Abby in hospital

We realise we yet again have failed to update this site regularly with news of Abby, so it's disappointing to have to post now with news that isn't great.

Abby has had chicken pox since the middle of last week, which is obviously uncomfortable but no real drama in itself. Over the weekend though, things seemed to get worse and Nix took her to the doctor's on Monday morning and she was confirmed as having a chest infection. Last night we felt that Abigail should be taken to A&E because her respiration had become laboured. Several hours after being triaged, Abby was finally admitted at about midnight. Initial concerns were for the laboured breathing and a slight suspicion over possible encephalitis because Abigail was very sleepy and couldn't be roused. This is a known risk associated with chicken pox complications.

The chicken pox itself is getting worse and is covering much of her face, ears and mouth. The encephalitis concern has gone away because Abby is now quite restless (even when asleep) and is clearly uncomfortable. An x-ray last night showed several shadow areas on her chest which were described as "mucky". She clearly has a pneumonia-type chest infection and it's likely that this was caused as a complication of the chicken pox.

Abby has had a line put in (quite difficult as her veins are completely shot from previous attempts!) and is on IV anti-virals and antibiotics. The hope is that this should help clear the chest infection and pull the chicken pox up short to clear soon. Once that is done she can come home to recuperate. The consultants have said to allow at least 48 hours for this.

Abby is very restless when awake and asleep but seems as comfortable as possible. The nurses have also given Paracetamol and Piriton for the chicken pox spots and discomfort. We have lost count of the number of different drugs she's on! All in all, Abby is OK but just needs these meds to really kick in today.

More updates here soon - we promise!