She just wasn't getting better! Shiloh had been struggling with some kind of nasty bug that just seemed to keep dragging on and on. It was mostly fatigue, after getting through a weekend of fever as well. A couple of days into a new week and she said she was feeling better and ready to head to school. Since she had been fever free for a couple of days, off she went. I will say she has a high pain tolerance and tends to want to push through things. It was a full day, including cheerleading and even an event at the park afterwards. She was tired, but that was to be expected. However, a few hours into the next school day I got a call from the nurse, explaining that she was in her office with a 102 fever. I was very surprised, as I thought she was in the healing process and we had the worst of it behind us.
We brought her home, and Shiloh rested a few more days. She again was mostly fever free but the fatigue and sick feelings just increased along with a little cough. Each day I was sure she would be feeling better soon, but that was not the case. Her doctor suspected pneumonia and called in some antibiotics. Even after a few days of being on that, no improvement. She still wasn't eating much and getting her to drink water even became a fight. Then Shiloh's oxygen levels were not stable and keep reaching a concernable level, per the doctor's recommendations, we headed to the ER. I was, also, worried about the chance of COVID, as that was going around a lot in the kids school.
We have been to the children's hospital before but not the ER area. They seemed to be packed, and our third place they moved us to wait was actually on a bed in the hallway next to the nurses station (there were others awkwardly crammed in with us in the hallway as well).
We finally made it into an actually waiting room where they were thankful able to give her an IV and get her fluids going and monitor her oxygen. I was relieved for this, as I knew she was really dehydrated. All the simple tests came back negative (flu and Covid and such).
After some X-rays (where Shiloh almost passed out from having to stand up that brief time), they were able to see that she did, in fact, have pneumonia and explained that the antibiotics that she had been taking were not working with her. They were going to admit her into the hospital inorder to get her stable.
This was my sign to know that our dream vacation that I had planned over months ago, and that we were supposed to leave for in just a few short days, was not going to happen. When Shiloh first got sick, I we thought it could be COVID, and I thought it was good that she just get it now and get through it instead of on our trip. However, I had no idea that two weeks later she would still be sick and that we would end up here. So I pulled out my laptop and began canceling all the AirBnB, Hotels, airlines, and tours that I had booked.
I know that she was equally disappointed, but I was just worried about my girl and wanted to get her better. Thankfully, Shiloh was able to rest a few hours while we waited for her hospital room to be ready. It was a late night to get settled in, and they started her on a different round of antibiotics.
After a rough night of constantly being woken up (I'm not sure why the lack of rest when your really sick and need it), she did not show any improvements the next day.
Shiloh got her breathing assignment, which she did attempt doing and it gave her something to work towards. Dad came for a late morning visit to check on us and bring another change of clothes (as I was told it would be at least one more night).
Beach's parents, also, came to visit bearing gifts.
Shiloh was still really struggling then, though, and could hardly talk or move. It was so hard seeing her like that. The nurse asked if she was shy because of her lack of response, but no, it was just the sickness. I attempted to do a lap around the hallway with her, as they requested, noting it would be good for her but it was just so hard and wiped her out even more.
That evening, Zoe came home from practice with a surprise! Shiloh's cheerleading geer had come in while she was away.
It was a bright spot to discover the new treasures.
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The next few days still involved mostly rest, and Shiloh still had very little energy but was eating some (school was still not an option). However, she did get a couple of surprises.
Including a special package from Florida relatives.
So nice to see her smile again!
Then Zoe came home baring a gift again! A "Get Well" poster signed by friends at school. It was such a nice gesture!
After little improvement in energy over the next few days and getting back in touch with her Dr., I was told that was to be expected. Shiloh would need to stay away from activity (including cheer) for a couple of weeks and would slowly regain her strength. I didn't realize that it would be such a road of recovery (no parting words about such from the hospital). Fortunately, she did slowly get her strength back and we could put this challenging season behind us. (Then I could morn not going on our big trip and hope that maybe next year we could try again.)
