Monthly Archives: December 2015

A progress report

Callie is thrilled to be home, and although she still has a long way to go, we began to feel optimistic today that she would be able to recover from this bout with pneumonia.

She is still too weak to breathe on her own for very long. She depends on her Bipap machine for breathing support. She also could not survive without the machine that helps her cough.

callie-gracieToday while resting in bed her cat, Gracie, jumped into her bed to curl up beside her. Callie was glad to have the company.

We expect it will take a few weeks for Callie to return to her full strength, but things seem to be going in the right direction.

Once again, we are grateful for the love, support and prayers that have been shared with Callie and our family during this illness.

Getting back home

As Callie’s overall health has improved over the past couple days, her anxiety has grown worse. Ever since we arrived at the hospital on Friday, she has asked constantly when she would be able to go back home. This morning she started begging for us to take her home. We explained to her that she’s at the hospital so she can get better, and she answered, “But I have to go home. It’s the only way I’ll get better.”

We realize that 6-year-old children can be impatient and demanding, especially when they’re in uncomfortable situations. But over the years we’ve also learned to listen to what Callie’s actions, as well as her words, are saying. It became clear that her anxiety over this hospitalization had gotten to the point that it was affecting her ability to recover.

So today, we brought Callie home. She’s certainly not well yet, but she’s in high spirits and is being her usual little self. We’ll still be dealing with challenges in getting her fully well, but we’re very hopeful.

We are very grateful for the care she received at the hospital but home is simply where she belongs.

Another night in PICU

Callie is still in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Brenner Children’s Hospital. The IV antibiotics seem to be helping, although her anxiety has been making it difficult for her to rest. The good news is that she seems to be overall better today than she was yesterday.

Breathing is still difficult. Throughout the day she has needed her Bipap machine, along with supplemental oxygen. Her temperature climbed to around 103 degrees F during the night but has not been higher than 101 today.

She’ll be in intensive care for at least one more night. We will post again tomorrow to let everybody know how she’s doing. We appreciate the prayers and well wishes for Callie and our family.

In the hospital

Callie started feeling bad Tuesday and has continued to get worse each day despite antibiotics, extra therapy and rest.

We’d done everything we could to help her recover at home and she still was getting worse. So today we brought her to Brenner Children’s Hospital in Winston-Salem where a chest X-ray confirmed that she has pneumonia.

She will be staying in the hospital tonight and has been getting IV antibiotics. We expect to see some improvement within 24 hours. We also hope that she is able to rest, which, along with medicine, is essential to her recovery.

We’ll post another update by tomorrow night.