Sunday, March 20, 2011

Midnight Run

We have another medical adventure to add to the record books. Christa, Carly and I headed up to Tahoe for the weekend as we typically do during the winter. With more big snow storms on the way we were ready for some powder therapy in the mountains. On Friday night Carly had a cough that kept her, and us, up all night. In the morning the cough subsided and she looked better so we headed to Alpine Meadows to meet our babysitter and hit the slopes. The snow was knee to thigh deep and we had a great morning, but when we came in at lunch Carly did not look good and seemed to be having an adrenal crisis (low cortisol.) We gave her a cortisol shot and she started to look better but her breathing was still very labored so we took her to the ER in Truckee for an exam. They didn't like how she looked either and they wanted her to be seen by pediatric specialists at the children's hospital in Reno. Christa and Carly were loaded into an ambulance and with lights and sirens blazing they were rushed down to Reno while I followed in our car. The team in Reno placed a central IV (which was tricky) and took blood labs. The early lab results did not show an obvious cause for the labored breathing, and they felt that Carly would be best cared for at UCSF where she is well-known.

By 10:30pm Christa and Carly were being loaded into another ambulance and taken to the Reno airport where a small, four seat airplane was waiting to transport them to San Francisco. The plane was tiny and Christa had to sit in the co-pilot seat while the nurses tended to Carly in the back. There was a massive storm system in the area and they had a harrowing one hour flight through 100 mph winds and snow to San Francisco airport where a final ambulance waited to take them to UCSF. During this time I made the 4.5 hour drive (through snow and heavy rain) from Reno back to San Francisco, finally arriving at the hospital around 3:30am. There was a lot of activity around Carly most of the early morning, and things finally settled down around 8am.

It looks like Carly has a lung infection that is most likely viral. After some respiratory therapy and coughing her breathing has improved considerably today and she is smiling and eating well. The virus will likely take several days to pass and she will need to stay in the hospital until the doctors are comfortable sending her home, but after the progress we have seen today that could happen pretty quickly. It was a crazy day and we are short on sleep, but seeing Carly smile makes us feel much better already.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow. very happy you're all home, safe and that carly is smiling. a sign things are going ok anyway...

what an adventure. wish you didn't have to go through all that, but nice to know the systems do work when you need them to, i guess.

thinking of you all - and will say some prayers for carly tonight to get rid of that lung infection.

xo

Jen Wagner said...

Oh no! Wishing Carly a quick recovery! What a crazy day. Hope you guys are all hanging in there. xoxoxo

heather and seth said...

Holy smokes. So glad that you are home safe and sound and you are seeing big improvements! So sorry that you had to go through all of that. Love you guys!

Anonymous said...

gosh i can't even imagine how stressful that was for you guys. i am so glad you all made it to the hospital safely .. and carly is doing better! thinking of you guys!

love sarah & matt

Catherine said...

Wow, oh, wow! That must have been so scary for all of you. Glad you made it home safely. Team Carly lives in Truckee and Reno too! Love to you all and quick recovery for Carly.

Anonymous said...

What a story. You all never cease to amaze me. I'm happy you are home safely and hope that Carly is feeling better soon...Bob K

karen said...

I'm so happy you are all back in SF safe and sound. I hope Carly is doing better by the minute!
xo

7thLynch said...

I'm glad you all made it back to SF safely. I hope you are back to your own home soon. Kisses to Carly. Love you all!

Anonymous said...

wow, that sounds grueling and intense. glad you are back on your own turf and Carly is back to smiling and eating. hope she recovers quickly and you can all get some much deserved rest soon. sending love and good thoughts,
sheila and keith

hinder90 said...

That sounds utterly harrowing! Hope you guys get to see even more smiles from Carly in the very near future.

hinder90 said...

That sounds utterly harrowing! Hope you guys get to see even more smiles from Carly in the very near future.

Shuman said...

wow - happy she is on the road to recovery. sending lots of love and get well vibes.

Anonymous said...

Oh No! Poor little girl! I am glad she is home safe and happy.

We all miss Carly at school and talk about her every day. Jeffrey is having a very hard time without his little girlfriend. ;)

We hope Carly is better and to see her back at school very soon.

Teacher Kara

JerseyGirl said...

So glad they were able to figure out the problem...so sorry all three of you had to deal w/that! Sounds harrowing. Happy you are seeing sweet smiles again. ((HUGS))

Jenny said...

What a scary experience. I'm glad you all made it back to SF safely.I'm so glad to hear that Carly was able to smile after her big adventure. I hope you will be headed home soon.You are in our thoughts every day.
Love to all of you!

Anonymous said...

You are all in my thoughts and prayers. I am glad Carly is doing better.
Love, Donna

lala said...

Planes, ambulances, cars and skis......a lot for one day! So glad you all made it back safely and Carly is feeling better.

Go take a nap!!!!

Lots of love,

Anne Cline