Little Hart and Snowball(her BFF)
CONTINUED FROM "WHERE'S MY DADDY? I WANT MY DADDY!" FINAL POST TO LITTLE HART'S ILLNESS.
MARCH 9,2010
The day Little Hart came home, my Hubby and Grandma Jill sent the following emails. Attached was the photo above. Little Hart snuggling with her bear she calls Snowball. She was given to Little Hart on her second day at the hospital. She has slept with him every night since. Her good luck charm and ours as well!
To: Family and Friends
From: Raylan
Hopefully this is the last you will hear from me on this. I appreciate you enduring my epistles on Little Hart's situation. It was helpful to me to “talk” but I also have shared more detail than just an update. I am now a missionary about taking care of infections. So for that reason, I have shared many details of her illness as it went downhill and now as she has gotten better.
There were many times, mostly born out of disbelief that I wondered if I were exaggerating the seriousness of her condition. In the last three days, as she has improved and we have seen different doctors and nurses from the ones who saved her life, I am beginning to realize how close we came to losing her. I have herein forwarded a message from her grandmother to her friends just awhile ago, that really summarizes what we have been through the last 9 days. Thanks again for all you have done to help my little girl and me.
Raylan
To: Friends and Family
From: Jill
Subject: Little Hart's Home
Little Hart is home! She will be given, several times a day, intravenous antibiotics for several weeks followed by several weeks of oral antibiotics. A home health care nurse will follow her progress closely. She is in good spirits and is grateful to be on the tail end of this surreal experience.
I thought I would never again have to sit by helplessly and watch a disease ravage the body of someone I love. Scott's cancer took him at the rapid speed of three weeks; but Little Hart's "sinus infection" took her from the sniffles to death's door step in a matter of 36 hours!
We have learned more than we have ever cared to know about sinus infections, Sepsis and Meningitis. Children's sinuses continue to grow and expand until age thirteen; leaving them particularly vulnerable to serious sinus infections. It does not take much for the infection to spread to the eyes, brain or enter the blood stream. All of which happened to Little Hart. Several children have died this year at Primary Children's Medical Center from similar infections.
Please get the message out to everyone you know, who have children or grandchildren, about how very serious any infection in the head can be. Please do not take the wait and see approach, rather allow your Physician to make the determination whether it is just a cold or something more serious. Little Hart was one of the lucky ones. Had she been admitted to the hospital six hours later; doctors say they would not have been able to save her. Even at that it was touch and go for several days. Hundreds of tears were cried and tons of prayers were said.
Hopefully, this is the last you will hear from me on this subject. Thank you again for supporting us on this unbelievable, frightening journey.”
Jill
Thanks for allowing me share and document Little Hart's Nine Day Nightmare last March. It's always scary when you face losing a child and even more complicated when you have two families facing rough water ahead, it was either going to tear us apart or bring us together. Luckily it brought us together. I strongly believe our unity played a major role in saving Little Hart's life. I know that I have been guilty in past of forgetting that we do share something in common; our unconditional, deep love for "our" kids!
As in most blended families, we got caught up in the mechanics:emails/phone calls to switch a day, "I don't approve of this or that happening," etc.,etc. I could go on, but the point is those things don't matter when your sitting at the bedside of your 12 year old wondering if they'll make it through the night! Having been through this journey together, we now work together from a place of trust rather than distrust. The result: Giving "our" kids the gift of emotionally safety, peace and harmony in their life.