We checked in to star hospital Tuesday night around 7 pm. Lyla was taken to the PICU to get her IV line put in. Scott and I had to wait out in the hall. Why do we have to check in the night before when her procedure is not until 10am the next morning, you ask? And to that we say good question and we have no idea. I just keep telling myself they do things very different here. We think maybe it is because they wanted to blood work on her first???
This hospital in itself , the structure and the layout are also foreign to us, not necessarily in a bad way, just different. At night all the lights are a little dim so it appears to have this dark gray hue everywhere. The floors are a shiny white marble. I mentioned before in a previous post that Scott and I definitely stand out with our white skin and carrying around an Indian child makes us even more unique. So everyone stares at us and chatters about us.
I tell you all of this to set you up for scene… While we were waiting out in the dark and dreary hall for Lyla in the PICU. There was a short very round women standing in he hall about six feet in front of us leaning against the wall holding her stomach and moaning a little bit, and she was staring with a blank stare. There was a man sitting to our right that was quiet and just staring. Then there was this man in a hospital gown walking the hall back and forth with a urine bag hanging out to his side, and he was staring. I told Scott I totally felt like at that moment I was in a horror movie. Like one of those scary movies in a psychiatric ward. The lighting was just right, people were in gowns, there was some groaning, and everybody was staring at us with these hollow faces. I knew at any moment the man with urine bag was going to start chasing me down the hall! Ha
About 15 minutes later Lyla came out and we were safe. We were taken to our hospital room and offered some food. Chapati and three different dipping options for it. Scott and I were full from our very late lunch but Lyla never turns down food.
All the nurses and staff are taken with her. You can tell they all look at her like she is special. My only concern is that she seems to just go to anyone that will show her attention. I remember reading about that in the book “The Connected Child.” I will have to study up again.
We all spent the night in her hospital room. Scott slept on a cot and I slept with Lyla in her bed. We slept okay, I guess about as good as anyone sleeps in a hospital. I remember during the middle of the night…a nurse came in and told me she would not be able to eat or drink after 5am. Also I saw Lyla in her sleep was trying pull her IV line out. I stopped her, but when we woke up this morning, I could tell some of the pieces on her line were not connected properly.
She woke up about 6 and the nurse came and brought her some warm milk with sugar. (Even though she told me she could not eat or drink after 5). It amazing all the kids here have beautiful teeth, because they eat sugar a lot.
Lyla then ripped her IV line out of her hand. she thought it was funny, i think i would have cried from the sting. So we returned to the PICU to get another IV line. Guess what, the man with the urine bag is still there walking the hall. No joke! They said I could come in the PICU for a minute. I had to put their version of scrubs on. Basically a hospital gown and take my shoes off… oh that is another thing. We are asked to remove our shoes a lot in the hospital. it just feels kind of squeamish to me to do that, but maybe it is more sanitary to do that than I think. Oh well, when in India do as he Indians do.
Okay, back in the PICU they started asking me all these questions, does she have allergies, has she ever been hospitalized, etc… It is hard to explain to them I have only known her for 5 days. Thankfully her nurse speaks English well enough that she came over and helped translate for me. Most people speak a specific language here….Telugu I think. It seems most do not even speak Hindi . We learned that from the Indian couple with the very sick baby boy. Later Doctor Suman informed us that in her blood work they found a slight infection. So they will not be able to perform the procedure today. In addition to her infection, they said her hemoglobin and iron were low, and they need to give her a blood transfusion today before the procedure tomorrow (Thursday).
We are thankful for the doctors and nurses that have done a wonderful job! She had her second IV line put in again. The nurses and Doctor brag about she does not even shed a tear.
The fact that the procedure is not going to be today, she can now eat. One of her favorite things to do!
She is enjoying the hospital food.
We pretty much just hung around the room all day, as they continue to run antibiotics through her IV line. They also drew blood to run tests before the blood transfusion.
Here she is loving on Dr. Suman. She is getting ready to go back for her blood transfusion. She will be in the PICU at that time, so Scott and I went to run some errands… like figure out how we can get better Internet, take a shower, and eat.
More to come.