Bella has always given us some fun medical scares, and recently has been no exception. When Bella was one we had to take her to the children's hospital in Maryland, where they ran several different tests on her. You can read about those here and here.
Back in September while my brother was visiting us, she started complaning that her stomach hurt and she had an incredibly high fever. Jeff took her in to urgent care on Sunday, September 16th. They told Jeff that she probably had a urinary tract infection. They prescribed some atibiotics and sent them on their way.
After having three doses of the antibiotics I still did not see any improvement in her symptoms. She was still running a fever over 105, not eating or drinking, getting sick to her stomach. It was horrible to see her like that. Monday afternoon I called the pediatricians office and they suggested that we take her back to urgent care.
After having one of the worst experiences we have ever had with a nurse, we finally got to speak with the doctor, and he had a lot more answers for us. It turned out that she had a kidney infection. She was currently on the wrong type of medication (which is why the current medication was doing nothing for her symptoms). They decided they wanted to put an IV in and give her a much stronger dose of the correct antibiotics to kind of jumpstart her immune system back to health. They also felt like they needed to do a blood draw to make sure the infection had not entered her blood stream.
The same incompetent nurse came back to try and put in the IV's. They got one good line for the blood draw in Bella's arm, but when they tried to put one in her hand they ruptured her vein. They attempted the same procedure in her other hand with the same result. At that point we were done. They said they could give her two shots in her legs to administer the antibiotics.
Following her visit she had a few up-and-down days. The day right after her last urgent care visit she was doing much better. We later found out that was because her body was responding positively to the high dose of antibiotics. Once they wore off, and before the new prescription could kick in she had a few more low days. We finally saw some improvement about a week after her first sysmptoms showed up.
It was great to have my brother around to help with Lincoln during the day. Unfortunately, we had to put him back on the airplane on Wednesday of that week. Jeff also left that same Wednesday for a business trip to Iowa. It was a crazy time, but we sure were blessed to have some fantastic people volunteer to bring dinners and goodies in. It's amazing how simple acts of service can change your perspective and get you through some very difficult trials.
Bella seems to be doing much better now, and hasn't had any side effects from her infection. We are incredibly grateful for good health. We will enjoy this time of having healthy kids, at least until the next time they try and scare us again.
3 comments:
I'm so glad to hear she is doing better
So glad my baby girl has that behind her. I'm also glad Patch was there to help. We'll see ya soon!!!
Love,
Mimi
I was reading about Bella's past experiences, and I totally know what she's going through. See, I had VU reflux as a child (I'm assuming that perhaps this is her problem based on things you've written).
I eventually had surgery to correct the problem since I had such severe bladder and kidney infections that they just didn't stop, no matter what they did.
So. I don't know if you've met with a pediatric urologist, but I would recommend it, especially since her last episode.
Also, I would recommend extra patience with her as far as potty training goes--it's hard for a kid with VU reflux (if that's indeed what she has)to have the ability to hold it. I mean, think about it: if it hurt to hold it because you have a constant low-grade infection (like I always did), waiting to reach the toilet wouldn't be too high on your priority list, either.
Aaaaanyway, I thought I might give you perspective on some of what she might be going through. Let me know if I can help you out in any way.
I hope I'm not telling you stuff you already know. Good luck with Bella!
Post a Comment