Friday, February 29, 2008
The Month I'd Like to Forget..
The end of January and most of February were extremely hard on our family, and I cannot thank you all enough for the wonderful care we've recieved, the hundreds of well wishes, and the emotional support given to us by our families.
On January 24, I took Mila to the ER for a deep chest cough and fever. We waited seven and a half hours to be seen. All I wanted was a xray to rule out pnumonia.... The xray showed that she didn't have pnumonia but that her heart was severely enlarged. (What? An enlarged heart? WTF is THAT about?!?!)
And then they discharged us. Thursday night, friday, and all day saturday she did not pee. Not even a little. I took her back to the ER and her 02 level ( oxygen in the blood ) was only 91% and her heartrate was 200. She was clammy sweaty and inconsolable. She was in heart failure.
Mila was later diagnosed with a heart defect called ALCAPA - anomolous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery. Her heart was not recieving enough oxygenated blood and therefore she was having angina and heart attacks that led to major heart damage. On February 8th, after battling Influenza B ( which is what brought us to the hospital in the first place ), Mila had open heart surgery to repair the ALCAPA defect. She spent 27 hours on a ventilator, 3 days in PICU, and another 5 days on the Cardiology Kids unit at the Stollery Children's Hospital. She was discharged, but returned for two days for unexplained fever.
Mila now has an NG feeding tube. All of the feeding difficulties, the sleep refusal... almost all of it was directly related to her heart defect. Without the constant care that I gave her, and the incessant bugging of the doctor, Mila might not be here today. I thank my lucky stars that the ER doctor took me seriously and admitted her. He also ( willingly ) let us bully him into the echocardiogram a friend of ours suggested.
Thank you, thank you to the following people for the support we so desperately needed : My inlaws & BIL - for the care of Robby, the nightly meals, and other support they gave us while we were in hospital. Dr. Michael Nikolakis - for suggesting the echocardiogram and being willing to fly home from the states in an emergency if we needed him. Dr. Wincott - for admitting her and running the echocardiogram. To my parents - for flying in the night of her surgery and staying with us while Mila recooperated, helping me with Robby, and other great tasks. To my friends, Sarah, Raelynn, and Kristen, for lots and lots of coffee and hugs.
Mila is expected to make a slow but complete recovery.
On January 24, I took Mila to the ER for a deep chest cough and fever. We waited seven and a half hours to be seen. All I wanted was a xray to rule out pnumonia.... The xray showed that she didn't have pnumonia but that her heart was severely enlarged. (What? An enlarged heart? WTF is THAT about?!?!)
And then they discharged us. Thursday night, friday, and all day saturday she did not pee. Not even a little. I took her back to the ER and her 02 level ( oxygen in the blood ) was only 91% and her heartrate was 200. She was clammy sweaty and inconsolable. She was in heart failure.
Mila was later diagnosed with a heart defect called ALCAPA - anomolous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery. Her heart was not recieving enough oxygenated blood and therefore she was having angina and heart attacks that led to major heart damage. On February 8th, after battling Influenza B ( which is what brought us to the hospital in the first place ), Mila had open heart surgery to repair the ALCAPA defect. She spent 27 hours on a ventilator, 3 days in PICU, and another 5 days on the Cardiology Kids unit at the Stollery Children's Hospital. She was discharged, but returned for two days for unexplained fever.
Mila now has an NG feeding tube. All of the feeding difficulties, the sleep refusal... almost all of it was directly related to her heart defect. Without the constant care that I gave her, and the incessant bugging of the doctor, Mila might not be here today. I thank my lucky stars that the ER doctor took me seriously and admitted her. He also ( willingly ) let us bully him into the echocardiogram a friend of ours suggested.
Thank you, thank you to the following people for the support we so desperately needed : My inlaws & BIL - for the care of Robby, the nightly meals, and other support they gave us while we were in hospital. Dr. Michael Nikolakis - for suggesting the echocardiogram and being willing to fly home from the states in an emergency if we needed him. Dr. Wincott - for admitting her and running the echocardiogram. To my parents - for flying in the night of her surgery and staying with us while Mila recooperated, helping me with Robby, and other great tasks. To my friends, Sarah, Raelynn, and Kristen, for lots and lots of coffee and hugs.
Mila is expected to make a slow but complete recovery.
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