Short and to the Point.

I've just spent the last 36 hours trapped in a hospital room doing nothing but watching tv and caring for my sick little one. Noelle had been sick for about 3-4 days when she started vomiting. Over twenty-four hours she progressed into dehydration and by 3 am Wednesday morning my husband was calling me at work to say she was dry. He brought her in to the ED and they promptly started a line and drew some labs, then bolused her with fluids. She took it like a champ, Nathan and I do not raise whimps. Then the blood hemolyzed and they had to stick my baby again. :( By the time they redrew, her labs were mostly normal but she still wasn't keeping things down and her WBC was high. They decided to admit her and at our insistence she got a bed at our favored PCH.

As things progressed she did get better as far as no vomiting, thanks to the IV fluids and IV Zofran. However once dehydration was out of the way we began to see some respiratory issues. Perhaps unfortunately for my DH he spent the first night with her and she became Apneic. That is to say that she began to occasionally stop breathing. One can imagine how frightening this would be. The hospitalists came in and immediately started her on O2, gave her IV decadron (to reduce swelling of her airway) and administered an inhaled version of epinephrin. She took two doses on the racimicepi (epinephrin), and began to settle down. Her airway remains compromised still and has forced the postponement of her g-tube placement.

So our baby Noelle currently rests in a crib that resembles a prison over at Phoenix Children's with a feeding tube shoved up her nose and down to her stomach, an IV on her foot, oxygen running through her nose at night and an oximeter on her big toe.

Can you believe that she is actually faring quite well when you compare her to other CF'ers? Over the last few days I have come to realize what a beautiful smile she has and how much I miss not seeing it. She is on the upswing now and I believe we will have a good weekend full of nearly toothless grins and wide crystal blue eyes, I bet her laugh will return too.

Thank you to our parents for the coverage they have provided over the last few days and the friends who've had our kids over to play. Currently the plan is to place her g-tube Monday AM and hopefully since she is now taking feedings through the NG tube her stay after the tube placement will be shorter.