3 Days & 2 Nights

On Saturday night Lillian decided that we needed to get out of the house for a few days. So we spent the weekend at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia! She had been running a high fever with an ugly cough for a few days, and with her recent diagnosis of asthma I felt like she needed to be checked out.

Lillian was admitted at 5:00 a.m. on Sunday morning after a chest x-ray showed some signs of pneumonia and/or adalectasis (when small areas of the lungs collapse). She had to be hooked up to oxygen because her levels were a little low. She looked so sad with the little tubes in her nose, but she tolerated it quite well. The thing on her right arm is an IV hook-up that they had to put in and secure tightly so she wouldn't pull it out.

After some early-morning tests, the doctors determined that Lillian had the parainfluenza virus and viral pneumonia, which aggravated her asthma (or maybe the asthma aggravated the virus or they both aggravated each other? either way, she got hit with all 3 at once . . . lucky girl!)


The doctors put her on some medications to help her asthma so that her lungs could combat the pneumonia more effectively, since there's nothing we can do to fight the virus directly. They also performed some chest PT every few hours to help break up the mucus and make Lillian's coughs more productive. Everything is easily treatable at home, but the doctors didn't feel comfortable letting her go because her oxygen levels were still a little low on Sunday. The nurses slowly decreased her oxygen to help ween her off.

On Monday morning they took her off the oxygen and her levels stayed high enough while she was awake. The true test was to see her levels while she slept, when levels naturally decrease. When she fell asleep for her first nap I crossed my fingers. Her levels stayed barely high enough to keep her in the safe zone - yay!! The doctor wanted to monitor her for one more nap before letting her go home. It felt like a long afternoon waiting for Lillian to get tired again! She finally went down at about 2:30 p.m. and again her oxygen stayed high enough. I decided to celebrate by taking a nap myself. :) I knew we would be going home when Lillian woke up.

Bobby had to take a big test Monday afternoon, so I stayed with Lillian on Sunday night. We kept ourselves busy with lots of books, toys, and frequent visits from the nurses and the respiratory staff. We were still napping when Bobby arrived on Monday afternoon and it was a nice surprise to see him when we woke up! Soon after, the nurse came in and told us that she had been checking in on us while we were asleep. Since everything was ok, the doctor had already written our discharge papers. An hour later we were in the car on our way home! Lillian didn't realize what was going on until I drove the car out of the parking garage. She looked out the window and said "yay!"

All of the doctors, nurses, and staff at CHOP were fabulous. They were friendly, thorough, and they answered all of our million questions. The facilities were great, too. There was a playroom down the hall with lots of toys, crafts, and computers. I highly recommend it to anyone who lives in the Philly area.

Lillian slept really well last night. She still seems a little tired, and I can tell she doesn't feel 100% because she just wants to be held quietly. Grandma and Grandpa came last night, so she has plenty of people to take care of her! It'll take a few days for the virus to pass and for her to be running at full speed (literally).

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts, prayers, concerns, visits, and meals!! You are much loved and appreciated. I'll keep you updated!