Jayne started having a low grade fever on a Monday, 100-101 degrees. She was getting her 4th molar in and kept chewing on her hand and didn't have any other symptoms of being sick, so I assumed it was from teething. The week went on and she continued to have a fever off and on but it was still low so I kept giving her Motrin when she needed it. She started to get more irritable though and wasn't acting like herself. Thursday night, the day after Elle got her tonsils out, Jayne was up all night long. She kept crying and was inconsolable. She didn't want her binky, a bottle, a cup, her blanket and it didn't even help when we held her. She kept chewing her hand so I still thought she was teething. I didn't think it could be her ears because she just got tubes a month earlier.
The next morning, I took her in to the doctor that was on call because mine was out of town. I thought he would tell me it was just teething and send me home but thought I should at least check. He listened to her lungs, checked her oxygen in her blood and then looked at me and said, "You know what's coming, don't you?" I honestly had no idea. Jayne has been really healthy. He said that her lungs didn't sound good and her oxygen levels were way too low. He said to call Don because Jayne had to go by ambulance to Primary Children's Hospital and we needed someone to come get Elle and Easton. I was shocked and really scared! I had no idea she was so sick. She wasn't coughing a lot and wasn't showing any signs of having problems breathing. She was crying a lot but I assumed it was from being so tired. I have no way of checking her oxygen levels so I had no idea how low they were. When she would calm down though, they were dipping into the 70's when they should be in the high 90's. Elle and Easton knew something was wrong and Elle looked at me and asked, "Is Jayne going to die?" It broke my heart. I told her that Jayne was going to be ok. She just needed to get some help from doctors to get healthy again. Poor Elle has seen way too much death in her short life. Don's sister, Tami, came and picked up the kids and Don came to the doctor's office. They insisted Jayne go by ambulance so she could stay hooked up to oxygen so I rode with her and Don followed right behind.
After a few hours in the emergency room, they checked us in to the hospital, took some x-rays and moved us up to a room. Jayne stayed hooked up to oxygen and had an IV for fluids. The doctors finally came and told us that Jayne had viral pneumonia caused by a common summer cold virus--Parainfluenza 3. They said that most people that catch this virus would just get a runny nose but it got in Jayne's lungs and turned into Pnuemonia. The unfortunate thing about it being viral is that it can't be treated with antibiotics. We just had to do supportive care--keep suctioning her nose and throat out and keep her on oxygen and wait it out. Jayne had bacterial pneumonia last winter but it was completely different. She had a really high fever in the 103-104's and a bad cough. They gave her an antibiotic and she improved quickly within a couple of days. Because her fever wasn't high and she didn't have a bad cough this time, I never would have guessed it was pneumonia. I feel so bad for poor Jayne. She just couldn't breathe well and I didn't know it. Jayne has been so healthy that I guess it hasn't sunk in just how careful we need to be. The nurse told us that kids with Down Syndrome are 62 times more likely to have respiratory infections and get pneumonia. I had no idea!
Jayne had to stay at the hospital until Sunday. I stayed with her and Don stayed with Elle and Easton. They came and visited both days. The nurses came in every couple of hours to check her vitals, suction her out if she needed it and kept trying to decrease the amount of oxygen she needed. She started out on 2 Liters and by Sunday, they were finally able to decrease it to 1/4 Liter. We got to take her home but just had to keep her hooked up to oxygen until she could keep her levels above 90% in her blood. Jayne didn't have to come home with oxygen when she was born so it was a new experience for us. She was such a trooper though with a tube stuck to her face and up her nose. She was so cute crawling all over the house with a tube trailing behind her. We had to keep her on it for a week at home but she is doing great now! Thanks to my friend Heather for letting us borrow her Pulse Oximeter to check Jayne's oxygen levels in her blood so we didn't have to keep going to the doctor every day. It is so nice to have friends who have been through this and can help. The whole experience scared us enough that we bought our own pulse Oximeter. Now I check Jayne all the time, just to make sure. Things took a turn for the worse so quickly and I don't want that to happen again!!!
Jayne looking at a book at the hospital
She is so cute!!!
Jayne was so happy to see Elle and Easton when they came. I kept showing her pictures of them that I have in my purse. She loves her brother and sister.
Elle was so sweet with Jayne when they came to visit. She wanted to hold her right away and didn't want to put her down.
2 comments:
So glad she is better! I've heard they get pneumonia so easily because of their muscle weakness. They can't cough as efficiently as other kids their age. It is scary though. Morgan can go from being so healthy to so sick in such a short time. No matter how many times it happens, it still surprises me. Such cute pictures of Jayne. She's such a doll!
i am finally catching up on blogs and had no idea you went through this! How scary! I am so glad everything was ok! Maybe that oxygen thing is something I should get. She looks so cute and happy you would never know she was sick! I bet your kids were so worried about her too.
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