~Brooke~

Where do I start...

Well Brooke has been really sick. She had a cold for a while, just like Trevor and Lauren, but hers seemed to just turn into something more. Late Sunday night, around 10 PM or so, Lauren came to get Bryan and I saying Brooke was throwing up. We ran upstairs and find her in vomit.
She was still trying to sleep though. We had to wake her up. Even though she had just vomited.
I just thought she must have been in a deep sleep because she had been in bed for about 2 hours.

We got her up and bathed her, where she vomited more. Now I'm wondering if she has a stomach bug or something because this doesn't totally seem related to coughing ~ which is why I thought she vomited at first.

We changed the bedding and got Lauren back in bed and Brooke and I snuggled up on the couch. She was warm. We snuggled. She was acting really sleepy and sort of out of it. I figured it was because it was late and she wasn't feeling well. We gave her some water and she threw up more. She must have vomited about 3 or 4 more times after her bath.

She seemed to be done with vomiting and I was holding her, she was now HOT. She was so hot, we were both damp from her sweat. I took her temp and it was 103.2. I was upset. I gave her Motrin and her temp seemed to come down. Not to a normal temp, but a lot better than 103.2. She slept pretty good, I was up every so often checking her and making sure she hadn't vomited or wasn't getting hot again.

Monday morning, I kept Trevor home from school. We had all had a long weekend, I thought he could use a day off, and I knew I could use a day off and that Brooke didn't need to get dragged out of the house in the cold and all that when she wasn't feeling well.

We all hung out. Brooke stayed on the couch ALL. DAY. LONG. she only went to the potty once. And she had to have me carry her. She seemed really weak and tired. She didn't have any interest in eating or drinking or doing anything at all. She slept about 95% of the day. I was wondering how she was going to sleep that night, but she still slept all night. She was very lethargic. Her eyes looked horrible, they were blood shot and had HUGE black bags under them. She had more temp too, it wasn't as high as 103 but it was in the 102's. I would give her Motrin when it was high. ~ For some reason it didn't really occur to me to keep her medicated with Tylenol and Motrin so that her fever didn't spike. Not that I don't know to do that, only because I don't usually give my children medicine for anything. Unless they really need something. Not that I'm against medicine, just that I don't give it often. I'm the same way with myself. Anyway...

Tuesday morning, she was still very lethargic and weak. I carried her every where. I got the three kids all ready to take Trevor to school and she was very clingy to me, and very quiet and sort of sad. I guess that is the only way to describe it. I got her to drink some for me, because I was concerned about her getting dehydrated. She didn't want to drink much, but I got some in her. We took Trevor to school and she seemed okay on the ride, not great, but okay. she mostly laid her head on her blanket and just rested. Not at all how she usually acts. I just thought sh really wasn't feeling well. It broke my heart that I had to take her out of the house. On our way home, she vomited. It wasn't much because she hadn't eaten anything and only had a little bit to drink. But she vomited till everything was out.

I tried to see if Bryan could some how pick Trevor up from school, or come stay home with Brooke so she wouldn't have to go out, but he couldn't. He was the manager that day and had already scheduled a lot of work for himself that had to be taken care of.



All day she laid on the couch and slept and just was very "out of it" all day long. We got Trevor and she slept the entire ride there. I carried her into his class to get him and she was just really quiet and laying on me, like she had no energy at all. And at this point she was feeling warm again.



We got home and she went back to laying on the couch. Trevor and Lauren were playing and everything else was going on around her like normal. Talking, playing, noises, the TV was on, and she just slept right through it all. She would barely wake up when we talked to her. She only wanted to sleep.



I talked to my mom and she said that I really shouldn't let this go on for too much longer before taking her to the doctors. I was concerned too, it had been two days since she had eaten anything and she wasn't drinking too well for us either. Plus the fact that all she wanted to do was sleep and lay around. She hadn't gotten off the couch, on her own, for two days now.

