#Life With Three - April {Could It Get Any Worse?) - PART 2
If you haven't read this
then you might want to get the full story. So pop on over to the last post to catch up on what's happening.
Last week I ended the post with the doctor sitting me down and going through what was happening with J.D's right lung. He had been on IV antibiotics for three days and they could see no improvement in his condition. In fact, it was getting worse. Fluid was building up on his lung, which can cause serious complications to his breathing. I was told that he may need surgery to drain the fluid and they thought he would need to be transferred to Brisbane. My heart dropped. That was kind of an understatement. My high dropped and my blood pressure went through the roof.
My mind was running with a million different scenarios and how the heck we were going to juggle the girls at home as well as try and look after J.D in hospital in Brisbane. It was time to start making some plans. While the doctor went off to consult with Brisbane specialists at the Lady Cilento Hospital I was scrambling making phone calls to try and organise what the next few days would look like if we had to go to Brisbane.
While J.D was in the hospital the girls had been juggled between hubby staying home with them and between each set of grandparents while we ran to and fro. Heading to Brisbane presented with a whole new set of organisation issues but with wonderful grandparents, on both sides of the family, we managed to organise an plan of attack. Hubby called the Ronald McDonald House in Brisbane to see if there was any accommodation available for us since we were stuck to know where to stay that was close to the hospital. We were in luck and they had two nights available for us.
The doctors came back with a definite plan for us to be transferred to Brisbane that afternoon by ambulance. Poor J.D had to go on nil by mouth in case they decided to operate once we arrived. This was at lunch time when they told me this so trying to get a cranky, sick 4-year-old to fast was hard. Thankfully we had a portable mini DVD player with us and I just let him binge watch whatever movies we had on hand. Thank you, Finding Dory!! The ambulance came around 5.30pm to pick us up and take us to the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital.
J.D was a teeny bit excited about going in one but the knowledge of leaving the current hospital and going somewhere unknown was all a bit too much for the little guy so I don't think he enjoyed the ride all that much. Neither did mum. He fell asleep 15 minutes into the trip so I was relieved I didn't have to entertain him for the two-hour Ambulance ride. I got to sit in the back with J.D and can I tell you ambulance seats are not made for comfort that's for sure. Once we arrived at the LCCH we were taken through emergerncy once again and had to start the process of getting admitted all over again. We had the respiratory specialists come in along with surgeons and doctors reviewing his case. Over and over again they kept saying he looked so well for how sick he was. This was the whole problem all along with this kid. We never knew how sick he was.
So after nearly six hours in emergency, the result was for us to wait and see how he was in the morning before they would decide if surgery was going to happen. It was now 1 am and both hubby's and our eyes were about to fall out of our heads and J.D was beside himself with exhaustion. They took us up to the respiratory ward where we were shown to our own room. This was such a welcome relief considering we had been sharing a ward with five other kids and their parents in our hometown hospital. Hubby was doing night shift and I staggered across to the Ronald McDonald House which was about 20 meters across from the hospital and collapsed into bed.
The following morning we were given great news that they were going to hold off on surgery with him as his fever hadn't spiked overnight and to monitor over the next day and continue with a new antibiotic every 3-6 hours. This was a big relief as the surgery that was explained to us was quite serious involving multiple drains, inserting PICU lines and a painful recovery.
Over the next 24 hours, J.D stayed stable and the antibiotics started doing their thing. Unfortunately, since the muck in his lungs wasn't drained out we had to wait for the body to do this and let the antibiotics do the work. This meant a longer stay in the hospital and we were advised it could be another 5-7 days before he would be released. This meant we had to scramble to see if RMH would have any more rooms available for us as we only had a limited stay there. Thankfully the morning we were meant to check out we had a room come available for us for the entire time we would need to be in the hospital with J.D. It was an answer to prayer that's for sure.
You'll have to excuse the poor quality photos on this post as I only had my phone with me to take pictures. Can I just say I never realised how important the RMH was for families with sick kids? This facility that we stayed in had been only opened since October 2016 and was amazing. The rooms were 5-star quality, each floor had a laundry room, bin chutes and a mini kitchenette to make teas and coffees. The kitchen floor was my favourite. As you can see in the picture above it was pretty schmick. There were 12 stations available to cook on with kettle, toasters, ovens and everything you need to cook with. You also had your own fridge and pantry space to store what you needed to make meals with. On top of that, there was also a community pantry and fridge with things such as milk, yoghurt, some fruits and vegetable, pantry staples, tea, coffee, biscuits etc. I wish I took a picture of that as it's really helpful when you don't want to buy spices and salt etc to make something. I ended up making most of our meals here and brought it over to hubby for us to eat with J.D. In the end, I started making his meals as well because he just wouldn't eat the hospital food.
Hubby and I started rotating night shifts so we could get a least one good nights sleep every second day as our poor little brains were going to mush with a lack of sleep. Even though we had our own hospital room it wasn't a quiet and uninterrupted nights sleep.
By the third or fourth day we were there we started being allowed out for a few hours to go for a walk with J.D and get some fresh air. We took strolls to Southbank, toured the hospital and took trips to our RMH room to just chill for awhile. This lifted J.D's spirits as he was getting down from the continuous poking and prodding every 6 hours.
We had little Miss A and Miss H come down to stay with us over the weekend which was nice as we missed them so much but also SO exhausting juggling naps, feeding and cantankerous babies. It definitely cheered J.D up to see his sisters so it was worth the extra tiredness.
The doctors were happy with J.D's improvement and gave us the thumbs up to be discharged on Tuesday. A full week since we got transferred. I was so happy to hear that news as I was sorely missing my bed. We have to get a check up again for him in June back down in Brisbane to see how he is going. He has been on oral antibiotics and he has improved immensely since returning home. Our bright and bubbly boy has returned and I love the light that he is in our family.
If you have pondered about donating to any cause I would urge you to consider
donating to the Ronald McDonald House
. Our eyes have been opened to how helpful a facility like this is. Helping families stay together when their child is seriously ill. We cannot thank Ronald McDonald House enough for allowing us to stay there while we went through this drama.
