This has been a tough month for Adeline. Earlier this week when I was putting her to bed, she threw a huge fit because I wouldn't put the pulse ox on her. She doesn't typically sleep with it and I just assumed she was trying to buy time. Fed up, I gave in and wouldn't you know it. . . she was 88! That's well below a saturation of 95. I was dumbfounded. Did she know she needed oxygen? Was she trying to tell me? I don't know, but, in either case, the oxgen was pulled out and she has been hooked up ever since.
I took her to her pulmonologist on Wednesday and it looks like her lung infection was never resolved. Her x-ray was clearly worse. I asked why she is going back and forth with the oxygen when she has been off of it for over a year. He believes Adeline has low reserve. We knew this when she was younger as it always took her longer to bounce back from any illness. Now that she is bigger, she is typically able to fight an illness. This lung infection is unique and demonstrates her lower reserve. She has not only been hit by the infection but is also fighting the virus that caused the croup and a double ear infection. When she initially got the lung infection, she had been fighting a cold on and off for a month. She hasn't been extremely sick this winter (until now) but hasn't been exceptionally well either. Eventually, her reserve was depleted and she succumbed to this infection. Maybe this is why April is ALWAYS our worst month. Maybe, fighting viruses all winter leaves Miss Adeline with nothing left to fight with come the end of the winter. And for this family, the end of the winter is always when we are slammed with viruses.
