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Welcome to Raising Califorina where you will be taken behind the scenes to peek at the lives of a Southern California family. You will have access to never before seen footage and exclusive interviews that will give you insight on what it is like to be a kid in California!


THE JOURNEY BEGINS HERE!

In the Hospital

This blog is dedicated to California, Tennesee & Daddio!

California was rushed to the Emergency Room late Sunday night. This was his third trip to the hospital since March of 2007. This first hospital visit(March 5th, 2007) began with the ER and lasted for 3 additional days in the hospital. He was admitted directly from the Dr's office the second time around on May 21, 2007. That visit lasted 4 days. This time around, we arrived at UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center(see photo below) at around 12:30am on January 21, 2008. California was admtted to the hospital a couple of hours later and discharged on Tuesday morning (1/22/08). All because of lung infections.



Because California had two previous lung infections, his pediatrician prescribed preventative treatments(Pulimocort & Albuteral)through the use of a nebulizer in the morning and at night before bed. If he ever showed signs of coming down with a virus or cold, we were to give him him Albuteral treatments every 4 hours until symtpms disappear. This all started because we lived in a house with toxic mold for nearly the entire first two years of California's life (he is 2 1/2 now). Read MY TOXIC MOLD STORY to find out more details.

His symptoms started at around 3pm, Sunday afternoon (1/20/08), when he woke up from a nap with a runny nose. He seemed a bit grumpy, but besides that, he had no other symptoms. But since, he seemed to be in the beginning stages of a cold, I started his Albuteral treatments at 3:30 on Sunday. His next one was at 7:30 and then he went to bed. Everything seemed fine except for his runny nose. At 10:30, he woke up coughing, wheezing and screaming. We gave him another treatment at 10:30 even though it was supposed to be every 4 hours not every 3 hours. It seemed to work so we put him back down to sleep. He was up again at midnight coughing, wheezing, screaming and gasping for breath in between. We tried to calm him down and help him relax but it just seemed to get worse.

We knew that we had to take him to the Emergency Room. We packed a bag with essential items like toys, books, a sippy cup, socks etc, woke Tennesse up and went to the hospital which is less than a mile from our house. We arrived at 12:33 am. He was examined at 1:09 by the ER doctor on call. At this time, he was hooked up to a pulse oximeter which measures the amount of oxygen that the lungs are sending out to the rest of the body. He measured at 89 - 90%. At 1:19, he was given a 40 minute Albuteral treatment to bring his oxygen level up. This treatment was finished by 1:55. He was observed for 30 minutes to see if the treatment would be enough to sustain his oxygen levels. There was no improvment so he was given a steroid injection and another 30 mminute Albuteral treatment. This treatment ended at 2:56. California did not sleep at all until 3:30am in the Emergency Room on a gurney. At 4:00, we were both wheeled in a wheelchair up to the 5th floor (Pediatrics) with California screaming the entire time. He did not fall asleep again until about 5:30am.

He endured blood tests, x-rays, injections, breathing treatments and forced oral medication for two days. The three things that got him through all of this were:
1)His magnetic doodle board
2) A book called "1,001 Pearls of Buddhist Wisdom" (He LOVES to see pictures of Buddha...Tennessee always loved Buddha when he was a baby too - as a matter of fact "Buddha" was his second word - his first one was "Freedom") and
3)His blankie

The unthinkable happened Monday night at around 11:00pm. A nurse came to give him 12ml (which is equal to 2 1/2 teaspoons) of Prednisone. He screamed and gagged for the entire 6 minutes that it took her to force him to swallow it. All three of us were glad when it was over. Then poor California vomited the medicine and the entire contents of his stomach all over his blankie.

Photo of California and his best friend,"Blue Blanket"



This is a blankie that he CANNOT live without at home and absolutely NEEDS it when he is in the hospital. The nurses said that they couldn't send it to the laundry.
SOOOOOOO....Daddio and Tennessee came as quickly as possible (at 11:30pm) to retrieve the blanket. They washed it and brought it back around 1:30am. They are our heroes!

California was discharged at 9:00am the next morning on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008.

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