or so having a coughing spell. After 3pm, she got better. Her coughs weren't so scary, and although they woke her up, she wasn't panicked for breath. I'm at work now (Jim's with Eve) and just got off the phone with Eve's regular pediatrician. Apparently, she tested positive for a mycoplasma infection. So she's basically quarantined to her room. Dr. Setia says he would be shocked if she had whooping cough. He actually treated her with an antibiotic that would have treated this infection on the 9th. So she got the full 10 days of her antibiotic dose. He said that the antibodies show up for some time and that's why she's still testing positively. He'll come back to the hospital today to talk to us. I'll ask him about school/daycare then. If she is doing better (although I just talked to Jim and he said she had the worst fit yet - very scary), she might go home late afternoon. I am not getting my hopes up. Ug. I am exhausted.

Josie is 1!

So, Eve is doing better. It was a rough weekend, but we pulled through. She's not nearly as fussy (actually, this afternoon she was in a great mood), and her cough is much better. She's sleeping better at night, too. A bunch of you thought this might be allergies. That's totally possible. I'll have to look back to this time last year in the medical records. The trees are blooming (you should see the peach trees and Bradford Pears).

We had a lot of rain this weekend which probably affected everyone's mood. We went Toys R Us and it was totally totally depressing. We had such a hard time finding a toy that Eve could actually play with that was age-appropriate and not frustrating for her. I let myself get pretty down about that. But, today the sun is out and it warmed up. I've got the house crazy clean and that has put me in a better mood. Oh! I haven't yet spilled the beans on the blog, but we are moving this summer. I was on the job market this year and accepted a tenure track job in Massachusetts. We're very excited to be moving back North. Although we'll me moving further from my in-laws (which is a major bummer), we'll be closer to all our other family members and friends. We'll go up in April to house hunt and check out the area.

Today is Josie's birthday!! She's a year old. We celebrated with cupcakes and presents (a new bone and new rubber chew toy). Happy Birthday, JoJo!

cough

Well, Eve is sick. She's been to the doctor 3 times in the past week. She has this really nasty cough that just won't go away (but no runny nose). The first time she went to the Dr she was a little wheezy, so she was put on albuteral and prednisone. Still no improvement so back we went on Monday. This time no wheezing, but he put her on an antibiotic. Today we went back because she just isn't getting better. Eve's teacher from school called and said Eve was crabby and miserable today, didn't have much appetite, and was coughing like crazy. Nights have been bad, too. She starts coughing and can't catch her breath. It's awful to hear and watch. Anyhow, today Dr. Setia (and I) heard wheezing again when he pushed on her chest during the exam. It was like she swallowed a squeaky toy that he was activating from the outside. He gave her an inhaled steroid to use with the albuteral. If she starts to get really really barky, then back on Prednisone for 2 days (her last dose was last night). He said that basically, her airway is still inflamed. It could be because of a virus, an infection (which the antibiotics will get), or even possibly reflux. So he upped her prevacid to twice a day for the next several days. *sigh* I hope we get this thing wiped out. It totally stinks for her. At least she was in a good mood at the doctors. He even fed her a animal cracker from her snack. He put the whole cracker in her mouth (I usually make her split it into 3 bites). Then he looked at me and asked if it was too big of a piece. I looked at him and said, "You're a doctor. If she chokes you can give her the Heimlich." I love Dr. Setia.

Winter weather

Well, I can't believe it, but it snowed in Georgia. We got about 4-5 inches yesterday. We 've only seen snow here one other time in the 3 years we've lived here, but it didn't stick. We were sooooo lucky, because we didn't loose power. I think about 35,000 people in Athens did, though. Since we're on a well, no power=no water for us, so we're really really grateful. We took Eve and Josie out briefly in the afternoon yesterday. Josie didn't know what to make of it and Eve just laughed and laughed at her. Of course everything is shut down today. No school for me or Eve. Jim also stayed home. The roads are sheets of ice, and of course there isn't a plow or any salt/sand on the roads. This is Georgia after all. The good news is that it should melt today. It will be sunny and in the mid 40s. Oh, and the forecast calls for 71 degrees on Friday. Are you kidding????

Thumbs up if you want to go out in the snow.

Are you sure?



Oh, and here's some shots of arts and crafts that Jim, Eve and Jojo did.