Josie took a ride on her first airplane early Tuesday morning with the Children's Mercy paramedics. She took a turn for the worse on Monday evening and we took her to the emergency room in Girard around 9 p.m. They did some bloodwork and a chest x-ray and Josie's white blood cell count came back about double what it should have been. Her chest x-ray looked suspect, as well, so they advised us to move her to a larger hospital. In the meantime, the nurses tried to establish an IV and get some fluids in her, but had no luck finding a vein. I think that was the hardest thing I've ever seen, as Josie stared at Chad and I crying as they tried to find one over and over. You could see in her eyes that she just wanted us to make them stop. They ended up putting one in the bone of her lower leg which was extremely painful and never subsided. Finally, the crew from Children's Mercy arrived around 3 a.m. (they were able to quickly get an IV started on her head and remove the one in her leg providing some relief) and we took a quick ambulance ride to the airport in Pittsburg and boarded their plane to KC. We were at the hospital by 4 which was pretty unbelievable. The crew was wonderful and took exceptionally good care of Josie. The doctors here are waiting on blood and urine cultures to come back in the next 24 to 48 hours to give us an idea of what kind of infection she is fighting. They've put her on some stronger antibiotics and fluids since she still isn't eating really well. She seems to feel well for awhile and smiles and coos and then begins to feel bad again. We are hoping tomorrow brings longer periods of feeling well. Chad and I have decided this is by far much more difficult than the NICU experience. It was so hard to see them struggle to get an IV started and then Josie looked so small on the stretcher as they loaded her into the ambulance and plane. Luckily, I was able to travel with her on the plane while Chad drove from Girard.
We will keep everyone posted as we learn more and hope to be returning home by the end of the week.
We will keep everyone posted as we learn more and hope to be returning home by the end of the week.
