February 21st 2011
My week at CIMA is a trying one. It is taking a long time for me to feel better. I am still uncomfortable from the stomach pains. My doctor decides that he wants to check me inside and out before sending me home again. He suggests that Jose come and aspirate me and get a sample from my lungs and my throat. This has to be done at 6am. It is not a very nice way to be woken up, but since it is Jose I forgive him. He is very fast and is in and out of my nose within 5 minutes. The test results come back showing that I have RSV. Can you believe it? RSV? Are you kidding me? Did I not just have influenza B? My mom and grandma are freaking out. They go on the internet and read about RSV. I am subconsciously telling them not to do it. Don’t read on the internet about it, it will only make you panic worse. They did not get my mental message and read it anyway. Yep they are panicking. My dad is emailing and calling all the time. He too reads too much on the internet! He is worrying as much as they are! Geez you guys need to relax!
It is okay though, I handled the influenza I can handle the RSV. I never get a fever, and I have only a little bit of a cough. I manage ok with the RSV. I am not letting this bring me down. I stay positive and mom and grandma snap out of it and we are back on the road of conquering yet another virus. RSV can be deadly to someone like me. It could be a mild case or a severe one and can cause pnuemonia in especially kids like me with a low immune system. Guess what? I had a mild case! Yeah! The doc had ordered respiratory therapy for me two times a day. I really like the therapy part. I like when they thump on my back and sides. Mom likes it too as she always calls them in around midnight so that they can thump me to sleep! Rebecca and Melanie do a great job at putting me to sleep!
One night mom went out to the food court to get a pizza for her and grandma. Me and grandma were hanging out together. Sometimes I have apnea and stop breathing at times. I decided to pull that on grandma to see if she was on her toes. My O2 dropped down a bit and when mom came back with the pizza neither I nor grandma was in the room. My mom did not know what to think and walked out into the hall way to see grandma carrying me and asking the doctors for help! About 6 people came back into my room and checked me out and I was breathing fine and my O2 back up to 95%. Sorry about that grandma! Did not mean to scare you like that false alarm! Oops! Grandma told my mom by God nothing was going to happen to me on her watch! Thanks Grandma even though you scared mom to death!
The week has passed and my doc says on Thursday if my blood tests and lung analysis comes back good we can go home on Friday. The excitement is in the air. Friday morning moml and grandma celebrate with their departing breakfast and order up some pancakes! Mom later is at the nurses desk asking for the results. My tests came back good for my tummy and it is showing there are hardly any fungi left in my stools nor blood. Now mom ask for the lung test. It shows positive for a bacteria. Can I just say that even though mom tried really hard to hide it on her face she was crushed. She came into tell grandma that a bacteria has showed up in my lungs. They do it again, and get on the internet and get depressed even more. Now I am thinking to myself why are you guys worrying so much? Do I have a fever? Dont I look good? Aren’t my spirits better? If I had a bacteria in my lung wouldn’t I be exactly the opposite.
Dr. Navarro comes into to tell us not to panic just yet. That he is calling in a infectologist to come and see me. There goes us going home today. The infectologist does not come to see me until 7:30 that night. Needless to say there was alot of pacing and worried looking faces in the room until he showed up. Dr. Ulloa, the infectologist, inspects me and says I look good. He saw me at Children’s hospital when I was grey and looking really bad so he thought I looked great! He said that what has happened is that the bacteria has colonized in my lungs. This can happen when someone is in ICU for a long time like me and having been intubated for a month I was a prime candidate for colonization. I am not 100% sure what this means for me but he says not to worry and to go home. I have no fever, I look good, and I am breathing great!
Mom is calling again for the ambulance airplane. I dont know when I will be able to fly our puddle jumper again. My lungs have alot of recuperating to do. We are scheduled to depart at 11am. They come to get me and off we go in the ambulance and to the airport. This time we are not in a jet but the pilot has said he will be flying very low for me and the first thing they do is hook me up to oxygen. Down the runway we go up into the air. I am doing fine. We are flying so low over the water it is almost like you can touch it. It is beautiful up here. I do live in such a pretty country. Tough to get around in, but beautiful to live in. Dad is waiting for us in Tambor. They let him drive on the runway. The airplane door opens the docs pass me off to mom and I am now in my car seat, air conditioner flowing, and headed back home!! YEAH!!!!!!!
I am back home again!! I feel better this time around. Hopefully I am here for a very long time.
Love Malia