Back to the Hospital

After her first round of IV antibiotics.

Ella has had it rough since her surgery almost 2 months ago. She was activated in November and what we didn't know until two weeks after that is that she had a staph infection. Her incisions were healing very slowly and then stop healing completely and started getting worse. We went to see her ENT and was sent home with antibiotics. A week later it was not getting any better and seemed to be getting worse. I called her ENT (who was out of the country) and came in to see the Resident. He immediately said she had a bad infection and that she would have to be admitted to the hospital right away for IV antibiotics. I couldn't believe it. I thought we would go in and they would just give her stronger ones. Well I guess they did do that, but I didn't think it was quite that bad. I was wrong. She spent the next 4 days at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center getting IV antibiotics every 6 hours. At first Ella didn't mind staying in the hospital but by the second day she was getting antsy and wanted out. Since Mom and Dad were still in town Mom stayed at the hospital with me and Ella. Ella actually loved all the nurses and doctors and they certainly thought she was the cutest. They kept telling us that she was the best patient cause she didn't mind when they came in to put her IV in or take her blood pressure and pulse. On the third day I got a call from the doctor saying the culture they had taken from the incision had grown and it was a staph infection which meant she got it in the hospital when she had the surgery. She has been home from the hospital for about 2 weeks and while the incision hasn't healed on either side 100%, it has gotten a lot better. We are almost fully healed and when she is, she will be able to wear the headbands with the processors by her ears. Right now they are pinned to her shirt at the shoulders so that she can still hear. She was not phased at all by the infection and was smiley in the hospital for most of the time. We have a follow up appointment with the ENT this Tuesday and an appointment with the Audiologist on Wednesday to turn her ears up more. 

I am amazed by Ella everyday. She loves her ears and knows exactly what to do when I get them out in the morning. She actually wants them on. Today I caught her paying attention and watching the tv. Before she would ignore the tv because she couldn't hear it. But now that she can, she stops and listens to the music on the kid's shows.