...Or Not

Ellie's recovery was less impressive than I first thought. Turns out that the little girl still has a lingering lung infection, which started getting worse once the antibiotics left her system. We spent the morning introducing ourselves to new doctors at the Walk-In Clinic and Emergency Room yesterday. FUN TIMES at their best.

Ellie was a trooper, and made many friends in the waiting rooms. She especially loved the radiology tech, as he was positioning her for chest x-rays. The girl has good taste, because the straight-out-of-college tech WAS pretty hot.

So, now Ellie's on another round of antibiotics (which taste like crap, and have to be given THREE times a day. Goodness me...), and is in possession of her very first Ventolin puffer. She seems to be in good spirits today, and actually ate a decent breakfast (I slipped the antibiotics into her yogurt, which seemed to work okay, thankfully). Maybe THIS is the upswing I so desperately desire!

I experienced a strange moment in the ER yesterday. The doctor came in and asked, "Can you briefly tell me Ellie's history?"

Instantly, I spouted it off:

"She was born at 33 weeks gestation after I experienced an undiagnosed gastrointestinal infection. She had APGARs of 1 and 2, and was immediately intubated. She was on a ventilator for three days, then graduated to a nasal cannula for three weeks. No sepsis was found, although she did have a heart murmur, which subsequently resolved itself after three months. She was diagnosed with severe reflux at six weeks old, and prescribed prevacid and bethenacol, which she took for approximately a year. An MRI at 11 months old showed periventricular leukomalacia, and a resulting diagnosis of spastic diplegia cerebral palsy was given. She had surgery for strabismus when she was 9 months old, and that was successfully treated."

As soon as the mumble-jumble came out of my mouth, I realized how rehearsed it all sounded. I know the spiel off by heart. I spout off words that, 2 years ago, I didn't even know how to pronounce. I know what they mean, and I know how seemingly insignificant facts are interrelated. It's so odd. For those of you who know me well, you are well aware of my science dumbness. I am NOT medically inclined. Yet, here I am, sounding like a med student.

I think it's just another example of how "you just DO it." I don't know HOW this information makes sense to me, or why it sticks into my very non-scientific brain. I just know that I consider it my duty to learn as much as I can about my daughter's health issues. Just another way in which Ellie has changed me.

Anyway...

Keep Ellie in your prayers. If all goes according to "plan" (evil word!), she should be pneumonia-free by next week.