This past week and a half was not a fun week for Miss Sadie or for any of us for that matter. We were all sick in one form or another. All of us (excluding Sadie) had some sort of a GI bug. It was the worst. Thank goodness it is over! The bug itself was short lived, but when it hit, it hit HARD! Miss Sadie, however, the poor thing got the respiratory stuff.
It started last Tuesday when she couldn't stay awake. She got up at 9:30 in the morning and before she left for school at noon, she took 2 naps and then slept on the bus on the way to school, complained when she got to school when the teachers tried to do anything with her, they left her alone for a few minutes so she could calm down and she fell asleep. She then slept all the way home on the bus. Between 4 o clock and bedtime she took 2 more naps and at 8 that night went to bed. Something was obviously very wrong. That night started this horrible, painful cough. That was the beginning of Sadie's terrible 2 weeks of illness. Over the course of the next few days Sadie could not stay awake. Thank goodness for her g tube so that I could continue to feed her. Otherwise we would have had to go into the ER for hydration cause that little girl was not waking up for anything. The cough continued and we would get random fevers, some high 103.6, some low 100.2. Tylenol would bring them down and sometimes they came back right away and other days they wouldn't come back at all. I did discover that her body temp is weird and unpredictable. I know, I knew this a long time ago, but not to this extent. To really tell when she has a fever is a pure guessing game. While Sadie was pretty lethargic and not doing anything besides laying there, here hands and feet were freezing and her core was burning up and her cheeks were bright red. I would check her temp, and it was normal. I would give her Tylenol anyways and she would perk up and her feet and hands would warm up and her cheeks and core would resume a normal temp and color. Other times I thought, maybe she has a low grade temp, but not really sure, yep sure enough, another super high temp. There truly is no true signs with this little girl. You just have to trust your gut on if she is feverish. So complicated. Try explaining these signs to a Dr. They look at me like a I have 2 heads. I know what they are thinking "she's crazy". I agree though, sometimes I think I'm crazy too.
Anyways, over the next few days the fever, lethargy, and cough continued. Her eyes were swollen and watery. She looked miserable. I took her to the Dr (unfortunately it was a Dr that doesn't know her, it was the ill child walk-in clinic on Saturday morning) and since all the vitals and everything checked out ok he said he thinks it's just a cold and sent us home. I tried to believe him for a couple of days, but my heart told me it was more then just a cold. We went back to the Dr's office on Monday (again it was not her normal Dr as she was booked solid that day). I explained everything that was going on and this Dr was a little bit more worried then the last. She sent us to the ER.
The ER worked her up for everything. Chest xray, blood work, swabbed her nose and throat, checked her urine. They were going to find out what was wrong. After 4 hrs in the ER they found that she only had a urinary tract infection and probably just a cold. Her lungs were clear which surprised me (I thought for sure she had pneumonia). They sent us home on an antibiotic and said they would call if anything else showed up. The next day Sadie seemed to have perked up with the antibiotic and showed no signs of a fever. However, the ER called. Sadie's test came back showing that she has the flu and she had a positive blood culture. REALLY?! This is not what we need right before Christmas. They asked us to come back to the ER to recheck her and redraw the blood culture. Tuesday night we went back to the ER for another 5 hours. Sadie actually seemed to be improving with that antibiotic and again all her vitals checked out good. They redrew the blood culture and then gave us the choice of being admitted to wait for the blood culture to come back or go home and wait for the results. We went home. She was stable and improving, I felt comfortable and safe with her being home. Plus, with Christmas coming there was no time for being admitted. Too much to do with my other girls with school and stuff and too much shopping left to do.
We came home and she continued to improve with her lethargy and fever. She did develop a cold, after recovering from the flu and now has snot pouring out of her nose, however, she's still better then she was all last week. Last night (Friday) Sadie's regular pediatrician called to check up on Sadie and to tell me that her second set of blood cultures came back negative. Woohoo!! That means she does not have a blood infection and is not septic. Which also means we do not need to be admitted to the hospital for IV antibiotics. That was the best news I heard in the past 2 weeks.
Sadie would be looking at me and smiling at me and as soon as the Dr's or nurses came in....
She would cover her face and bury it in the bed as if to say "If I can't see or hear you, you must not be able to see me either". Lol
