Melanie Artigas

Her fevers that day were up and down until I noticed around 6 pm that her fever did not want to come down. It was 103 after giving her Motrin an hour earlier. She was shaking and she was throwing up everything. I was scared. I told my husband “let’s go to the ER because her fever does not want to go down and she might be dehydrated.”

We arrived around 6:45 pm to Children’s Hospital in Miami, FL. I registered at the front desk. They asked me to take a seat and said that they would call me soon. I remember holding Melanie in my arms. I would tell her, “Mami are you OK?” She would just look at me and close her eyes again. Finally around 8 pm, they called us to triage. I explained everything to the nurse how she was shivering, fever didn’t want to go down, and she was throwing up. The nurse started checking Melanie’s vitals. Her fever was 102.8. The nurse told me to lie Melanie face down on the bed because they were going to put a suppository (Tylenol) in her behind. After that they sat me back outside and told me we are waiting for a room to open up.

I sat back down and waited about an hour before they called Melanie. She was still not speaking and she was just laying in my arms sleeping. They send us inside and a person from the insurance came in and told me that her insurance was not active. Well this is another story – back to Melanie. The doctor finally came in an hour later and I told her all of Melanie’s symptoms. She said, “OK I’m ordering a flu and strep test and we will give her zofran for the vomiting.” I asked her, “Are you going to order IV because Melanie has not been eating and has been throwing up everything she was drinking.” She said, “No.” It was now about 11 pm and they gave her the Zofran, which was a shot and told me to wait in another waiting room for the discharge papers because everything came back negative, that it was a viral infection.

At 11:40 pm, they checked her fever before leaving and it was 98 degrees. The nurse turned around and said she has no fever. Here are the discharge papers and follow up with her pediatrician in a few days. Her uncle came to pick us up because my husband had to go work. Melanie was feeling a little better she was talking to her sister and play a little. We sang her Happy Birthday once we got home because it was already a little past midnight. She gave us a little smirk and she just went to sleep.

The next morning I had to get up to go to work. I was so tired because Melanie had me up the whole night asking for something to drink. She would throw it all up but then she would ask for more. I left to go to work and my husband called me around 12 or 1 saying that Melanie has not got up from the bed. She still had a fever and now she had diarrhea. I told him to give her Motrin and that we would take her back to the ER when I get home.

I got home around 4 pm and saw that my husband was taking Melanie to the shower. He told me she was shivering so much he thought she was cold. She started turning purple everywhere when I saw her. I rushed her to the hospital. She couldn’t hold her diarrhea anymore. She was not talking. I was so scared. When I got to the ER and they saw her skin they took her in right away. They started putting IVs in and they couldn’t take a blood sample nothing was coming out. Everything happened so quickly. I was crying so much.

The doctors would tell me everything will be OK, don’t worry. What really hurt me more was that she was crying and she didn’t want me to leave her side. I was so upset. Then they told me they were going to send her to the PICU to monitor her more. They put her an isolation room and started working on her trying to take blood samples and do an ultrasound. People were going in and out Melanie was screaming and crying. I was a mess, just telling this makes me cry. It was so hard for me – seeing her like that and I couldn’t do anything. Everyone was going in and out, it was like a zoo in there. Then I noticed that her blood pressure was dropping really bad. The doctors were giving her all kinds of medication. She looked like a plum. It was Wednesday 6 am and my husband came in to relieve me so I could go home and take my older daughter to school.

I went home, slept a little, took my daughter to school at 8 am and went home to sleep a little more. I couldn’t go to sleep I kept calling my husband he was telling me that they had to intubated her because she was taking everything off. I rushed to the hospital again. It was 11am when I got there. I saw the doctors going in and out. I asked one of them what was happening with my daughter. He told me that they don’t know, that they are trying just stabilize her and that everything will be alright.

Wednesday afternoon, everything was going really bad. My sister came and sent me to sleep because I was so tired. I went to the family room and fell asleep then I saw my husband and sister come in with a horrible face. I told them what happened and they told me “nothing.” I went to where Melanie was and one of the doctors told me they put a catheter in her groin area because they had to put a her medication directly into her heart. Then I was sitting outside at about 7 pm or so. The doctor came to me again and told me that Melanie might not make it and that she had two options. Option number one was the plasma exchange. Option number two was the ECMO surgery, but that this was an option they didn’t want to do. He was going to put a central venous catheter line in back of her neck. He told me she was to weak that he does not think she will make it through the surgery. I was gone. My family members were looking at me, talking to me, but I couldn’t move or hear them. I spaced out. Everyone around the world was praying for my daughter. I remember getting up going to the bathroom and just broke down crying I got in my knees and started praying.

I went back and went inside another room next to the window and got on my knees and just started screaming saying horrible things. I remember when my sister and husband came into the room where I was sleeping and I saw them with that face. The doctor had spoken to them and told them Melanie was not going to make it. They didn’t tell me because I was pregnant and they didn’t want me to do something to myself.

Melanie’s extremities were purple. They told me it was because the blood flow from the hands and feet were going directly to her organs. Right now they would have to concentrate in stabilizing her and then they would worry about the extremities. That night I prayed after I calmed down, please God let the plasma transfusion work.

They came to me and told me they are transferring her to the other side where they could monitor her better and that they were going to put her on another more harsh ventilator because her lungs had collapsed. They thought she was not going to take it, but guess what? She took it so well that they were amazed. They finally stabilized her blood pressure but I had a long way to go. It was going to be a roller coaster. She had so many medications around her, about 10 to 15 machines connected to the catheter: antibiotics, blood pressure, morphine, anti-fungal, paralyzing medication, and many more.

Melanie was intubated for about three weeks. Little by little, they started weaning her off the medications. Once they took out her tube, they started worrying about her extremities because they were now black and with big water bubbles. They told me she developed which was called gangrene. She had no pulse in her feet and hand. They started putting heating pads on them. The surgeon was worried that she was not going to regain a pulse again and that she was getting an infection.

During those days, the nurses were checking on her pulse in her hands and feet. One day, one of the nurses starting hearing her pulse in her feet and hands. It was a miracle. Thank you God. Then the surgeon stepped in and told me that she might loose her hands and her feet. I told the surgeon please just do what ever is necessary I just want her back with me. The surgeon said on a Friday that he was going to put a Vac on her hands and feet. This would suck all the infection out (if there is) and leaving new skin tissue (if she has). Monday came and I was scared because in real life, I didn’t want him to amputate anything. I needed another miracle from God. When they called me to go see the surgeon, I was shaking. He told me with a smile, “I really thought I came here to work to amputate her.” But, when he opened the vacs to see her legs, feet and hands, they had new tissue. He was shocked and I was so happy I started jumping and thanking God. But there was always something. He said she was going to loose some toes and finger tips. I told him it’s better than the entire feet and hands. This is a long story. Little by little she was getting better. She was discharged on March 28, 2011 and she only lost three toes in her right foot, the tips on the left foot, Her right hand is great and on her left hand she lost her ring finger and middle finger but only half way. Miracles do happen and I believe she is going to do something important when she grows up.