Lower Lobe Pnemonia

Almost a week from going to Camp Boggy Creek Taylor starts having a deep chest cough with no other symptoms. After a few days of the cough not getting any better we take her to the doctor to see whats going on. We had to leave and go get x-rays and as it turns out Taylor has Lower Lobe Pneumonia. I felt so bad for her with the fevers and the cough that won't go away she is miserable.

All week we told Taylor that depending on how she felt, she may not get to go to camp. We watched her and with no fevers we decided she could go. Everyone was aware that she needed to take it easy at camp but that she should be doing better after 4 days of antibiotic.

Saturday we left for Gainesville and Taylor was so excited about going to see all her friends. The one thing that Taylor hadn't done since she was sick was run around and act normal and of course when she got there she was playing and having a good time. Right before they started getting on the bus Taylor started getting tired. I kept feeling her to see if she had a temp but she felt normal. My gut said that she needed to stay home but I know she wanted to go. So of course we let her go and she did great getting on the bus without crying for the first year. I was glad she was fine and it was a long 2 hour ride back because I was missing her and worried about her all at the same time.

After being home for about 2 hours I get a phone call and its Dr. Sue at camp. She says Taylor was running a fever of 102.4 and they wanted to send her to the hospital for x-rays and blood work. Of course we got back in the truck and drove down to Camp Boggy Creek, 4 hours away. We got there and of course she is feeling better cause her fever went away. We still brought her home and by the time we got home at 1 in the morning she was running another temp.

We are on day 6 of antibiotics and she still continues to run fevers on and off and they are just high enough to make her sleepy and not feel good. I'm hoping to get her back into doctor to just make sure we aren't missing anything and that we are on the slow road to recovery.

Panama City

I enjoyed being in Panama City today even though it was for work. I had to stop by the beach and put my feet in the sand and in the Gulf. The water was beautiful and hated that I had to leave. Just thought I would share the pictures so everyone could enjoy. I hate to think what it will look like once the oil gets here. :-(

A Year Later

Well, its a year since Taylor started "thumping" and lets just say this has been a long year. In July, August, and September we went to Shands a lot to try and figure this whole thumping thing out. We did have an awesome Medtronic Rep, Cheryl, that did come to Tallahassee so poor Taylor wouldn't have another trip down there. Anyway, the thumping is being caused from the RV lead that has been in her, then 7 years. They had to turn the power all the way down on the RV lead to stop the thumping, which worked for a few months.

At the end of December Taylor said, "mommy, I'm thumping again!" I couldn't believe it. We were doing so good and now she starts again. The thumping slowly got a little worse so Shands had to adjust the power on the LV lead. Taylor has gone from 3 leads making her heart working properly to now 2 out of the 3 leads having issues. The LV lead doesn't always send the message from the pacemaker to the heart to tell it squeeze like it should. They kept playing with the voltage on the pacemaker to try to find a happy medium. If they adjusted it to high she would thump worse and they can't adjust to low then the pacemaker won't be in its "safety threshold".

For a little over a month the doctors have been trying to figure out what is best for Taylor but what isn't going to jeopardize her life. After Dr. Bryant (in Jacksonville) and Dr. Cecchin (in Boston) talked they have decided that they will keep a close eye on Taylor and make sure that the LV lead stays working properly and see how much time we can buy Taylor before she has to have her pacemaker replaced.

I am relieved to hear that we can post-pone surgery but I made sure that they remember that Taylor doesn't do ANYTHING the way she is suppose too. She loves to keep them on their toes! Anyway, I know Taylor will let me know if she starts feeling the thumping more and I know she is in good hands.

Thank you Dr. Fricker for putting up with all my e-mails and phone calls!!! We love you!