In case you haven't heard yet, Holly got RSV a couple of weeks ago. She was admitted to the medical center in downtown Houston on Dec. 5. She had a severe case, with pneumonia, bronchiolitis, a partially collapsed lung, and I think at some point the doctors were making up names for "complications" just to mess with me. It's been a rough time, but yesterday she made a big step by getting off the ventilator. Today they moved her out of the PICU into the regular children's ward.
To answer some FAQ's
1. We don't know how or where she got it. We were not encouraging strangers to come to our house and sneeze on her bedding. We took many, many precautions, but this is a highly contagious virus that is present almost everywhere in December.
2. RSV stands for Respiratory Syncytial Virus, but the NICU called it Rapidly Spreading Virus. In older kids and adults, RSV acts like a bad cold.
3. Former preemies like Holly (and babies sometimes) are unable to fight on their own through RSV because of low immune systems, and fragile, small lung tissue.
We hope to have her home soon. The doctors have been talking about transferring her to a closer hospital or doing some home health care.
Thanks to all of our family and friends who have yet again put our precious Holly into their prayers.
