Well...here's how it all played out...
On Tuesday morning I sent my girls to school, they were both their usual cheerful selves. All the children had a slight cough, no biggie, not a dry cough or too severe. The boys were still asleep and I was putting away the laundry when I get a call around 9:30 am from the nurse. My seven year old daughter had a fever of 103, and was complaining of a slight stomach ache, can I pick her up. I get the boys up and away we go. She gets home, lays around, I give her some ibuprophen. We later take her brother to school, after we pick him up, she starts crying, then she throws up three times. I call the doctor, we all suspect stomach virus, it is going around. She ends up not throwing up again, but with a fever on and off for the next few days. Meanwhile, I over the course of the week have her brother's Little Angels Graduation, my husband's Penn State Graduation, and their dance recital to prepare for. On Friday morning, she gets up all happy, no fever, eats breakfast, and plays with her brothers...(she stays home from school...she's been out all week of course). I'm elated that she is doing better, and call my sister to babysit, as I have decided it is safe to go to his graduation, which is at a local campus. I go, and get a call from my sister to return home immediately b/c Peyton is buring up, and is "not acting right". We immediately leave, the ceremony was over so we were both able to go instead of just me..thank God, and I rush into the house. Peyton is laying on the couch, I call her name and she says mom...then gets up and starts wandering around saying mommy I want to go home...and crying. This is it for me...she is rushed to the ER, which is what my sister was about to do herself. It takes a chest X-Ray to confirm she has this ...really long named problem... that translates to Walking Pneunomia. Which is apparently quite dangerous b/c it is very difficult to detect until it becomes really bad. She had probably had it since sometime the week before. I had kept touch with the doctors office all week, but aside from the fever and vomiting she had nothing else wrong, and it appeared to be a virus. What had actually happened is that the bottom half of her lungs had swelled, and brushed against her diaphram which will cause nausea and vomiting that mimic a stomach virus.
Now since my accident, I have had penumonia five times, but with a dry cough, and a crackling sound. When doctors listened to her chest it was silent, no tell tale crackling noise associated with pneumonia. By Friday luckily, in the ER, she had reached a point of diminished breath sounds on the right side, and her pulse oxygen was at 92 percent, it is supposed to be between 98 and 100. So by this time, it was detectable. The chest X-ray confirmed it. We sat with her in the ER till they got a bed, at 2:00 an. She was on IV's all different types of meds for fever/the pneumonia...my husband left to relieve my sister. I sat up all the rest of the night as she was administered breathing treatments, and called for me but was not clearly cohearent. The next morning she was awake, and the doctor came in. Peyton finally is told, what we all knew, she must miss her dance recital. She sobs for 45 minutes in my arms. I call the dance teacher who is devistaed...(I took from her for years, and she is like family to us)...she tells Peyton that she will mention her name that evening and do a special tribute to her using her picture on the dance DVD. Dance is so improtant to the girls, and they watch the DVD's of their performances all the time. My husband relieves me, I get home and have two hours to get Avery, and the boys to the show. Avery is heartbroken, and wears her sister's costume in the dance, saying "if she can't be on DVD, her costume will dance with me tonight"...they were in the same ballet together...not the tap though. I tell the dance teacher what Avery is doing...and we all get teary eyed. They had Avery hold the picture of Peyton, and put it on the DVD, then the owner/operator of the studio, announced her name, (at the end), and explained what happened, and said we miss you Peyton!! It was beautiful..the whole dance team made a huge card that everyone in the Company signed, and the dance instructors came to see her this morning at the hospital before today's show, and brought her a ballerina bunny. All the dancers from the youngest to the oldest in both the Junior and Senior Companies look at each other as family as well as performers, so when one goes down they all come to her/his side.
She was released a little bit ago, but it is unclear when she can return to school. She is not allowed to do anything to physical for at least two weeks, and must have a nebulizer treatments four times a day.
I was beside myself, so much going on, I'm a backstage assistant as well, and she was so heartbroken. Anyone who dances especially will understand that, I sure did. She scared me to death, but as most of you know I have lost a child, and it puts such a fear into you when you see another one become ill. I just do not want to go through that ever, ever again.
I'm gonna head to bed in a bit, but I wanted to share with you all. This is gonna take a bit to come down from. I love these children more then life itself, thay are all a part of me, and tiny glipmses of their sister in heaven, who I'm sure, with God was looking down on us this weekend...thankfully.
I'll keep you all updated!! Stay safe all!!