I called Tuesday night and made an appointment for Wednesday morning at 9:45 AM. Wednesday morning we got hit with snow, and lots of it, and on our way to the appointment it started to sleet. Bryan, kind of thought, I should reschedule her appointment because the roads were bad, but said to do whatever I felt comfortable with doing. I don't mind snowy roads, AND I was really concerned about Brooke so we went. I gave her a bath and got her all ready. She wasn't too active.

We picked up my dad and went off to the doctors. We got there about 15 minutes late because of the other cars on the roads and also the road conditions and the fact that it was then freezing rain. They still saw us because there were no other patients really, everyone else had pretty much canceled for the day.

Brooke had a temp of 101.2 when we got there. I told the nurse all her symptoms. She checked her oxygen level and it was normal. The doctor came in and checked her out. First thing off the bat we found out that she had a severe ear infection in her left ear, and another ear infection starting in her right ear. Both had puss in them. He listened to her lungs and heart. He heard a strong wheezing in her left lung. He thought she should have a breathing treatment and a chest x-ray and asked me if she ever had asthma. She has not. He also said that she was being to be dehydrated. After the breathing treatment, she started to act a lot better. She actually had some energy and was talking more and even wanted to walk. ~ They also gave her Tylenol for her fever.

Then we went downstairs for the chest x-ray. They took two and then back upstairs to see the doctor again. While we waited for the chest x-ray Brooke also decided she wanted to eat... the only thing I had in the bag with us was orange Tic Tac's, so she ate an entire container of them. Not the greatest breakfast, but she was happy, and really that was all that mattered to me at that time. I was so happy to see her up and talking moving and wanting to eat something... even if it was only Tic Tac's.

Upstairs we had to wait for the results of the x-rays. While waiting the doctor told me about the antibiotic he was giving Brooke for her ear infections. I thought that you don't always need an antibiotic for ear infections because they can just go away on their own in their own time, but I didn't want to even think about that this time, I just wanted her better. She was obviously really sick and needed some sort of medicine. He told me how the antibiotics could make her have diarrhea, and that yogurt would help stop that. Brooke won't eat yogurt, so we decided that frozen yogurt might be the way to go with that. He also said that she needs to be drinking Pedialyte to make sure she doesn't get dehydrated more, especially while on the antibiotics that may cause diarrhea.

He finally got the results of the chest x-ray and she has pneumonia. She has a haze on her left lung and it is starting to collapse. He said that he thought it was pneumonia from the wheezing and tightness that he heard in her lung. He then wrote me a script for a breathing machine and the medicine for that and another script for antibiotic for the pneumonia.

I had all I could do to hold myself together in that room. I couldn't believe that my little baby girl had so much going on with her... double ear infections, dehydrated, pneumonia and her lung collapsing!! OMG!! I had a few tears and some how got myself pulled together. We left the doctors office and got all her scripts filled and went to pick up Bryan from work and then to Wal-Mart to get Pedialyte and frozen yogurt. Brooke also wanted chicken nuggets and french fries. Since this was the first she has shown any interest in food in two and 1/2 days we took the kids for lunch. She did good with eating. But on our way home, she threw it all up. :( I guess vomiting is another sign of pneumonia. Who knew?

Last night she had a temp of 103.9. I was freaking out. I gave her Motrin and it SLOWLY came down. I have kept her medicated with Tylenol and Motrin every four hours, or so... we didn't get it exact in the night, although she was up most of the night anyway, but she is doing good. Her temp is at 98.1 and has stayed there all morning. She is up and playing and doing pretty good.

Last night she got a burst of energy that lasted from 8PM till about 3 AM... I was so beat, but I stayed up with her. I tried numerous times to get her to sleep, but she just wasn't having it. lol I'm glad she is feeling better.

I'll keep everyone posted on her conditions and all. She also has another appointment on Friday with the doctor for a follow up.