#9 Critical Care Unit

Posts with a # at the beginning are part of our story. They are from when Stacey was little. All the other posts are current day or have a year or age noted. If you're new here and want to start at the beginning, just find #1 and at the end is a link to the next part so you can read in order.

Enjoy! Thanks for being here! :)

     We finally arrive down to CHLA (Childrens Hospital Los Angeles) and I'm following

 this team through the halls and trying to keep my eyes on my girl. I keep thinking

 this isn't happening. This doesn't happen to us! Someone asked me to come with

 them to do admitting papers... I said,"how 'bout you come with us", and kept

 following my girl. He followed. 

      We were taken to the Critical Care Unit. There were 4 cribs and in the middle was a small nurses station. Each baby was assigned a nurse. They were still hovering around Stacey when I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was the Johnsons! Our dear friends had driven all the way down there late at night! I pretty much threw myself at Christin and bawled into her shoulder! Chris prayed and I filled them in on the day. They'd brought me some snacks for our stay and assured me they would help with the older 3 kiddos and stayed with me until Carlos caught up to us.


      Since Stacey was staying stable they decided to watch and see what her body did on it's own over night and let her rest. A cot was set up next to her for me and Carlos went to a parent sleep room down the hall. We figured we could handle anything for a day or two and didn't put much effort into being comfortable.


      Her nurse was Marcia. She was not only attentive to Stacey, but to me as well. She stood for hours over Stacey's crib talking to me and getting to know Stacey and our family. She eventually insisted I lay down and try to sleep. It wasn't to be for long though. Her IV failed and had to be moved. They decided to draw blood at the same time. A little more rest only to be woken again to learn her potassium was back up to 8 and her breathing was a little rapid. More labs, a lung xray and an ultrasound of her kidneys were ordered.


     They had to move her IV again and she whimpered! I cheered! YES! She felt that! I just knew this was the beginning of recovery!! It HAD to be! Her xray looked clear and the ultrasound of her kidneys came back clear but... oh man, they like to say *but* around here.... in this case it was *Kidney's look good, BUT, they aren't working well and we don't know why*. Today's job was to try to stop her body from shutting itself down, getting her potassium low and her oxygen up.

Continue story here:
http://highfivesforstacey.blogspot.com/2013/09/10-team-is-forming.html