On Tuesday morning I sent my girls to school, they were both their usual cheerful selves. All the children had a slight cough, no biggie, not a dry cough or too severe. The boys were still asleep and I was putting away the laundry when I get a call around 9:30 am from the nurse. My seven year old daughter had a fever of 103, and was complaining of a slight stomach ache, can I pick her up. I get the boys up and away we go. She gets home, lays around, I give her some ibuprophen. We later take her brother to school, after we pick him up, she starts crying, then she throws up three times. I call the doctor, we all suspect stomach virus, it is going around. She ends up not throwing up again, but with a fever on and off for the next few days. Meanwhile, I over the course of the week have her brother's Little Angels Graduation, my husband's Penn State Graduation, and their dance recital to prepare for. On Friday morning, she gets up all happy, no fever, eats breakfast, and plays with her brothers...(she stays home from school...she's been out all week of course). I'm elated that she is doing better, and call my sister to babysit, as I have decided it is safe to go to his graduation, which is at a local campus. I go, and get a call from my sister to return home immediately b/c Peyton is buring up, and is "not acting right". We immediately leave, the ceremony was over so we were both able to go instead of just me..thank God, and I rush into the house. Peyton is laying on the couch, I call her name and she says mom...then gets up and starts wandering around saying mommy I want to go home...and crying. This is it for me...she is rushed to the ER, which is what my sister was about to do herself. It takes a chest X-Ray to confirm she has this ...really long named problem... that translates to Walking Pneunomia. Which is apparently quite dangerous b/c it is very difficult to detect until it becomes really bad. She had probably had it since sometime the week before. I had kept touch with the doctors office all week, but aside from the fever and vomiting she had nothing else wrong, and it appeared to be a virus. What had actually happened is that the bottom half of her lungs had swelled, and brushed against her diaphram which will cause nausea and vomiting that mimic a stomach virus.
Now since my accident, I have had penumonia five times, but with a dry cough, and a crackling sound. When doctors listened to her chest it was silent, no tell tale crackling noise associated with pneumonia. By Friday luckily, in the ER, she had reached a point of diminished breath sounds on the right side, and her pulse oxygen was at 92 percent, it is supposed to be between 98 and 100. So by this time, it was detectable. The chest X-ray confirmed it. We sat with her in the ER till they got a bed, at 2:00 an. She was on IV's all different types of meds for fever/the pneumonia...my husband left to relieve my sister. I sat up all the rest of the night as she was administered breathing treatments, and called for me but was not clearly cohearent. The next morning she was awake, and the doctor came in. Peyton finally is told, what we all knew, she must miss her dance recital. She sobs for 45 minutes in my arms. I call the dance teacher who is devistaed...(I took from her for years, and she is like family to us)...she tells Peyton that she will mention her name that evening and do a special tribute to her using her picture on the dance DVD. Dance is so improtant to the girls, and they watch the DVD's of their performances all the time. My husband relieves me, I get home and have two hours to get Avery, and the boys to the show. Avery is heartbroken, and wears her sister's costume in the dance, saying "if she can't be on DVD, her costume will dance with me tonight"...they were in the same ballet together...not the tap though. I tell the dance teacher what Avery is doing...and we all get teary eyed. They had Avery hold the picture of Peyton, and put it on the DVD, then the owner/operator of the studio, announced her name, (at the end), and explained what happened, and said we miss you Peyton!! It was beautiful..the whole dance team made a huge card that everyone in the Company signed, and the dance instructors came to see her this morning at the hospital before today's show, and brought her a ballerina bunny. All the dancers from the youngest to the oldest in both the Junior and Senior Companies look at each other as family as well as performers, so when one goes down they all come to her/his side.
She was released a little bit ago, but it is unclear when she can return to school. She is not allowed to do anything to physical for at least two weeks, and must have a nebulizer treatments four times a day.
I was beside myself, so much going on, I'm a backstage assistant as well, and she was so heartbroken. Anyone who dances especially will understand that, I sure did. She scared me to death, but as most of you know I have lost a child, and it puts such a fear into you when you see another one become ill. I just do not want to go through that ever, ever again.
I'm gonna head to bed in a bit, but I wanted to share with you all. This is gonna take a bit to come down from. I love these children more then life itself, thay are all a part of me, and tiny glipmses of their sister in heaven, who I'm sure, with God was looking down on us this weekend...thankfully.
I'll keep you all updated!! Stay safe all!!
