Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Back in the Hospital

So our insurance gambled with our daughter's health and lost. Immediately after we were discharged our San Diego pediatrician got on the phone trying to get the RSV vaccine for Karsie. RSV, which stands for Respiratory Syncytial Virus, is a type of flu that most kids get before they're two that affects the lungs. For most babies/kids it's no big deal, but for preemies and babies who have been ventilated and have had premature lungs (aka Karsie) it can be pretty dangerous. Our insurance company decided to decline the doctor's request for the vaccination because at the start of the season she was just barely over 3 months which is the standard cutoff...for babies that are teenie or have been ventilated. They didn't take into account Karsie's history. Guess who now has RSV?

Karsie had a pretty rough night last night. She did fairly well during the day but started to really have a harder time breathing and was really fussy during the night. We had an appointment as a followup from yesterday's appointment earlier this morning and she was not satting well. So they admitted her to the hospital. After they gave her some oxygen and stabilized her they took some secretion samples and it came back positive for RSV.

Needless to say we are really upset as this was something that could have been prevented or minimized. For now we are just praying that it doesn't get worse as RSV can be very bad for her if it does get worse. Even in the midst of this we have been encouraged by one of the nurses that knows of Karsie even though we've never met. Hopefully that's a good sign. We'll update you when we know more.