alissa

What a weekend Alissa had. The story begins on Monday when Cameron came down with what we figured was just a common cold. Leah started with a runny nose soon after. So, when Alissa woke up on Friday with a sore throat we weren't surprised. She was excused from her schoolwork and spent the day mostly lying on the couch. Around supper time, I sat down on the couch next to her to give her a hug and realized she was burning up. But, what was much more scary was that she was literally panting! At first I thought she was joking, just being silly so I told her to breathe normally. She said she was. I knew I needed to get her help breathing. I figured she was having an asthma attack. It was not the easiest thing figuring out where to go and what to do since we haven't found (or even looked for) a doctor yet. I googled a pediatrician around here and was told by them that I needed to get her to the ER. After another call to a new friend, I was told what the best hospital was for our situation.
(Can I say how thankful I am for the GPS my father-in-law gave us before we left NH??!!) The trip to the ER was unusually quiet- she didn't even have the energy to speak. When we got there her fever was 102.6 and her oxygen level was low. They gave her a breathing treatment right away. They also did an x-ray and did some blood work. She had 2 more breathing treatments and the dr wasn't happy with how she was responding. When he got the x-ray and blood work results he was able to give the diagnosis of pneumonia, caused by the highly contagious bacteria mycoplasma. Her asthma was worsening the situation. They wanted to admit her. So, after putting a mask on her, they transported her to the pediatric ward. (The drs and nurses came in wearing masks the whole time she was there! It was a little disconcerting, but totally understandable.)
Anyway, they gave her a variety of treatments that ended up working really well and by Saturday afternoon she was able to go home. She is doing much better now and is able to talk just fine :)
With the exception of myself, the rest of the family is in some stage of "sick". We are praying that everyone will be able to fight it off without it turning into pneumonia.

I was so proud of her in the hospital. When they had to put an IV in, she hardly flinched. She was so sweet and polite to all the nurses and they even commented on that. We prayed throughout the whole ordeal and looked for God's hand in it. There was one neat thing He did that I'll mention. Alissa enjoys reading The Boxcar Children books. She has been looking for one particular one (since she was hoping to read them in order) and the library didn't have it. Out of the blue, a nurse came in with the exact Boxcar book she had been looking for! (We hadn't even told her she liked the books.) She said she thought Alissa might like to have it! A little thing, but since we were looking for God moments, we both saw the book as a sure sign that He was taking special care of her.