Latest update

Hannah is still in the hospital after a restless night. Those of you reading this in our immediate area know that a "wintry mix" was coming into East Tennessee last night. I came home because of a presentation I was to do this morning, and because Zach was to be in a bowling tournament. Both our activities got canceled, so I am doing a little grading before heading back to the hospital.

Actual road conditions are not too bad here--activities were canceled because of the forecast, which was probably wise in light of potential liability. We're hearing from surrounding areas that the wintry mix turned very bad in some places. (The church's Youth director is stuck in Atlanta with several teachers. Restaurants are all closed, and the hotel manager is trying to find someone who will bring food in for them so they don't go hungry.)

Janet stayed at the hospital, and said Hannah was awake a lot--no real indication of why, either. I'll take the laptop with me and update more about Hannah from there. I've talked to Janet twice on the phone, but once a nurse was there, and another time Hannah's oxygen alarm went off, and Janet had to go, so I don't know much at this point. (For those who don't know, oxygen alarm 99% of the time is not a major problem, so don't worry.)

What we do know: Hannah has RSV again. Last year when she got it, she was hospitalized for 11 days. We hope for a shorter stay this time for two reasons:

1. She's been getting those expensive Synagis shots. Synagis doesn't totally prevent RSV, but rather boosts the body's ability to fight RSV, so she is not hit as hard.
2. She's a year older. Next year she probably won't even get the Synagis shots, because older children can fight it off on their own.

We shall see.

How did she wind up at the hospital? Ironically enough, she went to the pediatrician for a Synagis shot. She's been a little snottier than usual the last few days (so has Zach, but that's different), and they pretty routinely stick a pulse-ox meter on her anyway, which they did. Her oxygen was running in the mid-80s. So she had another ambulance ride. This is annoying, because I had her on a pulse-ox on Wednesday night, and she ran 97 to 100 the entire night, and after they got her to the hospital she came back up to that level on room air and has stayed there. She had been doing so well we didn't even put the oxygen tank in the trunk. I guess we will learn to just put the dang thing in there any time we go to the doctor's office.

So I don't think this one will be really hard on Hannah--harder, really, on everyone else because of the time disruption and the expense.

More later.