Day 3 in the Hospital

A picture from before the hospital...Ruby can be a real sweetheart to Lucy when she's sick, but she is ready to have her fun sissy back!!

I can't believe it is only Day 3 of this hospital stay...Hospitals really warp your sense of time, weather, emotions, etc.  Lucy had a pretty good day, considering.  Here is what we know:

1. Sepsis - under control.  Her fever is being controlled by Tylenol / Ibuprofen, her heart and respiratory rates are lower than when we arrived and she is being hydrated both orally and through IV fluids

2. Pneumonia - still requiring a fair amount of oxygen to keep blood oxygen up (90+ is acceptable, prefer 95+), getting double dose of antibiotics and keeping fever controlled.  She has had a few coughing episodes and coughed up some pretty thick mucus from her lungs, but none have been as bad as last night when we needed the rapid response team, thankfully!

3. Hemoglobin - this is the big mystery for this visit.  If you've followed Lucy's story, you know that there is always at least one puzzling piece to Lucy's hospital visit.  Doctors are not sure why her hemoglobin dropped so quickly to the point she did require a blood transfusion today.  They gave her 2 separate units of blood over 8 hours (the second is still finishing up as I type this).  The strongest theory is that there is a bleed somewhere in her GI tract - in her esophagus, stomach or intestines.  The cause, severity and solution is completely unknown at this point.  However, they cannot scope her to investigate under the pneumonia is more controlled and her hemoglobin is higher and within a more normal range.

So...we wait.

Lucy is in OK spirits - in classic Lucy style today, while the lab tech was drawing blood for MORE tests (one of her least favorite parts of hospital visits), she was in the midst of crying and yelling that she would like to go home and she stopped, looked at him and told him he was doing a good job.  He said that people rarely compliment him on his work as he pokes people all day with needles, so it was the sweetest thing he's heard in awhile.  Seriously, she is so HIGH on the empathy scale, even when she is so sick.  What a sweetheart.  Be aware that she also asked the nurse if she was being poisoned by getting liquid starch instead of medicine (we use liquid starch to make slime at home and apparently one of the medicines reminded Lucy of starch...was was quite concerned for a bit).  She also told everyone who entered the room that she wanted ONLY her mom in the room and no one else today.  It feels good to be a hero in someones eyes :)

It was nice to have a a low-key day today, but it made us realize this isn't a quick in and out visit.  Lucy has some serious issues going on that we need to get to the bottom of so she can get back to her fun-loving, happy self.  Ruby asks where sissy is and checks her room just in case...she missed her big sister but we don't plan to take her to the hospital due to all the germs!!!

I have claimed Romans 12:12 as my verse for Lucy...it gets me through the tough days.  Romans 12:12 says, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." We have had many many months in a row of joyful hope for the person God is shaping Lucy to be.  Now it is a time to be patient and faithful as we figure out next steps to get her back to healthy.