Alexandria's fight with RSV ~

On Tuesday, March 17, 2009, Alexandria came down with what we thought was croupe. She was treated with some oral steroids and seemed to be responding well to them. However, on Friday, March 20, 2009 she woke up sounding worse than before. By that evening I decided she needed to be seen again. I called Kirt, her medical provider, and told him Lexie had been turning blue when she would cry or cough. She also was wheezing and sounded like she was having trouble exhaling. Kirt encouraged me to take her into an Instacare (an urgent care facility) to be looked at. He said they could do a chest x-ray there and give her a breathing treatment if she needed it. So, into the Instacare we went.
When the doctor at the Instacare had examined Lexie she told me without hesitation that we would be headed for Primary Children's Medical Center (PCMP) by ambulance immediately. The doctor thought Lexie had bilateral pneumonia (in both lungs). Lexie's oxygen levels were in the low 90's and she was having a lot of trouble moving air in and out of her lungs. The nurses came in, started and IV, some IV antibiotics and some oxygen. They also gave her an albuterol breathing treatment. Lexie was running a fever of 103 and was in and out of sleep struggling to breathe.Dad soon joined us. He and Grandpa Larson gave Lexie a blessing.

These are some of the nurses that took care of Lexie at the Instacare.

This nurse, Dawn, was the one that started Lexie's IV. Her IV was in her right hand.

Alexandria's carseat was strapped onto a stretcher and she got to take a ride in an ambulance up to PCMC. The Paramedics were really nice guys. They took good care of her. John followed behind us all the way to the hospital.

This was Lexie inside the ambulance.

When we got to PCMC, Lexie's oxygen had dropped to 87%. They started her back on oxygen. They were able to run some tests and determined that Lexie didn't have pneumonia, she had RSV. The tough thing with RSV is that you can't treat it with antibiotics. It's a virus. You just have to let it run it's course. The only thing that can be done is to give oxygen and fluid (IV) support. That's just what Lexie needed - oxygen and IV fluids. We were admitted about 3:30 AM on Saturday, March 21, 2009. I don't look like I feel well, do I?

Lexie had a few visitor while she was up at PCMP. The two people she kept asking for were Sharesa and Grandpa Larson. She especially enjoyed the visit from Karynn and Shane even though she didn't feel like doing much.

This is Alexandria's IV and "special" red thumb. The red glow is from her oxygen monitor.

By Monday, March 23, 2009 Alexandria was feeling a lot better. She was off her oxygen and starting to get interested in food and drinking. She even felt like getting out of bed. She didn't get very far though! She was atattched to this long leash called an oxygen monitor!

Lexie was doing so well that her nurse, Brian, finally let her off her leash long enough to go look out her window. Lexie enjoyed watching the snow fall outside. She would have been content to sit there all day if Brian would have let her!

Alexandria even got to take a bath! Her aunt Sharesa helped me and we cleaned her all up! Can you tell she's feeling better? She even got to sit up and have some chicken nuggets! The nurses thought she was really cute. Anytime they would come into her room she would lift her shirt up so they could listen to her lungs. They got a big kick out of that.

The doctors decided that since Lexie was doing so well, and finally eating and drinking, that it was time to go home. Yeah! Lexie was so excited. So were mom and dad! Do you see the yellow jackets haning on the wall? The nurses and doctors had to wear those, a mask and gloves everytime they came in to see me. They looked really strange, especially to a two year old. Nobody wants to get and spread RSV!

Getting into the car to come home! It was snowing really hard!

Now that Lexie is home she is doing much better. She still has some difficulty breathing if she's playing too hard or cries really hard. She hasn't been turning blue on us though! She still has a really bad cough that she says is really "owie"! She is continuing to improve everyday. We love you Lexie!