Our Little Angel Elliot Lives On!

What happens when you call 911 in Costa Rica? In our case, nothing. In response to my husbands plea, "We need an ambulance, my daughter isn't breathing," was, "The road to Surf Side is closed, so we'll have a dr. call you back in a few minutes." Lesson learned - We are our best emergency response. My friend and I are going to be hosting a First-Aid class at Country Day School in the fall so that I can be better prepared, with knowledge and resources.

This is the story as I recounted it the afternoon after it happened...

"Yesterday Elle got a little congested and she seemed to be developing a cough. We thought we would watch it for one day before taking her to the dr., as they seem to be even less informative here than they are in the states...i.e., "it's a virus so we can't give you an antibiotic. You can give her some cough medicine to ease it and run a vaporizer in her room, etc., etc." We also got 8inches of rain in less than 8 hours, bringing the total to 47 inches in 3 days!!!. It seemed as if the sky was a faucet running on full blast. Mudslides, falling trees, and bridges were giving way because the earth was so wet and heavy.

We had some friends over for dinner. They are moving soon, and at 5pm without ANY dinner planned, I just called her and said, "you have to come over and have dinner with us before you move!" We discussed Elli's cough during dinner and how it seemed to be getting worse. She went home to look for a nebulizer and steroids, but could only find the medicine. I thought we could make it through the night, no problem, until the road cleared and we could go to the dr. in the morning. When they left at 8:45pm we had a tree down in our driveway and a friend called to say the only road out of our town had a mudslide across it. I was thinking the rain was so beautiful, and all the while it was wreaking havoc. We got our kids to bed and settled in for some grown up time with a movie.

At 9:30pm I heard Elle wheezing. I ran into her room to see she had panic stricken across her face. She was kneeling up and flailing with her arms out in front of her as if she was actually trying to grab the air with her fists. She could get out a short wail of "owee" as she grabbed her throat. That was the last sound I heard from her for a few minutes. Between her bedroom and the living room, which is only a few short steps, she had turned ghostly white and her ribs and throat were laboring for breathe with no success at all. I yelled at Tom that she wasn't breathing. He said we needed to put her in the bathroom and steam it up - 911 would have been my first reaction had we been in the States, but here the turn around is so long we just had to get her some air first. By the time the shower was running her body was all white and starting to turn a shade of white I can't describe, her lips were purple, her head was thrown back, and her eyes were rolling into the back of her head. Sheer panic at that point for both Tom and I.

Not sure what happened for the next few seconds, but somehow, she was in the shower with Tom fully clothed and I had rushed out the door to call my neighbor. I know that sounds so weird not to call emergency, but I knew the road was out and I had to get her to breathe. I called my friend that had been visiting that night, and she came straight over with some nebulizer steroids, even though she had no nebulizer. While I waited for her to arrive I went back to the shower to see the purple had faded back to white and she was able to cry again. I wrapped her in a towel and went into the living room to call a local dr. and let in my neighbor who had by then arrived.

I can't even recall the conversation with the dr. because Elliot stopped breathing again. We got the stove running with boiling water to which we added the steroids. We stood in the cold of the freezer (because we were told it shocks the airways to breathing.) We had about 5 cycles of this (stop breathing - stand over boiling water - stand in freezer - start breathing again - back to sleep.) In the meantime, Tom DID call 911. Of course, as we anticipated, there was nothing they could do because the road was out.

Out of desperation, even though it was so late, he called Dan Clegg who was a great strength to him. Tom was crying to him as he explained the situation. On about the 4th cycle of thinking she might suffocate (although after the steroid steam none were as bad as the first fit) Tom finally got a hold of an emergency dr. about 20 minutes from our house. He said for Tom to drive his Motor Bike (they are good for something!) down the beach to pick him up and he would come over with the nebulizer and a shot of steroids. Tom went out and I finally felt some hope and relief. That hope slipped away when he came back only 10 minutes later because even the beach was impassible. Little trickles had become rivers and there was no way he could make it. We were stuck with our little breathless Elli and prayer. Of course we had been praying all along! I just kept telling her that Jesus needed her to stay with us because we all love her and need her so much. She vomited between her fits, I think her abdomen was just that strained from trying to breathe. It was thick and I had to pull it out of her mouth with my finger to keep her from choking on that. Once we figured there was no help besides God and us we had the idea to boil some of the liquid steroid in a table spoon and have her breathe that directly. It worked! The steroid helped the swelling in her airways go down enough that she could breathe with great effort. It also made her cheeks turn all rosy and she had sparkles still stuck to her face from the princess dress up earlier in the day. She looked like an angel! After 15 minutes she woke up and smiled (12:45am at this point.) She said between her still labored gasps for air, "mommy - my - hair - long - like - yours?!" I was so relieved and filled with immeasurable love and gratitude for her. She grabbed my cheeks and looked at me with eyes of someone who knows that living is a gift, "mommy - (gasp) - I -(gasp) love (gasp)- you." We talked and cuddled until 3am and she finally fell into a settled sleep. She still hadto sleep sitting up because her breathing was very much still labored, but she was getting it.

In the morning when the road was clear, we took her to a highly recommended dr. When she tested her oxygen levels, even at that point when we thought we were out of the dark, they were still only at 92 (in a hospital 90 on a child will trigger an alarm) 98 is normal. The dr. administered a shot and two 20 minute doses of steroid through a nebulizer (mask over the face,) in addition to an oral steroid. By the end of a 2 hour session (with no waiting time as we were her only patients in the office) her oxygen levels were back up to 98 and she could breathe again. She is fine now and going strong, normal Elle!

I believe that the steroid my friend brought over saved Elli's little life! Had she not come over for dinner, I don't think I would have ever thought to call her for help. I don't think she could have made it all the way through the night struggling for breathe like she had been with all her might. It was as tender as a tender mercy from the Lord ever is. He is so good. She is with us. We are grateful! What a happy, strong little girl.