Adventures with four girls: Arkansas: family, illness and a trip to the hospital

We arrived in Arkansas to see my family but our first order of business was getting Meredith to the doctor. She was in pretty bad shape by the time we finally made it to the US doctor. The antibiotics from the UK doctor had not done a thing.

Fortunately we have access to a wonderful family doctor in my parents' hometown and he did a great job of looking after my girls. Meredith was in pretty bad shape by the time we could get her to him. He gave thought to sending her to the hospital given how her pneumonia had gotten pretty advanced during her many untreated days but fortunately the (no-fun Rocephin) shot and strong antibiotics he gave her meant that it slowed the pneumonia enough by the following day that he kept her out of the hospital. It took a few days but she started improving. Since she hadn't eaten well or slept well in two weeks, it took her quite a while to get her energy back.

While Meredith was slowly on the road to recovery we had a wonderful extended McKuin clan gathering in Little Rock. In addition to the Arkansas family members, cousins came from all over (LA, DC, NY and London). We love getting together with that side of the family and feel fortunate that we're often able to coordinate a gathering. With Meredith still a little sick, we did keep her away from the other kids for most of the weekend so we did a little tag-teaming. We also had a crazy bed bug scare. The girls had bites all over themselves and we couldn't figure them out. Mom and I *might* have overreacted a little and gone overboard on early bed bug remediation. But thanks to the bed bug expert who came over, he emphatically quelled our worries. But in those 2-3 days before we knew that, we learned a LOT about bed bugs. So feel free to ask us if you have concerns about getting them in a hotel!

We finally feel like we have Meredith patched back together and head up to Branson, Missouri to meet dear friend Nibal for a few days and drop the three big kids at Kanakuk for a week-long sleepaway camp. We were worried that Meredith wouldn't quite be ready to attend.... but that ended up not being our problem. As soon as Meredith had her sparkle back, the other three head downhill. I read that pneumonia isn't usually contagious and that if something gets passed on, it ends up usually being a mild cold. So I was hanging on to the hope that this would be a 24 hour thing. But it was not to be. We already had the camp trunks packed (which is a big effort - including three costumes each for the costume parties there!) so I thought we would at least swing by the camp and visit with the nurse to see what she thought. Well, girls kept deteriorating and by the time we go to camp they had temperatures over 102 so we packed the trunks back up and headed back to Arkansas. Meredith was full of spunk and was plenty healthy to stay but she was too nervous to stay at camp without her sisters. It was a scenario that we just didn't even think was possible. So I didn't make her stay and we all went back to Gammy and Poppy's house.

The girls kept going downhill and at 11 p.m. on the Saturday night before I was supposed to fly to San Francisco to meet Jake for a few days on our own catching up with friends, I made the final call to cancel my trip. Jake was already in San Francisco and made plans to join us in Arkansas as soon as he could. And I am so glad I cancelled. I took the three sick girls to the doctor on Monday morning. Doctor started them all on antibiotics (and poor Regan also got that awful Rocephin shot). I certainly hoped that was the beginning of the recovery but Anna just kept getting worse. Tuesday night I stayed up half the night making sure she was still breathing as she was very wheezy and breathing fast. I took her back to the doctor first thing the next morning and he promptly arranged to have us go to the Little Rock Children's hospital. They kept her there for a couple of days - giving her oxygen and different antibiotics. They had a bit of concern about MERS (Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome) when we first arrived given our recent travel so they kept us pretty isolated. Anna had to wear a mask when she was transported between rooms/ for tests/ etc and staff who came into the room had to wear a protective jacket-like thing, gloves and a mask, too. Given that we had someone coming to check on her at least every hour, they went through a LOT of disposable garments!

Except for the IV and the oxygen, Anna thought the hospital was just fine. She had mom and dad to herself the whole time, room service (with ice cream and jello), unlimited selection of movies and a lady who brought her toys. Uncle Tim and Aunt Vanessa also brought her just what she wanted - a stuffed My Little Pony. It's too bad she felt rotten enough that she really didn't get to enjoy many of the hospital amenities but she still didn't think it was terrible. She slept a lot. And pulled her oxygen tube out a lot. She definitely felt a lot better in the hours before we left so she watched a couple of movies that day. We are thankful for the care she receive and are so happy that she was put on the road to full recovery.

