Heartbreaking Stay in the Hospital

One morning at the end of February, Rey comes in the room with Lilly and says to me: "look at this!" Overnight Lilly suddenly had a very large lump on her neck! It was very disturbing! She didn't take much notice of it, and was more bothered by us looking at it than by the thing itself. We tried to think of what it could be. Had she fallen and hit something? Was it a bug bite? We were quite panicked by the thing, but decided to wait it out to see if it would get bigger or smaller. Then the fever came. We gave her a fever reducer and comforted her. She loves the lullaby my grandma sang to me, so I rocked and sang to her and she went to sleep.



The next day Rey took the kids out while I had an After Valentine's Party with some of the girls. Her fever was down and it looked like the swelling on her neck had gone down as well, so whatever it was must be going away. After the party when Rey came home with the kids, the thing had grown to be twice the size it had been! That was all I could take. We called the advise line over and over and were getting no answers. Finally one of them told Rey that, as upset as he sounded, we should probably just go to the urgent care center. We dropped the other two kids off with my cousin Fiona (very grateful she was so near), had her husband give Lilly a blessing, and we were on our way.

These are pictures we took at the Urgent Care place. She played just fine and told us she didn't want us to look at her neck anymore. It always seems like forever that you are waiting to be seen, and all the paperwork and payment stuff came first.

After waiting and waiting we were finally seen. The doctor then sent us from there to the emergency room in Atlanta saying that they couldn't do what needed to be done there and he knew they would be able to take care of her. It was funny that he added that we shouldn't take her somewhere else because he was good and if he was going to send her away it was going to be to somewhere better and not worse, so not to go anywhere else. We made a quick stop at Wal Mart for caffeine for Mommy and Daddy and pajamas for Lilly before heading into Atlanta.

It was early morning when they took us into the back at the ER. They looked at her, ran tests, and then told us they were giving her an IV and a CT scan. :( It absolutly broke my heart to see them putting that IV into her little arm. She was so small to be going through so much.

For the CT they gave her something to put her to sleep. She looked sweet, but it was also a little scary to see her like that. Especially with your mind racing over all the things that could be wrong and what it could mean. After the CT and more waiting they came back and told us that it's not cancer (sigh of relief), it's an infection. Lymph nodes generally filter out infection, but sometimes become infected and this one was filling up with fluid. They had to take her to surgery to cut into it and drain the fluid. They would also be giving her and antibiotic drip through her IV to treat it. They weren't sure if it was strep or staph, but would know after the surgery where they would take cultures. Rey and I decided that I would stay with Lilly and he would go to get the kids from Fiona's and stay with them at home. It wasn't too long before they were giving Lilly her first antibiotic dose and then we went upstairs to her room. The ER nurses were sad to see her go. At first they had put a crib in her room. I get that Lilly is small, but it still seemed strange to me that they would assume she needed a crib. They asked if I would prefer a bed and it wasn't too long before she had one. She didn't want to be alone so, even though they had a bed in the room for the parent that would be staying, she and I both slept in her bed. It was a comfort to her for sure, but also a blessing for me to be able to hold my sick baby in my arms. When things are going wrong you want them as close to you as possible.

The next day we had doctors and nurses in and out checking on things and explaining things. I was in touch with my Mom and Holly and Rey about what was going on. Later in the afternoon they came to take her. They gave her something to relax her first that they said would make her loopy. It made her a little silly and sleepy, but she was still her adorable sweet self. I got to walk down with them. They had her on my lap and pushed us in the wheelchair, which she thought was fun. She was talking about it like it was a ride at Disney and told me to say "Wee".

Lilly has such an affect on people. She has a way of getting everyone to fall in love with her, and the nurses at the hospital were no exception. Even the no fuss business first nurse we had that day just melted over her. We were in a sort of holding room and the nurse was with us waiting for the surgical staff to come in and set Lilly up to take her in to surgery. Lilly asked where her friend was and I told the nurse Lilly was talking about her. She came forward and said "here I am", and Lilly reached out for her hand, which she took. Then Lilly said "My friend, I love you". The nurse thought that was sweet and petted Lilly's hair. That's when Lilly kissed her on the hand. The nurse looked at me with a shocked expression. "She just kissed me! You just kissed me! Aww, what a sweet girl". She was so amazed by it.

After the others came in even the nurse was reluctant to leave Lilly. It was one of the hardest things I've done to have have to leave her there and walk back to the room. I had to hold myself back from crying as the nurse took me back. The whole time she was talking about that little kiss my little girl gave her. I let the tears loose in the room after, and then occupied myself with updating family while I waited for them to bring her back. It was a relief to see them wheeling her back in. She was still out and had her neck bandaged.

Before and after surgery

The rest of that day she mostly slept. They came in periodically to check on her and give her more of the antibiotic. The nurse I mentioned before was loving her! She would come in and call herself Lilly's friend and ask Lilly if she remembered her. She gave Lilly everything she wanted! It was so cute! Lilly asked for chicken nuggets and the nurse got her cleared to have them.
There was quite a storm that night. A nurse came in and told me there was a tornado warning and all the patients were being taken out into the hallway to wait it out. It was a low point for me sitting huddled in the hallway with my baby girl, fresh out of surgery, attached to her IV drip. Lilly's nurse came to check on us though, and continued to dote on her, bringing her tissues and juice and crackers. We were soon allowed to go back into our room. At seven that night when the nurses were changing shifts, Lilly's nurse came to say goodbye. It was very cute, and Lilly gave her another kiss. She definitely made that nurse's day!
I was very grateful for sleep that night. I had to make sure that Lilly, Minnie Mouse, and I didn't get tangled up in the IV lines, but we all slept pretty well.

