Rough season for I-Cells kids

This is Niko's first winter.  And so far so good, knock on wood.  Just a couple fevers here and there.

I have been mindful about protecting her from sick people, but not careful enough.  I think I'm about as cautious as any mother would be of a regular baby.  I don't put Niko into the arms of sick people.  But that's about all I do.  Mila is in preschool, a potpourri of God knows what kind of germs and viruses. And when Mila comes home from school she's all over Niko like a windshield wiper.  But I have to remind myself to be a bit more paranoid, especially during this season.  A bad cold, the RSV virus, the flu… any of those could be deadly for Niko.

The two girls I mentioned in previous posts are very sick.  And I'm pale with worry.  I've been thinking about them all day for the past couple days.  I'm nervous as if they're my own children.

Gabrielle has influenza A.  She's been in the ICU for a couple days.  She was desatting to the 40s with a heart rate in the 200s.  They had to bag her to bring up her oxygen saturation.  X-rays revealed patchy spots in her lungs.  They tried to do a NPW but that caused heavy nose bleeds.  And more disconcerting, Gabby started to have seizures and loss of consciousness.  She's on medication now and they are prepping a bi-pap ventilator for her.  My heart aches for this little girl.  I hope and pray that she will kick this nasty thing and return back to her normal sparkling self.  

Amber is still on the C-Pap machine and lots of heavy medication.  An X-ray of her chest revealed that she's got what is called a "white out".  An X-ray of a healthy set of lungs should look nice and black.  In Amber's case, it's completely white with two tiny patches of gray.  White means fluids.  The fluids are leaking from her heart.  She is in gradual heart failure.  The parents are hopeful that they can bring her home, enjoy time with the family, and then take things one day at a time from there.  Of all the scary sad things Amber's mother wrote, the one detail that pains me the most is that Amber cannot put her pacifier into her mouth because of the C-Pap mask.  That kills me!  

With so few I-Cell kids out there, I feel like they are Niko's sisters.  I hope they both find relief very soon.