Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Prayers for Raeghan


Raeghan and me

Our friend, Charlotte, had to go to the ER at Arkansas Children's Hospital with her 3 year old daughter, Raeghan. Raeghan was adopted from Guangdong Province in China in 2005, non-special needs. Raeghan had been running a fever of 99* to about 105* for the last 6 days and so her pediatrician finally referred them to ACH, if for no other reason than so she can get an IV drip to get her re-hydrated. After blood work, getting an IV put in, a urine analysis (via catheter, that was SOOOO not fun), a strep test, and a chest x-ray. I went up there to be with Char so she wouldn't be alone, because no one in her family could be there and that's a seriously nerve-wracking experience. Finally, the doctor looked at her x-rays and told us she had a bad case of pneumonia. Go figure, since no one could hear anything in her chest. It was bad enough that she was admitted to ACH to be re-hydrated and to get the antibiotic into her good, through the IV. She should be able to go home in a day or two, once the antibiotic is doing its job and the doctor feels okay with her taking it orally.

Anyway, pray for Raeghan and her family because this has been a horrible experience for all involved. Charlotte will have to take off work to be with Rae in the hospital and that's stressful, because late this year she should be back in China getting Rachael (Journey to Rachael ). Also, she has a 3.5 year old son, Riley, also from Guangdong, that was adopted a year ago this month who had cleft lip/cleft palate. His palate was repaired last August at ACH. His lip was repaired in China. Along with that, her mother lives with her and is worried, and she has an older daughter, Rebekka, who is biological, who is in beauty school right now.

Please keep this family in your prayers.

UPDATE: 05/16/07

She had to be put on oxygen during the night because her pulse-ox dropped to high 80's to 90 (minimum should be 100, from what I heard).
They did another chest x-ray this morning and it was worse. So, because that was worse, they did an ultrasound. They figured out that, in addition to pneumonia, Raeghan has plural atresia (I think is what it was). Basically she has fluid surrounding her lung and that's pushing her lung in, making it harder to breathe, because it can't push against the wall in the rib cage (it won't go anywhere) so it's pushing against her lung and giving her less space to draw air into. When I left at about 3, they had just taken her to radiology for the radiologists to put in a chest tube to let that fluid drain out so she can breathe. They'll also give her some medicine that will break down the cell walls/pockets that are holding the fluid in, so that any fluid trapped in those cells will be eliminated too. This fluid is a complication of her pneumonia, so this tube will not remove her pneumonia. Only the antibiotics she's one can do that. They're going to send the fluid they remove to a lab to see if there's any weird bacteria so they can see if another kind of antibiotic would be more appropriate.
When I left, she had received 3 rounds of antibiotic (clendomycin, I think) and wasn't really responding, but we all know it can take up to 48 hours for kids to react to it. She's still on an IV drip of saline as well, because she still isn't really drinking much. Right now, I'd say the earliest possible she could be home would be Friday, because that's when (currently) they're planning on taking the chest tube out, if every thing's cleared out by then. Realistically, I might even say Saturday... She's still running a fever at about 101*-102* but they're combating that with Tylenol.The doctor said she could still be running fever when they let her go home, because that's just something pneumonia causes, but she shouldn't go back to daycare until it's broken. It's obvious she is one sick little girl who just wants to go home. And we all want her home. So please keep her in your prayers. If you'd like to leave a comment for Charlotte or Raeghan, I'll make sure they get them. I'm heading up there daily for a good stretch right now. (I was there from 9:30-ish to 3 today).

UPDATE: 05.17.07

I wasn't at ACH much today, because I had a doctor's appointment at 11 this morning...then I came home and passed out because I was so tired. All this hospital stuff seriously takes it out of you. I can only imagine how it must be for Charlotte.
Anyway, Raeghan had the chest tube put in yesterday and that's causing her some pain. One of the doctors said the pain she's experiencing in her back and shoulder was due to her lung expanding back to full size after being squished by the fluid. She's still on oxygen for now and is still running a temperature.
Turns out she has what is called strepococcal pneumonia...and I probably didn't spell that right. So the antibiotic she's on is the best can give her for the kind of pneumonia she has. Thank God, because if it wasn't she probably would've had to start the antibiotic regimen again. That's all I really know.

Monica

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you not go to school?

Anonymous said...

Tell them we're all praying! Bless her heart....

Monica said...

I home-school, if you must know.

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