getting better...hopefully

14 days ago Audra's illness came on very quickly.  This morning it seemed to have disappeared just as quickly.

While it is very unsatisfying for us (and her doctors) to not know what caused all this...we are so very relieved that it is not the scary things they were worried it could have been!

This morning she was playing, chattering in Cantonese, imitating our gestures and even being a bit naughty...she was clearly feeling better.  Her bloodwork showed that things are headed towards normal levels.  Here fevers were lower and less frequent.   So....we got to go HOME!! 

 So happy to be HOME!

She will have a more complex immunology workup as an outpatient.  In the mean time we are going to try to keep her healthy and away from germs since her immune system doesn't seem to be working quite right. 

While she was in the hospital the staff was very patient and gentle with her.  We are so thankful for this!  Not only has she been in this country for just 2 weeks...she also cannot understand English.  It was clear that she was becoming increasingly afraid of the staff as soon as they walked in the room.  Can you blame her...she didn't know if they were going to take her temperature or draw her blood....and we couldn't reassure her when all they were there for was a temperature or to listen to her chest.  It didn't help that she had to have sooo many needles while were there...5 tries just to get the IV in, then blood draws once or twice a day...and once it took 3 tries to get her morning bloodwork drawn!

3 reward bandaids for one morning's bloodwork:

So the Child Life therapist brought in a baby doll and medical toys.  She made sure that everyone who came in the room showed Audra on the baby doll what they were going to do to her. 

Audra and her baby getting an EKG:

Audra caught on to this really quickly and she would hold out her baby doll so she could be "taken care of" first.  She really is a smart little girl.  So smart that she figured out on her own that if they couldn't show her the baby getting a "needle" then she wouldn't get one either.  So she made sure to hold onto the needle toy when she was asleep...no one was getting that thing while her eyes were closed!

Unfortunately, after only two hours at home my girl had a fever to 103.  We'll get to the bottom of this.  Soon hopefully, so this sweet girl doesn't have to endure too many more days of high fevers.  Or maybe it will just go away...soon...any day now...that would be fine with me!