I promised an entry about Isabel's hospital stay this week and here it is. Here in Colonia at the hospital we use everyone needs to go through the ER, unless you have an appointment with a doctor. Getting appointments with the doctor are a bit tricky, they all share offices and so "our" doctor, or even the pediatrician, may not be in everyday. So when you really need to see a doctor and can't wait you need to go through ER.
Now in the ER you never know what specialty of doctor you may see. It all depends on who is on call, sometimes it's the Pediatrician or the Dermatologist. Thankfully they are all trained in general medicine before they take their specialty trainings. Usually though when it involves children the on-call doctor will call in the Pediatrician, as they did on Monday for Isabel. But in my case a week before when I was really sick I saw the Dermatologist for a sinus, ear and throat infection, go figure.
When we, myself and a friend, first got there with Isabel she was really struggling to breathe. Her first blood oxygen level was down in the high 70's, after a nebulizer treatment she went up to the mid 80's. Here is where the language barrier became a problem. My friend had to run up to the pharmacy to get the prednisone (another story entirely) and while she was gone they decided to admit Isabel, but I thought he was going to send her home. I was trying NOT to panic. Then the nurse asked me to follow her and when we headed up the stairs I was able to breathe a sigh of relief knowing they would keep her even for a little bit.
The hot water heater in the pediatric room was broken so they put her in a private room. Very nice for Uruguayan standards, it had a TV. We had to wait about 45 minutes for the pre-approval to come in from the states for her to get started on the oxygen. In the meantime they gave her a dose of the prednisone and gave her a breathing treatment. This is where we are going to have to remind ourselves that this is where the methods are different but not necessarily wrong. Her treatments came in the form of three rapid succession compressions of an inhaler into an Aero-chamber (a tube with a mask used for children). Hopefully I was able to hide the look of dismay and skepticism. Once the O2 approval came they put a nasal cannula in and got her O2 started. I was surprised that Isabel willing let them put the cannula in, as Adeline despises anything in her nose.
A couple hours later they came in and gave her more Prednisone. Now I was hoping this was just the remainder of what was needed for the day. But I had no way to really ask, and by this time I had no translator. Turns out that it was a continuation of the needed dose. Then the doctor came in and told me what was going on, well attempted to tell me, while I attempted to understand.
Then our language teacher, Cecilia, stopped in and while she was there the nutritionist came in to discuss Isabel's meals. I was relieved because I thought I had a translator. Nope, I got to take a pop quiz. There were only two things she translated for me, one was a question about food allergies, the other was clarification for a request for leche sin azucar (milk without sugar). Their faces were priceless as they were stunned that Isabel would actually drink milk without sugar. Cecilia peeked around the nutritionist and said, "Do you know you just asked for for milk without sugar."
Isabel improved and enjoyed her two days straight of coloring in her coloring book. When they were ready for a room air trial they just pulled her off the O2 and came back every couple hours to check her blood oxygen levels. Much different than what we've ever experienced in the States where they have been on the Pulse Oxymeter constantly, and children haven't ever been taken off the O2 for room air trials in the afternoon. But she did fine and you all were praying and we praise the Lord for that. I'm thankful for this "trial run" now we know what to expect if Adeline is ever hospitalized. Of course, with her food allergies it will be a whole different scenario.
As we head into fall and then into a very cold and damp winter we are told to expect some problems with all who have asthma. I'm glad we have a doctor who is pleasant and willing to work with us. And now I have a new set of vocabulary words to study.
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