Carmen gave us quite a scare Friday night. Dave and I went to bed at 11:30pm. At 12:30, I woke up. Carmen was breathing very hard and fast and sounded awful. We gave her extra Xoponex nebulizer treatments, suctioned her, changed her position, took her temperature, etc. but nothing helped. We gave her Morphine, hoping that might calm her. Carmen was asleep during all of this and her heart rate was in the 160s and respiratory rate in the 70s. She sounded as if every breath was taking effort. We called Hospice but since we were on vacation in New York, they could not help us. (We had driven up to New York Thursday to spend a few days and then planned to continue on to Carmen’s Make-A-Wish trip to Cape Cod.)
So, then we sat there wondering what to do. Take her to the ER? That is always tricky and even more so in a small town in upstate New York. We didn’t want her to have an IV. At 3am, I couldn’t take it anymore so went and took a shower. When I got back to bed, nothing had changed. It was a long night. At 5am, I took Carmen’s temperature again and she had shot up to 101. We gave her Ibuprofen and a dose of Zithromax that we had filled previously in case of emergency.
Saturday morning we called her pediatrican (thank goodness for Saturday office hours!) and the doctor immediately called in Cipro, Zithromax and extra Xoponex and Pulmicort. Most likely Carmen has pneumonia.
As of today, Carmen is doing better. Still congested and breathing hard but she doesn’t sound as if she might stop breathing at any second. That sends me over the edge to hear gasping, labored breathing. I can handle seizures. I can handle chronic diarrhea. I cannot handle hearing Carmen struggle for every breath. Thank you, God, Carmen is doing better!
We arrived in Cape Cod last night and we hope Carmen has a wonderful Make-A-Wish trip. Carmen’s night nurse was waiting for us when we arrived. (hooray!). We will take lots of pictures and share our trip with you when we get home.
Thank you for your continued prayers for Carmen.
Praise the Lord she is doing better.
We are praying, as always. We pray that the Lord will bless your trip and that you all have a wonderful time.
I am so happy you were able to continue on to Cape Cod. What a wonderful MAW trip. Sounds like a beautiful, very meaningful experience for the entire family Keeping precious Carmen in my prayers!
I hope Carmen continues to improve. Enjoy every minute of Carmen’s Make-A-Wish trip! Thinking about all of you, Laurie
Praying that Carmen feels better with the meds and that she is able to enjoy her special trip!!
I am so happy that Carmen is doing better. I will be praying for her to continue to improve. I hope that you guys have a wonderful trip and we look forward to seeing pictures!
I hope that Carmen feels better so that you may all enjoy your vacation!!!