Caetlin Improves! Film at Eleven

Well, the labs drawn yesterday were not as good as the doctors would have liked, but she herself is improving tremendously. Her fever has been gone for more than 24 hours, and she's starting to be much more energetic, like her old self. We had to get her out of the room yesterday, as she was going completely stir crazy, so we walked her around the halls of the unit and into the playroom on this floor, one of us maneuvering the blasted IV pole around behind her. She understands that she needs to slow down and be mindful of the cord, but she forgets sometimes and it is exhausting trying to keep her untangled.

She's not as well as she thinks she is, though, because it was easy to see her getting tired out fairly quickly. That didn't stop her, of course, but we can really see the toll the illness and the lack of sleep and disrupted routine has taken on her.

Anyway, they drew more blood this morning to confirm that the lab numbers are going down appropriately, which they hadn't as of yesterday. They know from their tests that this bug is susceptible to the antibiotics they are giving her, so it is just a matter of time before her bloodwork starts to improve. They won't discharge Caetlin until certain values have gone below particular levels, which could possibly mean going home today, but most likely means tomorrow or even Friday, depending on how tenacious the infection.

She had a pretty good day yesterday except for being bored. The highlight was probably the couple of hours that she got to spend without her IV last night. The old one had worked loose and so they had to start a new one, and they wanted to wait for a particular person with lots of experience. And let me say, Miss Becky at Scottish Rite, you are a miracle worker. It was the least amount of tears for any procedure, except possibly for the ones that they do when she's sound asleep, much less one that involves needles. The really cruddy part, though, is the new IV is in her hand, which is strapped to a padded board, which means she is essentially one-handed until the IV comes out. Poor baby.

The hours of freedom were awesome, though! She ran and ran and ran. We got to give her a bath, which she desperately needed, as she was becoming quite funky at that point. I also got to change her sheets, which were also in dire straits. It did my heart good to see her so much like her old self as she played and ran and said hello to everyone we passed.

In other, not-so-positive news, I went back to the doctor yesterday as well, and my blood pressure hasn't gone down (shocker!). The really discouraging part is that there was also protein in my urine, which is the main diagnostic symptom of preeclampsia. This is a serious condition that will almost certainly result in immediate bedrest, if not hospitalization, for the remainder of my pregnancy, if it turns out I have it. However, there is a better-than-average chance that the protein was a false positive, since I'm basically a physical wreck at this point. I haven't slept more than a couple of hours in a row since Sunday morning, I'm not eating enough, I know I'm dehydrated, partly because I forget to drink my water in this environment and partly because of the stomach bug that I have a touch of. And I do have a mild case, thank goodness- I'm not barfing up all my food; only a couple of times at night have I felt the call of the porcelain god. The real danger is out the other end, where all the water I'm consuming, plus a good amount of the nutrients from my food, are making a premature exit.

Anyway, they drew some blood yesterday and will have results today, so I may be going back to the doctor today or tomorrow as well. The one other positive bit of news is that my blood pressure came right down with about 10 minutes of quiet time in the doctor's office, so that suggests it is not a chronic condition and with proper management (assuming no preeclampsia), I can remain out of bed. Let's hope that is where we end up.