We laid in bed and watched a lot of cartoons the next day. Again nurses and doctors came in and out, checking on Lilly and giving her more antibiotic. Rey brought the kids that afternoon so he could spend some time with Lilly and I could nurse Mina. They didn't stay too long though. It's hard for a five year old boy to stay stay still, not to mention my wriggly little seven month old. It was still good to get to see them.

Later on in the evening I was very happy when Lilly asked to get out of bed and sit in the chair. The antibiotic seemed to finally be taking effect and she was starting to recover! She had to be fever free for 24 hours before they would let us take her home. I was optimistic at that point that we might get to take her home the next day.

It was a long night, however, and Lilly's fever spiked rather high. I called the nurses for something to give her. She asked me to sing to her and I rocked her and sang until the medicine did its job. I love to hold her, but wished so much that this wasn't happening to her.

Day 3 brought us many forms of relief. Lilly's fever was making no appearance. She was up and more active. The antibiotic finally seemed to be having an affect. By lunch time they said she was doing well enough to get the line taken off her IV. She was very happy to not be tied to anything anymore, and I was very happy to see my little girl doing so much better.


That afternoon also brought us Holly, which was such a wonderful reprieve from the previous days. She brought us something to look forward to, as well as balloons, a coloring book, crayons, and creature comforts like a brush, toothbrush, and a clean shirt.

Lilly and Holly had fun coloring together. When Lilly decided that she was tired, she got her Minnie Mouse and crawled up onto the bed next to Holly and fell right to sleep.

After Lilly's nap, we took the opportunity to explore the hospital. We saw the fish in the pond outside, the fish in the tank in the lobby, and finally found the playroom, which ended up being just down the hall from our room. Holly played with Lilly while I called work and updated them.

There was a delivery when we got back to the room. I was glad that I had to go back while they were in the playroom and saw it first, because it made me cry. My brother and Jackie, his girlfriend, had ordered a stuffed bear for Lilly and it was delivered with a card and balloons. It was just the family support that I needed to feel. Lilly loved it! She named him Sleepy, and after that she had to have Sleepy Bear and Minnie Mouse with her.

Rey came to visit again with the kids. I was missing Andrew and Mina, and I know Lilly loves her Daddy, so it was always good for as long as the kids could last. They and Holly all left together and we had a quiet night.

I don't know how I would have gotten through this without Holly. Not only had she come to the hospital and brightened up myself and Lilly, but she also went home and stayed with Rey and the kids. She took care of Mina that night, let Rey go to work so he didn't have to miss that day, took Andrew to school AND picked him up from school. It was so nice for me to know that my family was being taken care of and that Rey was able to have some help. She is amazing, and as busy as she is with her own life, she has a way of knowing when you need someone the most and just taking the weight off your shoulders. She isn't always able to jump to the rescue, but she was definitely there for me, and an angel for sure.

We got the news that night that, as long as Lilly didn't have another fever come on, we would be able to take her home the next day. I know I have said relief over and over again in this blog, but there are certainly levels of relief and we were slowly but surely and finally making our way out of the hole we felt we'd fallen into when this infection first appeared. Relief!

When Lilly went to bed, she had to have Minnie and Sleepy with her.

The next afternoon the doctor came to see Lilly and she was cleared to get to go home. He said the cultures were back and it was a staph infection rather than strep. That staph is very common and there wasn't really anything that we could do to have prevented it. That's a little disturbing in itself, I think. At any rate, he gave me a prescription to fill that would take care of the staph and I called Rey at work and told him to come and get us! She was so happy to have the IV taken out! Getting the meds through her IV throughout the night and all that day was actually hurting her. I was surprised that we didn't have to deal with paper work in order to leave. They handle all the paper work, we just tell them when we are ready and they escort you to the parking lot.

The day before I had promised Lilly that we would find the playground and let her play, so we we re actually escorted to the playground. It was wonderful to be able to sit with Rey and watch our little girl run around and play after all that she had been through.

Going home!!!

Holly had Andrew and Mina taken care of (and laundry done), and dinner was delivered by the church for a few days so I didn't have to worry about that right away. Rey went back to work, I think... Holly and I watched a movie with the kids and had dinner. I was elated!



I put Lilly to bed in our room. She was used to sleeping with Mommy and I wasn't ready for her to be very far from me yet. It was surreal to be home and realize that it was now March instead of February.

A few days after coming home we had to take off the bandage and pull out the wick (a long strand of gauze they put in the infected area to soak up the rest of the fluid). She screamed so badly when we took the bandage off she didn't let us anywhere close enough to pull out the wick. When faced with letting mommy do it or go back to the doctor to do it, she finally let me pull it out. It was difficult to do, actually. It kept going and going and it was tugging a little on her neck. Ew!


She had a huge bruise under the bandage that really put into perspective how much it had swollen. She still has the scar. She calls it her "scarf ". Hopefully this will be the last time we have to have one of our kids in the hospital. Between the three I'm sure there will be broken bones and stitches somewhere in our future though. As horrendous as it was, it could have been worse and we are all grateful that she's home, safe, and healthy.

I need to mention that I am very grateful to Fiona, Holly, my Mom, Jake and Jackie, Jared and Crystal, Aaron, Aunt Janet, Aunt Nancy, of course Rey, and the ladies in the ward who brought us food. Thank you all for being there!