NoWingsAttached
Unobtainium Member
- Joined
- May 21, 2006
- Messages
- 4,871
- Location
- Columbia, SC
- Aircraft
- Air Command Tandem w/ Arrow 100hp; GyroBee w/ Hirth 65hp; Air Command Tandem w/ Yamaha 150hp
- Total Flight Time
- >350
My daughter arrived in the USA 10 days ago. When she arrived, she wanted me to hug her and she was a total lap monster. I have an office at home, so i don't always need to go downtown to work. I as I did so she decided papa's office was the place to be in the morning.
After 5 days I noticed she was not making the adjustment to the time change. I became concerned and decided that as soon as her SSN was issued, and I could add her as a dependant on my insurance, I would get her checked out to see if there was something else more serious going on with her. Her lethargy and listlessness did not improve. She quit seeking out my office in the morning, and her mom and I chalked it up to homesickness.
Yesterday she had serious problems breathing, and she became unresponsive. Her lips became HUGE, face puffy, and we started listing all the food and drink she had had, to try to come up with a start for an allergy list for the doc. Her eyes wandered and did not react to motion. I called our Human Resources and they said they could put her on the policy immediately.
We went to the nearest walk-in care clinic 10 minutes away. The doctor rushed out to the waiting roomn, and in 5 seconds told us to get an ambulance and get to the nearest hospital - she was too far gone for him to do anything at all.
I figured by the time an ambulance arrived, I would be at the hospital (another 10 minutes away), so why bother? We jumped in the Nitro and hurried over there.
Intubation for breathing, IV for fluids, blood tests...They determined she was in complete renal (kidney) failure, and she had slipped into shock.
My daughter got her first helicopter ride, to the next hospital in Atlanta.
When they got her set up there, her BP was 200. It was so high that she was leaking blood from her capillaries. It pooled between her brain and skull. Neurosurgeons. Cardiologists. Doctor after doctor. Normal blood count for her should be 8. She was 3. Serious lack of blood. Transfusions.
Around 03:00 this morning they had her on dialysis. She will remain on dialysis for 3 full days. Sedated, of course, she is too young (6 yr old) to handle this awake and aware.
Good news was the cardio doc found her heart was normal, which may indicate that the kidneys can stay where they are. I will find out later today for sure if transplants are not going to be necessary. If kidneys are large, that will indicate a short-term problem and we can arrest the symptoms, use steroids to reduce their swelling, do a biopsy and determine the nature of the problem. If they are found to be shrunken, game over and transplant time.
Next time I gotta plan this thing better and schedule the helo ride with a guy who offers a more reasonable rate. Sure hope there are no problems with our insurance. Our company has a really good plan, so I htink it will be OK.
Jeez, how life changes so dramatically in 24 hours. I think I need to escape for an hour, and I know just the place to do it. 500 ft over farmer Brown's cows, the lake, and the granite quarry this afternoon.
Then it's back to spend another night sleeping in little Xiu Xiu's (pronounced Zhu Zhu) hospital room over at Children's Hospital, totally out of it with tubes sucking her stomach, tubes breathing, tubes pumping, tubes peeing, tubes dripping, tubes drugging, tubes, tubes, and more tubes, wires and other tubes everywhere. And about 50 plugs and monitors beeping and chirping and ringing every 15 minutes. Not the sleep I got at the Western, but at least I don't have to listen to Ron's snoring! ( I really joke around just to be all right. Otherwise life is too damn crushingly serious.)
So, all ye gyronauts of the world. UNITE AND FLY!!! Leave your cares behind for a little while, and just be a pilot for an hour. Burn a couple of gallons off for my daughter. I know she'll be OK, cuz I know she's in good hands now.
