The Aftermath of an Illness

My house has hints of what's transpired over the past few weeks littered about in various rooms. The kitchen has more syringes in the drying rack than usual. The thermometer and small pulse oximeter have taken residence on the kitchen counter. Four extra medications sit beside them. Next to that, a notebook filled with pages of documentation regarding medication administrations, heart rates, and oxygen saturation numbers lays open-ready for more notes to be added.

In the living room, discharge instructions from the hospital lay on my side table. Two sets of nebulizer masks and tubing sit beside family photos.

In Jaycee's bedroom, the familiar bi-pap takes its usual place next to the bed. Added to the mix of equipment is the bigger hospital grade pulse oximeter to monitor Jaycee while she sleeps. It's pointed directly at the video baby monitor, which feeds into my bedroom at night. Tape, to secure the probe, is within an arm's reach.

The last few weeks have revolved around my daughter's respiratory illnesses. Her combination of Down syndrome (narrow airways), asthma, obstructive sleep apnea, and a poor cough response means that a small change in her respiratory status can bring about serious breathing problems. Daily, we do inhalers, hypertonic saline nebulizer treatments, and vest airway clearance to keep her lungs in "best" state. Her interventions increase with the onset of the slightest symptom.

At the beginning of May, Jaycee had a respiratory flare up after flying on an airplane. By the time we flew home from our short trip to Vegas, we were attacking the illness (or whatever you want to call it) with albuterol treatments, steroids, and frequent monitoring. Just as she was starting to improve she caught a cold that my husband and I both had. Her breathing was audible at times as the cold brought on coughing and snot. We made more trips to the doctor, calls to pulmonary, started another round of steroids, and kept on treating her at home. By the end of week three, I was ready for her to be well.

As we came home from grocery shopping, I told my husband, "I think Jaycee is finally getting better. Maybe my stress level will start to decrease." Earlier in the day, she had energy to play with her cousins. She laughed at jokes during a family celebration. She ate the delicious fish and cupcakes.

Ten minutes after I made that statement, everything changed. As I drove home, I said, "Jaycee's breathing sounds weird." I couldn't see her, but my ear is finely tuned to hear the slightest change in her breathing. My husband reported she was fine- simply trying to sleep.

"That's probably a bad sign," I said.

It was. The emergency inhaler and small pulse oximeter we had carried around all day came in handy as we started giving medications and checking her numbers. I pulled off the highway to see that her fingers and lips were blue. I knew the number would be low; it was.

My son sat next to her in the van saying, "I don't understand what's happening."

The day was so ordinary just hours before this occurred. A smile had been on my face where a worried look appeared most days prior. Things were going well until they weren't. My family was shocked as I told them the news. No one could believe the change in her respiratory status, except they could because it's happened in the past.

That led to 48 hours in the hospital over Memorial Day weekend.

It was a short admission for Jaycee. Like usual though, Jaycee needed intense around-the-clock interventions and monitoring once home. Her recovery was slow. At the time of writing this, she's yet to get back to her normal baseline, but she's inching closer.

I see the illness in different parts of my house. I feel the effects of the illness in my own body and mood. I hear the difference in my daughter's breathing. I listen to my son talk about his concerns after witnessing his sister turn blue. This is the aftermath.

If you have read this post and can't relate to any of this, you are blessed. If you have never been through a medical emergency with your child, you are blessed.

Do you want to know something? I'm blessed too. Blessed is a perspective. Yes, in the middle of her respiratory distress, I didn't feel blessed. However, I knew I was, even if I didn't feel it. Stress, fear, worry, and exhaustion are all strongly felt during Jaycee's illnesses. However, I also know that we are in this together as a family. We're looking out for one another. We're carrying each other's burdens and thinking about the needs of someone besides ourselves, which was a bit challenging when this illness was happening during my birthday. Still, I know what's important in the long run.

An illness brings an aftermath. God meets me there helping me through all the cares of this world to more effectively love my children.