WASHOUGAL — Books, loose-leaf paper and a pencil sit on a small table in DejaRay Smith’s Washougal home. Her pit bull, Piston, rests on an ottoman nearby.
For about a month, this has been 13-year-old DejaRay’s classroom when Jessica Lowery, a paraeducator with the Washougal School District, comes to home school DejaRay for an hourlong session three days a week.
That setup ended earlier this week when DejaRay returned to Jemtegaard Middle School for the first time since winter. Her return is a significant step back toward her old life after spending 79 days in the hospital fighting an antibiotic-resistant MRSA infection — a superbug infection caused by staph bacteria that’s hard to treat.
DejaRay’s mother, Kristy Smith, 39, said the family still doesn’t know what caused the infection. And while there is a possibility it could return, she said DejaRay is in much better shape than when she arrived at Randall Children’s Hospital in Portland on Dec. 19.
At that time, she said, doctors said DejaRay was the sickest child in the hospital.
At Randall, DejaRay developed life-threatening bleeding three times and double pneumonia that put her on life support. She developed a blood clot in her right leg, and part of the blood clot broke off and entered her lungs, which required surgery. She was in a medically induced coma for about her first three weeks in the hospital.
If you ask DejaRay what she thinks of her prolonged hospital stay, she’s mostly unaware how to feel.
“I was asleep for most of it,” DejaRay said.
What DejaRay does know is that her 16-year-old brother, DeAndre, saved her by calling 911 when he and his mother found DejaRay unconscious in her room. Kristy Smith said the medical episode and hospital stay have probably scared her and DeAndre more than DejaRay.
That was evident when DejaRay battled sickness after returning from the hospital and mother and brother annoyed her with their constant check-ins.
“She got sick and was throwing up and sick again, and so every few seconds we were checking on her and she’s like, ‘God, you guys are annoying. Just leave me alone,’ ” Smith recalled. “She’s not understanding that we were on the other end of something we didn’t know anything about. Even if you’re told about it after, it’s not the same.”
DejaRay said she’s actually a little disappointed to be gone from the hospital because of how fun Randall made her stay. There were therapy dogs, and the hospital let Piston visit and pull her around in a wheelchair. The hospital also had her participate in art projects, and nurses endeared themselves to DejaRay through dance moves.
That’s not to mention the flood of cards and presents DejaRay received in the hospital, which made up for the fact she missed her birthday, Christmas, New Year’s and Valentines Day during her stay.
“It was almost like she did this all on purpose just to get a humongous Christmas,” Kristy Smith joked.
In some ways, being away from the hospital is scary for Kristy Smith, as well, since “there’s not as many eyes on her, and not as much protection.”
“Any little thing could put her back to where she was,” Smith continued. “Anytime she scratches or has a bump, I’m like, ‘Don’t touch it!’ I freak out about everything.”
DejaRay’s therapies are done, and she’ll have to repeat seventh grade next school year due to missed time. But with her life starting to settle down again, Kristy Smith is considering her own therapy options in the future to help herself. She’ll return to her job at Goodwill later this month after being on leave since mid-December.
“I know I need to go back to work, but I’m scared to work nights or weekends or anything and have her left alone,” Smith said. “I’m going to worry about her first, then worry about me.”