And now the reason I spill my guts in public like this, which is not really a good thing to do. I ask for you folks who say prayers to just include a word or two for her when the time comes for you to connect. It broke my heart when two days ago she asked mom if we would adopt a new baby girl to replace her when she dies! She knew how sick she was well before we did. Well, you know how it is. Insurance or no insurance, riches or ruin, we aint' gonna let her die. Jeez. Kids can be soooooo "dramatic". Which is what I thought at the time (stoopid me). Or is that soooooo "realistic"?
After 5 days I noticed she was not making the adjustment to the time change. I became concerned and decided that as soon as her SSN was issued, and I could add her as a dependant on my insurance, I would get her checked out to see if there was something else more serious going on with her. Her lethargy and listlessness did not improve. She quit seeking out my office in the morning, and her mom and I chalked it up to homesickness.
Yesterday she had serious problems breathing, and she became unresponsive. Her lips became HUGE, face puffy, and we started listing all the food and drink she had had, to try to come up with a start for an allergy list for the doc. Her eyes wandered and did not react to motion. I called our Human Resources and they said they could put her on the policy immediately.
We went to the nearest walk-in care clinic 10 minutes away. The doctor rushed out to the waiting roomn, and in 5 seconds told us to get an ambulance and get to the nearest hospital - she was too far gone for him to do anything at all.
I figured by the time an ambulance arrived, I would be at the hospital (another 10 minutes away), so why bother? We jumped in the Nitro and hurried over there.
Intubation for breathing, IV for fluids, blood tests...They determined she was in complete renal (kidney) failure, and she had slipped into shock.
My daughter got her first helicopter ride, to the next hospital in Atlanta.
When they got her set up there, her BP was 200. It was so high that she was leaking blood from her capillaries. It pooled between her brain and skull. Neurosurgeons. Cardiologists. Doctor after doctor. Normal blood count for her should be 8. She was 3. Serious lack of blood. Transfusions.
Around 03:00 this morning they had her on dialysis. She will remain on dialysis for 3 full days. Sedated, of course, she is too young (6 yr old) to handle this awake and aware.
Good news was the cardio doc found her heart was normal, which may indicate that the kidneys can stay where they are. I will find out later today for sure if transplants are not going to be necessary. If kidneys are large, that will indicate a short-term problem and we can arrest the symptoms, use steroids to reduce their swelling, do a biopsy and determine the nature of the problem. If they are found to be shrunken, game over and transplant time.
Next time I gotta plan this thing better and schedule the helo ride with a guy who offers a more reasonable rate. Sure hope there are no problems with our insurance. Our company has a really good plan, so I htink it will be OK.
Jeez, how life changes so dramatically in 24 hours. I think I need to escape for an hour, and I know just the place to do it. 500 ft over farmer Brown's cows, the lake, and the granite quarry this afternoon.
Then it's back to spend another night sleeping in little Xiu Xiu's (pronounced Zhu Zhu) hospital room over at Children's Hospital, totally out of it with tubes sucking her stomach, tubes breathing, tubes pumping, tubes peeing, tubes dripping, tubes drugging, tubes, tubes, and more tubes, wires and other tubes everywhere. And about 50 plugs and monitors beeping and chirping and ringing every 15 minutes. Not the sleep I got at the Western, but at least I don't have to listen to Ron's snoring! ( I really joke around just to be all right. Otherwise life is too damn crushingly serious.)
So, all ye gyronauts of the world. UNITE AND FLY!!! Leave your cares behind for a little while, and just be a pilot for an hour. Burn a couple of gallons off for my daughter. I know she'll be OK, cuz I know she's in good hands now.
And now the reason I spill my guts in public like this, which is not really a good thing to do. I ask for you folks who say prayers to just include a word or two for her when the time comes for you to connect. It broke my heart when two days ago she asked mom if we would adopt a new baby girl to replace her when she dies! She knew how sick she was well before we did. Well, you know how it is. Insurance or no insurance, riches or ruin, we aint' gonna let her die. Jeez. Kids can be soooooo "dramatic". Which is what I thought at the time (stoopid me). Or is that soooooo "realistic"?