New Caetlin Update

We didn't get moved to a regular room until sometime around 4:30 a.m. or so, which is so far the only complaint I have about Scottish Rite. That meant I was dozing in the uncomfortable chair and Bruce was snoring on the floor until then. Caetlin actually slept really well until it was time to move upstairs.

When they moved us upstairs to a significantly more comfortable room, they took Caetlin's vitals and we tried for a good hour plus to get her back to sleep. First, she hates the pulse oximeter on her toe, and kept trying to take it off, which meant the alarm kept going off. Then, just as we got her calmed somewhat and maybe thinking about sleep, the nurse came in with her first dose of IV antibiotics, which are apparently uncomfortable when they are injected, because Caetlin started screaming and crying. Then we actually got her almost all the way asleep, but she had something that was given more gradually (I think- I was really starting to fall asleep at this point) and when it finished its dose, that pump alarm started going off too.

It is so true that hospitals are terrible places to rest, even though now that she's asleep, she's pretty much stayed asleep through the shift change vitals and the tech coming in to ask us if we need linens.

On her medical condition, not much has changed except that her fever broke in the night sometime and is normal this morning. Yay! I am hopeful that she will be interested in eating and drinking this morning, because she didn't have much at all yesterday.

So, to recap what's been going on and what we expect to happen in the next couple of days: she has a UTI. They aren't sure which bug is causing the infection, though they have a probable guess, and if their guess is correct, it's a slightly unusual bug to cause a UTI and is resistant to oral antibiotics. They have started her on 2 different IV antibiotics, and when the culture finishes growing, which should be today, they can be definitive regarding the proper medicine to give to kill the thing. Because of her urinary reflux, they really want to stay ahead of the bug, since she is so much more susceptible to kidney infection.

While she is here, the number of seizures she had this weekend have worried the neurologist, who had initially recommended an EEG on an outpatient basis, but since the third seizure last night now wants to look at a CT of her head. I expect we will see the neurologist sometime today and get more details on what the concern is (other than the fact that she had three seizures in 36 hours) and the proposed course of diagnosis.

I think we will be left to follow up with the urologist on our own when we get out of here, which we will do with all deliberate speed. It is time to take care of this reflux problem before she has any more infections.

Anyway, that's where we are, without having seen any doctor since maybe 3 a.m. I will post more as we know more, but it looks like we'll get out of here in a day or two, depending on how the infection responds to the antibiotics.

I actually have work to do; thank goodness for hospital wireless. I'm also exhausted, and we'll just say that spending the night on various chairs and, for a couple of hours, a hard fold-out sofa, does not seem conducive to resting and getting my blood pressure down. Hopefully when I see her tomorrow, my doc will give me a do-over based on extraordinary circumstances before putting me on bedrest.