Code Blue--Emergency PICU

Last night after Tyler and I put the kids to bed, I stayed up for a minute to make a post. It was a busy day yesterday, much to record. I finished my post just before Evie woke. She wanted to eat and be cuddled. I was enjoying every second with her. I love holding my babies when everyone else is asleep, because it is our time to be together without any interruption.

By 2:00 a.m. I was just laying Evie down when I heard Tyler's phone ring. At that moment my heart dropped. I knew something was wrong...the ring tone was Tyler's dad's who was with Alice. I wanted to wish the call away, but my heart was telling me another story. Tyler woke in an instant and ran to his phone. All I heard was Tyler telling his dad that he was on his way. Then Grandpa called back and said you better bring Lisy too. I burst into tears and scrambled to find my shoes and glasses. We must have drove 90 mph the entire way, we made it to the hospital in 30 minutes-what normally takes 45 minutes on a good day. Thanks Michael for coming to watch the kids.

Upon arriving we learned that at about 1:45 a.m. Alice was given a code blue. When a code blue is signaled all emergency personal from around the hospital rush to the room. The room filled with eighteen people within 45 seconds, according to Grandpa Fish. Alice was rushed to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. She was taken to CT scan and MRI.

What Happened?
Alice was lying in bed when her body began to seize. Grandpa heard her wrestling around the bed and checked on her. He knew something was wrong; she was bleeding from her mouth.
He called for the nurse; she took one look at her and signaled the code blue. Tyler and I came straight to the PICU, upon arriving she was still having some seizures and was mentally gone. I can't really describe how she was, nor how I felt. I wanted to be angry, I wanted to cry, and I felt hopeless. I could hardly be in the room and see her this way. The intensity of the team caring for her in resolving the matter was what felt like to me an eternity of time.

Tyler and his dad gave her a priesthood blessing ad mist the chaos...it was comforting and calming for me as well as Alice. I am so thankful for that special powerful feeling that accompanies the priesthood.

The doctors are still sorting out what happened. The possibilities are PRES (Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome) caused by high blood pressure, or Encephalitis (viral infection of the brain), and I can't think of the third one off the top of my head...we didn't sleep last night and I can hardly gather my thoughts.

Oh I think the third option was a side effect or reaction to a drug called Foscarnet. She has been receiving it for sometime now, but she was currently receiving this medication when the trouble began. The doctors said that this drug can cause such an event---10% chance of this reaction.

She was given high doses of Ativan to control the seizures, in which the Ativan has caused her to hallucinate tremendously. Ahhh....I just want to make it all go away. We have already done this before with Natalie and it's the scariest thing a parent has to go through. There is hope that it can be resolved, depending on what it is. We are praying that she will not have any damages or any long term affects of the seizures.

Also Alice was beginning to fill many diapers with a high volume of urine, I could tell she was very thirsty. I asked the nurse to look into the high urine output. They checked her sugar level and found that it was 1250. That is off the charts high. They ordered her some insulin immediately. It spiked most likely because of the different meds that she is on. It also began to come down on it's own, and now is manageable. She is not a diabetic, nor does this mean she has diabetes.

Alice received platelets today and IVIG.

Oh Sweet Alice...I find comfort in knowing how many
people are praying for her. Thank you everybody!!

Lisy