Since our last update in July (!), I've many times meant to sit down to write a no-news-is-good-news update. To share pictures from the last few months, to tell you how big Eliza has gotten, to share how Luke likes kindergarten (loves it!), to tell you about the process of finding a home health aide (an as-yet resolved saga!). And each time I've meant to do that, I've been distracted by something else.
This morning, I'm writing a different email. This will be brief, as I need to get to the daily grind in just a few minutes, but I wanted to let you know what has gone on over the last day or so.
Here's what we know and what we don't: Eliza (who has been sick for almost two weeks, though took a turn for the worse over the last several days) has RSV, with some evidence of (what looks like a viral) pneumonia in her lungs. You may or may not have heard of RSV; it's a cold-like virus that goes around every year. In healthy kids and adults, it's no big deal. It usually makes news for its effects on preemies or kids with compromised respiratory function, in whom it can be very serious. Eliza, who has generally healthy lungs but a history of reactive airways (kind of like asthma) and a pretty weak cough in general, falls somewhere in between those two categories.
As of yesterday, Eliza was very sick. Her breathing was very wheezy, her oxygen levels significantly compromised. She was alternating between whimpery and apparently uncomfortable and very, very sleepy. As you probably know, viruses don't have "cures". There is not a treatment, per se, for RSV or a viral pneumonia. There are, however, some symptomatic medications. So yesterday, we began two treatments: albuterol, an inhaled medication (through a nebulizer), which can relax and open the airways; and prednisone, a steroid, which can reduce airway inflammation. Sometime during the early hours this morning, these treatments seem to have provided Eliza some relief. Though she is by no means breathing normally this morning, she is breathing much easier and sleeping. This is a great comfort to us and we imagine to her as well.
Time will tell, likely over the next couple of days, what Eliza's body will do with this infection, and particularly whether the evidence of some pneumonia in her lungs will clear up with the virus or become something more significant. We will certainly keep you posted as things develop. For now, we appreciate your prayers. "But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you" (Psalm 39:7).
With love and gratitude for all of you,
Daniele (for the dixiejax)
