April 11th/12th
We got to Edmonton about 11:00. Texted everyone that we made it as everyone was worried, and went straight to the Pediatric Ward. Well the Stollery Hospital is huge and the Children's unit is nearly the entire West side of the 4th level. and it's divided in different "categories". We searched every wing of the Pediatric Ward, asking everyone we seen where Erica Aschenbrener from Saskatchewan was. At 11:30 at night there aren't too many workers walking around randomly to ask. Finally one of the nurses told us to go through a hidden corridor to another wing (which was the cardiac wing of the children's ward).
It must have been around 12:00 am when we made it to the cardiac ward, only to find out that Erica wasn't there. They told us that we had a very sick little girl and that she was transfered right away to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit on the 3rd floor, about 10 minutes ago.
As we've been here before we knew that this wasn't something that we wanted to hear. The only reason for Children to go to the intensive care unit is they just had a surgery, or they are going to have a surgery and are on medical assistance, and well Erica, as we left her was in neither "category". We knew she needed help and was initially confused as to why she'd be in the ped unit instead of a intensive care unit, but we weren't expecting things to change so quickly. The nurses on the Cardiac Pediatric Unit told us that they don't understand why they (the EMS team) would have brought her to them in the first place, considering her condition and the state that she was in, and seemed to be very distraught about it.
Once we arrived at the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, we called in like any other time we visited this unit, and mentioned that we are Erica Aschenbrener's parents, that we were told that she was transfered here, and would like to come in to see her. The lady had told us to wait out side and a nurse will be out to see us shortly. This never happens and right away my heart fell to my stomach. When this happens it isn't good news at all. They always let you in right away and the only time you have to wait outside is if a procedure is going on inside, and not around your child's side, and the only time the tell you that someone will be out to see you is if that child having a procedure done is your child. At this point we are both exhausted by lack of sleep and all the emotional up's and down, and now completely frightened as to what is happening or about to happen.
No sooner than getting off the entrance phone to get in a nurse come out and for the second time in 10 mins says to us "you have a very sick little girl", and takes us in side and right around the corner into a small room with some chairs which kleenexes and garbage cans beside each chair and a phone, and says to us "your daughters nurse will come in and explain everything shortly".
We sit and wait and hours pass. No one is coming in and we are getting even more scared by each passing minute. No one told us anything, except to sit and wait and that we have one very sick little girl. Which we already knew as we would have made the decision to come if we hadn't known. We've never been in this room, but have seen parents come out with devastated looks on their ghosted out, red eye swollen faces, which indicated that they've been weeping for a while as a result of devastating news.
It's been so long in this tiny room with no one else entering it. We were about to go out thinking because of it taking so long that we've been forgotten.
Then someone enters, Erica's Intensivist (Dr.) and one of her nurses, and our world shatters.....
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