A Rough Night

As to not alarm any of you, Jaimee is alive and well in her hospital room, but I do have another story to share from the hospital.

Next door to Jaimee was little two year old Matthew who drown in his grandparents pool in Palmdale, just two days before Jaimee's accident. Our families have shared a lot of time with one another in the waiting room right outside the ICU unit over the last week. We have shared our stories and helped support one another through the trials of the two accidents.

I first met their family last Wednesday while at the hospital visiting Jaimee. Things didn't look good for little Matthew from the beginning. It had taken 78 min. to revive him and get a pulse and he had since been in a coma.

Even though it was evident that little Matthew was not going to make it, that knowledge didn't make the experience any less emotional when his time came on Tuesday evening. Their family and close friends gathered in the hospital to say goodbye as they took him off life support.

Little Matthew has a 4 year old brother that we have helped entertain throughout the week in the hospital and a 6 week old baby brother. The family had decided not to have Nicolas there that night and had asked a family friend to babysit him. They did have little 6 week old Tyler with them that night. I was able to give them one last show of support when they asked me to hold Tyler so that the family could be in the room together.

I am grateful for the opportunity I had to at least do something to help them, no matter how small. I must admit that holding a sleeping baby helped calm me through that tough time as well.
Please keep Matthews family in your prayers. I know they need a lot of support through this trying time!


Jaimee update since my last post:

Tuesday, Jaimee was able to be transitioned to a traditional ventilator, which was what we have been waiting for. They had weaned her slowly off the machine and lasted a few hours on a traditional ventilator. However, her little body wasn't quite ready for the extra pressure of the new ventilator and needed to be placed back on the oscillating machine. The doctors don't consider that transition a set back, just that her lungs needed more time to heal. Since they put her back on the oscillating vent. they had to start her back up on full oxygen and higher pressure. They are working the machine back down to try to switch her over once again. She is now considered to be on a plateau where there is not expected to be much change in her condition from day to day. They are expecting to wean her again next week and allow her to wake up. We will know more of her long term prognosis by then.

Jaimee's three older brothers have been staying with me since last Sat. Unfortunately, two of the boys had sore throats on Saturday and by Sunday, it flared into fevers. Poor Ben (age 8)was miserable by Monday morning and his throat was so sore that he couldn't move his neck. His oldest brother, J.D. (age 11) decided to play doctor and tell him that his tonsils were so swollen that they were half way into his throat. He then proceeded to tell Ben that he will probably need to have his tonsils out.

I was able to get a Dr. appointment for the two boys at 10:30. While at the Dr., Ben got the words tonsils and lungs mixed up. I guess all the talk of Jaimee's lungs caused him to have lungs on the brain. When the Dr. was through telling me that the boys did indeed have Strep as I thought, Ben looked at the Dr. and asked, " Do I have to have my lungs removed?" The Doctor looked at the two of us confused and said no, why do you think that. Ben answered, " because they are swollen halfway into my neck."

I then had to explain the situation of having lungs on the brain and the accidental switch of the words. It was pretty funny, however!

That sickness was a little harder than normal on the boys, since it meant that they couldn't go anywhere near their parents for days. The poor little guys have been through a lot. It is good to see them feeling better and able to spend some much needed time with their parents!!