GET WELL VIBES NEEDED - For CSAB's Olivia

ooh that's awesome news! Big hugs to you Chery & little V, hope you have a lovely homecoming :hug:

Hi all, I feel so blessed to have you all in my life. I really dont know how I would have coped if I didnt have BB as an outlet. I thankyou so very much from the bottom of my heart for all the prayers well wishes etc and V thanks you too. I believe it helped so much to get V on the mend and home. Yayyyy she is home. For a while there I didnt think I would get to have V home ever again, it was so touch and go there for quite a few days. I still cant believe how quickly V went down hill from just the previous day having a slight cough and having her at the DR's the same day for the cough, to the next day at the Dr's again with alittle wheeze then having to have her admitted to hospital the same day.
When V was admitted to hospital they had done an xray which showed the bottom part of her right lung was whited out which they said was pnemonia (spelling), and as the day progress she just got worse. That night she was gasping for air and having what they call apnea's (stop breathing). They were looking at sending her to the childrens hospital then but they tried some ventilin which appeared to work for alittle while. They also had her on gas thruput the night and also had a peadiatric DR from the NICU come down and put a canula in the vein at the back of her head. Her Dr came from home as soon as he heard how she was and stayed at the hospital until the NETS intensive Care Ambulance team came to transfer V to Sydney childrens hospital and had her on her way. It took 3hrs to transfer V from the cot to the trolley as they needed to make sure it was safe to move her. At this time they had her already asleep. They bagged and tried to suck some mucus off her chest while in the ambulance but couldnt get much out.
Once at the childrens hospital it was quite quick to move V from the trolley to the bed and they kept her in her induced coma on the ventilator they thought would help. They had done a chest xray as soon as she got there and it showed that her whole right lung was whited out this time, which they were concerned that her lung had colapsed. They bagged her on several occassions and also bagged and sucked on several occassions too that day and the following days after. V took a turn for the worse that night which they had to transfer her to a high dependancy ventilator which seemed to help her alot. As you know she is here now. It was still touch and go. Come the friday they had found that her carbondioxide levels were over 100 which the normal level should be 35-45. Again the nightmare continued and never seemed to be ending, but the wonderful nursing staff bagged and sucked her again to see if that may help and too their surprise her levels dropped to 47 which in itself was a miracle. They didnt expect it to drop anywhere near that. From then V seemed to be getting better and better, even tho it was painfully slow .The following day due to her good nights she was then transferred to the open room and moved to another ventilator. She wasnt taken off that ventilator until the following tuesday at 12.00pm and that night at 8.30-9.00pm was transferred to the ward. As they had to slowly wean her off the medications and still bagging and sucking until they could wake her up. When she finally woke up the poor little thing had the most sore throat and barely any noise could be heard even her cry was silent yet you could slightly hear her saying with a cry mummmmm. Which continued until she felt better around Saturday Sunday then started saying Dada again, mums work was done...... :) Yesterday was the day they finally took her feeding tube out which meant that everything that was attached to V had been removed. She had a canula in the back of her hear, a canula in her chest and was stitched to the side of her neck, a canula in both wrists which one was removed before anything else as well as the tubes from the ventilators and tubes for her feeds both thru her nose, which had left a nasty graze on her nose/nostril.
As Georgi mentioned V had lost 500gm (10percent of her body weight the week she was on the ventilator which she dropped to 4.84kg and still as of yesterday remained the same weight 4.84kg. She is now even further away from the chart. So now we need to try and fatten her up again and hopefully it wont take too long.
During V's stay in ICU she had met some American saliors that were shown around the ICU to see all the sick kids. Also got to meet Kevin Wilde from channel nine news. I actually couldnt believe they came to V and I, of all people. I believe it was because V was critically hit by the flu, more than any of the other babies they had in ICU, so wanted to use V for their story.
Anyway, V will see her peadiatrician next week and I believe soon a dietician appt at the hospital, unless they dont call.
Also have come home to sick kids again... So bought some masks, sanitary hand wash, some more vitamins for cold and flu, more tissues and cough lollies as well as had them both to the Dr's. I am so scared of this happening again, as you may see with my shopping list.
I have alos read all of your posts and I must say I have been in tears with all of your thoughts. I still feel quiet emotional, and have been told I am at high risk of depression. Fingers crossed they are wrong. So really thankyou for thinking I am strong, but I was actually quite a bit of a mess. My little V is definately a fighter and alot stronger than myself.
I just thank God I was able to bring her home.......

Thankyou again eveyone for all of your support it really has helped so much and has be so very much appreciated...

I just want to say a special thankyou to Georgi for being there and updating everyone on V's progress. xoxo

Thankyou to those of you who offered to help out, I am blown away by your thoughts of generosity. Thankyou....

