MaKenna's week in the hospital

WOW!!!! Okay here goes. Monday morning around 5:30 MaKenna woke and was feeling pretty yucky. All the older kids had just gotten over upper respiratory infections so I assumed that was what was wrong. She just keep crying and wouldn't eat. So around 8:00 the other kids got up and she was still really fussy. I noticed that she seemed to be having a hard time breathing. I called Daniel and he came home. I immediately took her to the hospital. I took her to the pediatric department and they told me to have a seat. Well we got in there and she started to throw up and just didn't look well. I decided to take her downstairs to the ER. I stopped nurse and told her that was what I was doing. She looked at MaKenna and immediately took her to a back room. The doctor came and they put oxygen on her and just kept saying she was in distress. The called the transport team from a nearby hospital and had her moved to the Pediatric ICU at the University Medical Center of El Paso. Daniel came and they told us that she needed to have a cat scan and they were going to have to do a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) and take a lot of blood. They asked us to leave. We waited for what seemed like forever. Finally we went back in and the doctor came to talk to us. She had meningitis. They were just not sure what kind. She also had inflamation on the brain. They told us they were doing all they could do but we just had to wait for the test to come back. The first series would come back at 24 hours, and than 48 hours, and than 72 hours. It was the scariest time of my life. She was very inresponsive to our touch and our voices. By Tuesday afternoon she was doing remarkably better. They determined that it was viral meningitis. This can cause deafness, blindness, developmental delays, nerve damage, spinal damage, and death. They moved her out of the ICU and put her in isolation on the regular pediatric floor. By Wednesday morning she was our little girl again. The doctor said there would be no lasting complications from this illness. Thursday around noon they stopped the antiobtics and put her on 24 hour observation. Friday around 2:00 pm we were able to leave the hospital and bring her home. We feel very blessed. The priesthood is a powerful thing. There were so many people praying for her. I have been over whelmed with emotions. We love you all and are so thankful for your love and support.