Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Tuesday, December 18th, 2007





Now that I am feeling a little better I can give you an update on the last few days. In the first picture above you can see that on Sunday I was feeling pretty good. I did spit up after one of my feedings but not too much. Then everything changed on Monday. Mimi told Mommy I had more secretions then normal but Mommy didn't notice anything really strange until 7:30 when I vomited. Since I had last eaten at 6 am Mommy would have expected formula but it looked more like something that you would see if I sneezed. I was scheduled for a GI study at 10 am so I didn't get my 8 am feeding. Right before Mommy and Lucille left to go to the doctor's appointment I started vomiting again several times. They got to the appointment and I continued vomiting so the radiologist decided to cancel the GI study until I was feeling better. Since the vomiting was so strange and I hadn't eaten for over four hours Mommy got an urgent appointment with my pediatrician Dr Scott. I continued to vomit at the doctor's appointment but since my tummy was soft and I wasn't running a fever, Dr Scott decided to take a sample of what was coming up just to verify whether or not it was really coming from my tummy or if was coming from my lungs. Meanwhile, I still got my Synagis shot and went home. Dr Scott had Mommy and Lucille feed me 1/2 feedings. For a little while I slept but the vomiting eventually started again. Mommy noticed that my Mic-KEY button was really tight and she could barely turn it which seemed really strange and the vomiting started to change to a brownish color. I was even vomiting during my feeding but it wasn't formula coming back up. By that time Daddy was arriving home from work so Mommy and Daddy decided to take me to the ER and left Lucille to wait for her ride.

Mommy and Daddy waited with me in the ER waiting room for about an hour before they got moved to a room with me vomiting off and on. They took a picture of my tummy and it showed that below my button my intestines looked just fine but above my button my tummy was full of gas and my belly was distended. The ER doctor thought I might have an obstruction and made a call to the pediatrician on call to come take a look. Meanwhile, they needed to get blood work to start some tests. Unfortunately, I have been told I am a hard stick. Over the next four hours I went through four different nurses and probably 20 sticks before they were finally able to find a vein to put the IV in. Not only did I cry because it hurt but I would also get so upset from the sticks and the vomiting that I would hold my breath and start turning blue. This happened probably four or five times. I have never done this for my parents before and it was very scary. The pediatrician eventually came to see me but said they couldn't admit me until they had a room to put me in and unfortunately the hospital was full of pediatric RSV patients (thanks goodness for my Synagis shot!) Several more hours passed until about 1:30, the pediatrician came back in and said that after discussion they decided to transfer me to UC Davis. Mommy and Daddy were very relieved because that is where I stayed for six weeks in the NICU and they know that is probably the best place for me. All told, Mommy and Daddy waited with me for about 10 hours in the ER at Methodist Hospital before the transport team from UC Davis arrived. I would sleep for a little while, wake up to vomit and then fall back to sleep. It was a very long night so when the team arrived around 3:30 my parents were very happy to see them. It took about 1/2 hour to get me prepped to get in the ambulance. Before they moved me to the stretcher I gave Mommy and Daddy a big happy smile so they knew I would be okay and not to worry too much. It was the first smile Mommy had seen in almost 24 hours. One of the transport nurses gave my parents a big hug and I was on my way.

After I left, Mommy and Daddy said goodbye to my nurse in the ER who gave them big hugs, wished them a Merry Christmas and told them with teary eyes she would be praying for me. Mommy and Daddy shed quite a few tears, too, although they tried to wait until I was taken away so I wouldn't see how upset they were. Mommy and Daddy stopped by the house to check on my brothers and get some coffee to take to the hospital and then they were on the road too.
Mommy brought my Santa doll for my crib so I would have something from home. They met me in my room and I rested off and on over the next several hours, waking up to vomit every so often. The doctor's came to work around 9 am so Mommy and Daddy stayed with me until they arrived so they could find out what the plan was for my care. I was in my own private little room with a nice view of Sacramento but the nurses told Mommy it was only temporary until a bed opened up in the other part of the PICU. The doctor's came by and said they were going to take some more pictures of my tummy and try to find out what was causing the obstruction although they had a feeling it was the button, too. They excused Mommy and Daddy to go home and get some sleep.

My parents got a few hours of sleep and then Mommy called to check on me. The nurse let them know that my Mic-KEY button was too long and had migrated from my stomach into my pyloris and was blocking it. They were going to order a smaller button and then have it placed and start a feeding. Mommy and Daddy took showers, dropped the boys off for a few days at Camp Bow Wow and got something to eat and headed back to the hospital. When they arrived I had been moved to the other PICU and was in an open room with lots of other pediatric patients. My neighbor was a boy who was probably 16 or so - so I was one of the smallest patients they had.

Mommy and Daddy noticed right away that I looked a lot better. My button hadn't been changed yet, but the doctors had drained some of the water from the balloon to allow the button to pull out a little and keep it from obstructing my tummy. As long as I stayed laying on my side the button would stay out and I was resting pretty comfortably. The nurse said that ever since they had pulled the button out a little I hadn't vomited any more. At this point it had been over 24 hours since I had any food and only water so I was getting pretty hungry. Although my tummy was feeling a little better my parents noticed that my breathing didn't sound very good. They put some saline down my trach to help and right away I coughed up a lot of green stuff. After that I was breathing a lot better so they are hoping that it was just a one time secretion and I am not getting a respiratory infection on top of everything else! While they were waiting for the pediatric doctor to show up to change my button they snapped a few pictures of me in my crib in the PICU. Eventually, the doctor arrived and changed my button. You can see my nice new button in the picture above. The nurse started me on 10 cc's of formula for 2 hours to see if I will hold it down. Since I was resting so well and it was getting late, my parents gave me kisses goodbye and told the nurses they will be back tomorrow. They are going to go home and try to get a good night's sleep and hope I get one as well. Mommy and Daddy can't even remember the last time they didn't have a baby, a nurse or a doggy in the house - they are going to be all by themselves tonight. I think they are going to be a little lonely.

So that is my update. I know it is really long but wanted to catch you up on what has happened over the last few days. Mommy and Daddy are very sad that they won't be able to introduce me to all of you but they are very thankful this happened in Sacramento and not while they were en route to Salt Lake City. Have a happy holiday and I hope to see you when I am a little bigger and feeling better.

Peyton Nicole Smith

4 comments:

  1. Peyton, I'm so sorry you are having such a rough time of it! You are such a strong little girl and have such wonderful parents, you are sure to come through this, but, I wish it wasn't so hard. All of us here at ITS are praying for you and sending our love your way!
    Lori

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  2. We will be here in Salt Lake waiting for you WHENEVER you are ready to make the trip. I hope you are feeling better now! Tell Mommy she will now have to post pictures of you at Christmas. I know Santa will be good to you since you are such a nice girl.

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  3. Miss you baby girl!

    Still having a hard time accepting the fact that you, mommy, and daddy will not be joining us in Salt Lake for Christmas. It's just NOT going to be the same without you, and I'm overwhelmed at the thought of it.

    Please don't forget we love you!

    Aunt Kristin

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  4. I am so sorry to hear what a hard time you have had. The good thing is if it was going to happen it's better now then during Christmas or during travel. You will be all better by Christmas and even though we will miss you I think you will have a great Christmas because you will still be with your mom and dad. Just like Kelly said we will wait here in Salt Lake for you whenever you make it. You are so cute you are worth the wait!!

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