One Eyed Jump Shot

It has been an interesting weekend. Maggie’s birthday party was yesterday. It is the first time in years that we actually had a party. Birthdays can be tough and the celebratory feel just is not always there.

This year, Maggie discovered music and made some good friends at school. That made it easier. We had a dance party. I sought input on the music from the girls, from my niece Nina, downloaded it, and had it playing the whole time. For the Piece de resistance, Maggie received a disco ball as an early birthday present from my friend Linny. Dad rigged it up with a motor and lights.

There wasn’t a lot of dancing, but with four wheelchairs in the house, there wasn’t a lot of room anyway. With the teachers and attendants et al, there were over 20 people. It was crowded and fun.

Maggie had fun; but she would have enjoyed it more if she felt better. Friday evening she had an “episode”. She turned blue and was really having trouble breathing. It was about 6PM, just as the doctor’s are gone for the weekend. Perfect. We know what to do; we gave her oxygen, changed the trach, and got her back and stable. It took several minutes, though and the trach change did not really help. This was a different problem. I considered the ER, but Friday night in the ER is craziness. We watched her closely and though she needed more oxygen than usual, she was doing all right. When she still needed oxygen in the morning, I knew we had to go. I presumed she had pneumonia. The docs decided the same thing, even thought her x-ray was clear. She started the med, had a good day and Saturday we were a “go” for the party. Saturday night was a little dicey, but that’s par for the course.

Sunday morning as I was leaving to pick up the cake, the doctor called from the ER to tell me that Maggie has RSV, respiratory syncytial virus. For normal healthy people at is a bad cold, for babies, or children with trachs (like Maggie) it can be much worse. In addition, it is highly contagious. Arrgh. I called as many people as I could. One decided not to come and one decided not to bring her little kids. Other than that, everybody came to the party. It is pretty easy to stay away from Maggie because the wheelchair is a natural barrier. I hope that the guests left only with their treats and not with any bugs.

The capper was about an hour before the party when Maggie started reacting to something. Her left eye just swelled up and closed. We gave her Benadryl right away, but she has looked like this for the past 24 hours.

Could be the prescription, could be just the illness itself. Nevertheless, she went through her party as Popeye. Today we are waiting to hear from the doctor. She is not going to school this morning, but I am going to take her over to Special Olympics. She has been practicing so hard for this.

Of course, it’s basketball, so I am not sure how accurate her shot will be with one eye closed.