Sadbh’s update – January 16th 2013

Sadbh’s night started off quite bad as she had a big coughing fit that resulted in her getting sick. After she fell back to sleep, Larissa had to suction constantly until approximately 1am. Larissa kept her temperature stabilized by giving her Tylenol on schedule and thankfully the rest of the night was fairly restful for poor little Sadbh.

I took over at 6 and Sadbh slept soundly for another hour until I woke her up to give her some more Tylenol. She was not happy and started coughing intensely.

She had another difficult day and was quite exhausted throughout. She had no appetite and we had to work hard to get her to drink fluids to keep hydrated.

Katie received a call from Sadbh’s pediatrician and the results from her culture test were in.

Sadbh tested positive for HIB (Haemophilus influenzae type B) and her doctor wanted Katie to bring Sadbh in so they could give her a new prescription for antibiotics.

The rest of her evening was spent lying in my arms. She had absolutely no energy and her temperature kept spiking around 104. Even though her blood oxygen level was in the mid 90’s, her respiratory rate was in the 60’s. Her usual respiratory rate is in the low 30’s.

We checked online to learn more about HIB and I think Katie and I both lost another 10 years off our lives when we started to read about Meningitis and it’s potential outcome.

Despite giving Sadbh Tylenol at 5:30pm,her temperature still did not show any signs of abating. Her heart rate also increased to the mid 170 range so Katie contacted Sadbh’s pediatrician’s office to see if we should head to the hospital.

Thankfully her doctor called us right back and gave us the green light to give Sadbh some Ibuprofen to help lower her temperature and heart rate. It took a while but this seemed to do the trick.

Her doctor also reassured us that Sadbh had a different strain of HIB and she was not at risk for Meningitis since she had already received the vaccination for that. Phew! That was a huge relief for both of us. 

Larissa is working again so we know that Sadbh will be well looked after.

Her doctor asked us to come in first thing in the morning to give her an injection of the antibiotics so it will start to take affect immediately.

New photos.

Photos from January 16 2012.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.