After that little adventure we stayed put for a few days and then ventured up to Fayetteville where Uncle John lives. We do an annual Scroggin family extended family gathering there each year. Due to new babies, soon-to-arrive babies and house moves, our gathering was a little smaller this year but we still had a great group and it was wonderful to catch up with that side of the family (Earl, Cathy, Alexa, Elie, Abram, Jordan and David). I was also able to catch up with some college and high school friends while Gammy and Poppy babysat. We were worried about them getting pneumonia, too, but at that point they had spent so much time with them, it was a little too late to worry about exposure! We had breakfast with another Scroggin cousin (Kimberly) and then hit the road back to Petit Jean to get packed up for our drive across Tennessee and North Carolina). Poppy was sweet enough to drive with us to Nashville where we picked up a rental minivan and returned Gammy's minivan to her (probably a little less clean than when she loaned it to us!).

Many thanks to all the friends and family who made an effort to see us and who helped us out. We were probably a little more work for everyone this trip but we're still so thankful we were able to see so many people even when we were balancing sick kids throughout our several weeks there.

Girls are happy to be reunited with Poppy (and Gammy)

Uncle Tim arranged for us to rent bicycles to use on the new bicycle path at Petit Jean State Park near Poppy and Gammy's new mountain house. Meredith wasn't ever able to ride hers but the other girls, Poppy and I had an outing on our first day up on the mountain.

Anna was pretty comfortable in her kid seat on my bike

Poppy hadn't been on a bike in a while but he gamely hopped on and took a spin with us. Gammy even practiced at home on her bike but due to illness and doctor's appointments we weren't able to take her out for a ride.

Building a fire for s'mores with a beautiful view

Jane trying to blow bubbles in the fire

S'more time - too bad Meredith was too sick to join in

Poppy adventure with Anna - paddle boating

Poppy adventure with Jane - fishing which is one of her favorite activities

Enjoying the church playground after the potluck. So happy my kids get to experience an old-fashioned church potluck (I had *many* of those growing up!)

Visiting Uncle Tim and Aunt Vanessa and getting some quality time with Jack Dog

3rd Annual extended McKuin family pool party at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock. This may be the only July where it was a little chilly for swimming. Jane was my only one who made it all the way in and she thoroughly enjoyed the spiral slide a few times.

Anna made it in about up to her knees

Bedtime story from Uncle John. Note the title (Bear Feels Sick). We got a kids' meal at Chick-Fil-A and although we didn't get this specific book, Gammy got them to give us that one to take to Meredith since she was still so sick.

Enjoying the shops of South Main in Little Rock with Uncle John and Aunt Vanessa

One of my favorite photos from the summer - I woke up in our condominium in Branson to find Anna quietly sitting with Poppy and enjoying the view.

Yay! A few days with dear friend, Nibal and her daughter Leila. We were good friends in Charlotte and her family relocated to Overland Park, KS when we moved to Abu Dhabi. We try to meet in Missouri or Arkansas in the summers. This is the start of our day at Silver Dollar City - a great amusement park near Branson.

Anna and Poppy - shortly before he takes her back to condo and she takes 3 1/2 hour nap. The 2nd round of sickness is beginning....

Meredith feels great at this point and happily hops on a few rides. Here are Leila and Meredith enjoying a little roller coaster.

Look at those smiles!

Ready for another ride

Laura and Nibal - wonderful to get some time to catch up!

Playground at the condo - we lasted about 5 minutes before mosquitoes and tired kids sent us home

Umm - any signs that these kids are getting sick?? Waiting for our table the night before what was supposed to be camp drop off and these kids had about as much pep as knots on a log. The sadness for the other three begins (Meredith actually felt fine this night - was just bored because no one would play with er)

Fun clown ice cream at the Keeter Center at the College of the Ozarks where the college students run a farm, restaurant and hotel instead of paying tuition.

Back to Gammy and Poppy's hometown for our 3rd trip to the doctor in a week.

Two days later Anna continued to get worse so off to Little Rock Children's Hospital we go

See her oxygen? She wasn't a fan of the oxygen but certainly liked the My Little Pony that Uncle Tim and Aunt Vanessa brough.

Room service for breakfast.

Discharge comes in the form of a Little Red Wagon. We felt celebrated on our way out.

Next stop - Fayetteville to stay with Uncle John. Meredith (who is feeling great at this point) was happy to help give Jack a bath with Uncle Time

Happy birthday to me!

Happy that Cousin Alexa could join us with Elie and Abram

Meredith, Uncle John, Jake and I were able to take a quick trip to Chrystal Bridges - the new American Art museum in Bentonville. Meredith got a paint palette cookie.

Then we stopped by to see Meme (Gammy's mom - my grandmother). She has Alzheimer's and we were amazed that she knew who I was when she saw me. We could only take Meredith as we couldn't take the other sick kids but she was happy to see at least one of them.

John organized a wonderful evening out (grown-ups only) out at Blessings Golf course with some college and high school friends of mine. Here I am with Stacy and Holly (left), two college friends and Melinda (right), a friend from high school.