:grouphug:

Oh wow Cheryl what an ordeal! I am sooooooo happy that your little V is on the mend and home with her Mummy!

Awww Cheryl - im sooooo happy that Little V is home with you know! that is great news!
Keep chatting with us on here too keep any sign of depression away!
We are all here for you!!!
xoxoxoxo

Hun, So pleased to know you are all home and safe. We must organise a get-together for coffee when you feel like venturing out and we can all guarantee that we are well enough... May little V continue to heal and fatten up. xoxo

so glad V is home cheryl!

Cheryl that is great that V is finally home, hopefully everyone will get better soon, big :hug:.

:hug: hun, you deserve a rest and some time to process this all yourself. I bet it was so hard to watch your poor little darling go through everything without being able to take her illness away. You've done a wonderful job of comforting her and helping her get better!

Glad that you are home Cheryl!! I was so excited to see you and little V on the news! :)

Take care of yourself and your precious little one, she sure is a fighter!

:hug:

Just thought I would post the news report that showed Olivia. Mods if this shouldnt be here please delete.

This video appears in news.ninemsn.com.au and I thought you should see it. Video | ninemsn news

This video appears in news.ninemsn.com.au and I thought you should see it. Video | ninemsn news

( I look ridiculously hideous on there but its all about little V, you will notice her poor little nose how sore it is on there too.)

I am still amazed that they came to us, I really hope that showing how serious this flu season is that by putting V out there and what she went thru will help at least one person. hugs



Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou everyone, V and I are so glad to be home. Hugs

so glad ur home too!!
i missed that news eppisode so thanks for sharing.

So glad that you are now home and trying to get back some normalcy.
Please take time for yourself and make sure you get some decent sleep.
You will feel really protective of your children for a bit but don't worry that's a normal reaction after having been through what you have.
I was told the same about depression but found talking about my fears helped. I also had/have a great neighbour so when I needed to talk I used to go see her.

Poor little nose, poor little darling. I'm glad you posted the news item, Cheryl, as I missed it. It's scary to think how quickly V succumbed and how bad things got for her. I am so glad that you're home with V and that she's safe at last. What an awful scare for you. Big hugs for you all. :hug: :hug:

Anila, cheeky, Rivlas - Thankyou so much, V is so much happier being home however she seemed to be eating alot better in hospital. We had her taking almost 150ml of formula every 3-4hrs until around 8pm and she would sleep until around 6am for it to start the day all over again. Now its seems to be taking forever for her to finish a bottle need alone all of it. I dont believe the hospital would have let her home if she did it there. Anyway I think it is more interesting things to admire at home, where as in the hospital she probably ate from sheer boredom. :lol:

Rivlas - Thankyou again, I dont always feel comfortable sharing how I feel with anyone close to me unfortunately. I worry about being judged or told why do I still feel that way. The social workers from both hospitals were amazing, except for the fact I kept crying everytime they had me talk about what was happening. :wall: I am tho considering talking to one of them again today also to let her know that V is home as she really wanted to know how things went. I tried yesterday but it was her day off. Thankyou for making me feel somewhat normal. :hug:

Don't worry about the crying that's normal. It's part from relief and part form exhaustion so yeah cry, it's a great relief.
I'm not the sort of person who will share much about myself but next door who iss a neighbour is now a friend. Just find someone nearby who will except you as you are and with whom you can share a coffee with even tho you may sometimes look like the cat dragged you out of bed :)
My Dr was also good to talk to and it sounds like you have a caring Dr so yeah talk to the social worker and Dr.

Cheryl this is such great news to hear that V is home!

It must be a bit scary having her out in the world again, especially if the kidlets are a bit sick, but it really sounds like V fought the good battle and came out on top. she is a fighter!

I would expect that her feeds would taper off a bit. In the beginning of the recovery she probably would of eaten really well, but as you said, now that her belly feels full and there are sooo many exciting and wonderful things to distract her at home it has slowed a bit. i am sure that this is fine and i am also sure that the hospital would be aware that this would happen, so try not to feel to freaked out xx
is there anyone you can call to see if she is feeding enough/gaining enough considering what she has been through? i guess you GP is pretty involved in her recovery.

thank you so much for sharing this great news of her recovery. i hope that someone can run you a nice warm bath with bubbles and a side of chocolate so you can take a big breath of relief xx

I forgot to say last night how cute she is, she looked so adorable, even with her sore nose, at least when she is a teenager she can say "i have had my 15 min of fame", lol.

I agree with pp, soon she will pick up, and be back to the energeticbaby i bet she used to be.

Glad little V is doing much better.... and is home YAY!! I cannot imagine how scary this must have been for you Cheryl. Sending you both a big hug and super healthy vibes.