but you first look for horses when you hear the sounds of hooves galloping towards you.
when clover got sick almost two weeks ago, i had no idea what would unfold in the days that followed. everyone thought that she had a tummy bug. a nasty, clingy, unwelcome yet ordinary virus. like anyone fighting gastro, she became dehydrated and on the morning of the fifth day, alec and i decided to get her to the children’s hospital for some specialized care.

in the er, they determined (as we already knew) that she was indeed dehydrated. the chicken was not herself. she had no energy, no color, no spunk. the medical team was convinced that she would be all better after a night of fluids. all the symptoms she had (lethargy, vomiting, fast breathing, increased heart rate, lowered temperature etc…) could be and were being attributed to the stomach flu and resulting dehydration. that was the most likely cause and in medicine, you have to look at the obvious first. they gave her medication to stop the vomiting and hooked her up to the standard NG tube for intense rehydration. alec brought me chocolate, fresh clothes and some red wine disguised in a travel coffee mug. i settled into the parent “bed” next to the hospital crib and did my best rendition of sleeping. i was distracted by worry and the cacophony of noises coming from my temporary neighbors. as soon as it was declared morning in the windowless short stay unit, i expected a perky little baby to at least smile at me. everyone was surprised to find that there was no improvement. once the medication wore off, she started to get sick again. time seemed to slow down and speed up all at once. suddenly we had been in the short stay unit for 2 days and unlike the other patients who were going home after 12 hours, clover was sent up to a ward. i was shown a place where i could shower and was given a much appreciated box of donated toiletries. this was looking like an extended stay. the littlest patient fell asleep again which is pretty much all she had been doing for the last string of days. i was getting scared. the chicken is never quiet. she is always on the move. at home, she would wake if a neighbor turned a light on in their house down the block just to see what was going on. her personality is one to not miss a thing, so it was devastating and eerie to watch her be wheeled through the bright and busy emergency department and up in the loudest service elevator ever without even a wiggle of a finger.
the only thing that kept me going that night was the great doctor who had started to finally look for the zebras.


turns out that our girl is no garden variety clover. this was not a stubborn virus… it may well have started as one, but what was keeping her down and making her so sick was actually a metabolic disorder, Ketonic Hypoglycemia. we now know that any stress, illness or extended fasting triggers accelerated ketosis in her itty bitty body. the reason she was not improving was that she needed a specific treatment and not the standard fluids by NG tube. we turned a corner the next morning after she had the IV solution. she was still very ill, but she was flashing those 4 pearly whites of hers and i tell you what, i have never seen such beautiful smiles. ever.

the recovery is ongoing. she is still not all better, but she is home. leaving the hospital with her after this whole thing was as euphoric as the day we brought her home after the twins’ birth.

even with my mind on my own sick child, there was no way to avoid the grief that sits everywhere in the hospital. i pray for the teen whose room was decorated as if she had been there for months. i pray for the mom i encountered weeping in the parent’s room. i felt so guilty making my instant coffee knowing that my heart was light and we would be leaving this place with our daughter. whole. i also could not stop thinking about the blogger families who have recently lost their children both unexpectedly and after tough fights. i had a moment’s glimpse of their world beyond their words on the internet and my heart broke all over again for them. i am even more determined to work on living in the moment because that is the only moment we have.

while we know what happened to clover. we don’t know why. most children with this disorder have no underlying disease causing it. they are small kids and as they get bigger, their bodies are better at handling the fatty acid and they literally grow out of it. as we left the royal children’s hospital, there were some outstanding test results, but we did not think about them. they came back today and there were not completely normal. since they are a screening test and not a diagnostic, it leaves us with questions not answers and once again, we are on the lookout for zebras.
i could not call the states, so my blackberry kept me connected via email, twitter and facebook.

the overwhelming outpouring of kind words and prayers from people all over the world lifted my spirits when i needed it most. just when i thought i would feel isolated, my family felt supported. i can’t thank you all enough. please keep the chicken in your thoughts as she deals with this. she is just a dot of a girl, but she is amazing.
a few images from my visual diary of those days.






i forward to the next blog post so i can fill it with photos of all my children. together.