Kaitlin's First Time Being Admitted to St. Jude

Kaitlin has been blessed that she has not had a lot of problems with Sickle Cell like a lot of children with the same illness. Kaitlin's first time being in the hospital was when she was in kindergarten a few weeks before her 6th birthday. The week before Thanksgiving, the heat went out at her school. Kaitlin stated that it was cold and we were told that they were working on getting it fixed. Fast forward to the week of Thanksgiving and we noticed that she had a fever that Monday afternoon so we called St. Jude and they asked us to come in for a urgent care visit. She was initially diagnosed with a cold, given antibiotics, and she was able to go home. The day after Thanksgiving, Kaitlin was lying on the couch and stated that her chest felt heavy and it was hard to breathe. I called St. Jude again and they asked her to bring her back in. She received a chest X-ray and was diagnosed with Acute Chest Syndrome. This is very similar to someone with pneumonia and it is potentially life-threatening. The doctor informed us that Kaitlin will need to be admitted. It felt like the wind got knocked out me. When we went upstairs to a room, the nurses were like you know the routine and I told them no I'm not familiar. The nurses were shocked that she made it to school age before ever being admitted. Although we didn't feel so lucky at the time. So the nurse went over the process and I felt overwhelmed with all of the information being told to me but now I know how everything works. Kaitlin was in the hospital for 8 days and it was a rollercoaster of events that happened during her stay. She had multiple tests that were completed including ultrasounds, X-rays, bone density, CT, MRI, and echocardiogram. She had a moment where Nic was holding her and all of the sudden, she couldn't breathe and was starting to code. She had a major pain crisis one night and was screaming in pain to the point that she was knocked out by all of the morphine she was given by myself and the nurse. Kaitlin ended up having to have a blood transfusion because her hemoglobin levels were getting dangerously low. It was a nightmare. Once she received the blood transfusion along with her breathing treatments and antibiotics, she started getting better and was eventually released. We were happy that she continued improving. We still don't know the exact diagnosis that caused the Acute Chest Syndrome and all the issues with this hospital stay. We were all negative for covid and flu. It still remains a mystery.