Memorial Day, 2008

It was a long night, but definitely less eventful than it could have been. She continues to have fevers and the Tylenol seems to work very slowly on them, but it does eventually work. It took a couple of tries, but we finally got a urine sample. I'd imagine taping a bag to that area wouldn't be very comfortable, and I'd probably put up quite a fuss also. Poor baby. It showed nothing though, no urinary tract infection. Still no word on the cultures, but the morning nurse is repeating them per request of the doctors. She admitted they are worried about her. Her counts are zero. She's continuing to be febrile. A dangerous combination. They are also doing fungal cultures. Right now Missy is still asleep. She awoke around 7am while I was talking to a nurse, but I laid her back in her crib and she fell back asleep without any fussing. Whatever is going on in her body is making her body work extra hard and she's extremely tired. More later.

This is why we're worried, this is all she does.


***It's kind of funny watching our day nurse attempt to do the cultures without waking her. Chelsea will flip over and the nurse silently tries to keep her untangled without waking her.

Blood cultures, waiting for answers.


Update, 2:30 pm

We have some energy this afternoon, at least enough to get on her feet for a minute or two at a time. She's been fighting us like crazy at diaper changes, and just cries, moans and pulls at her diaper when she goes to the bathroom, so we were shocked that she doesn't have a urinary infection. They sent it to culture, so it's possible something could show up eventually. Because she's been constipated a little bit they decided to do an xray of her tummy, but I just heard back and everything looks good. Nothing backed up or blocked off to cause her pain. She's drooling a lot today and refusing anything in her mouth, no food and drink of course, and no medicine. She always takes her medicine, not once has she flat out refused.

xray pictures



A little bit ago she was cramping or something so we gave her some oxycodone, now she's laying her crib with this quiet little moan. She's putting herself to sleep, so I don't want to bother her, but it's sounds so pathetic, poor kid. She's out now. She actually ended up sleeping 15 hours last night and we finally woke her up for vitals and nurse assessments. Everyone has been checking on her frequently. Before she perked up a bit this afternoon she was just in a daze, sort of in and out of consciousness. It really scared me as she wasn't even on any medicines. We rechecked vitals and everything is stable, so we'll just keep watching. So far we're doing everything we can, and it's just a waiting game. We're waiting to see if anything grows from any of the cultures. Until then we'll just keep her comfortable and maybe even do a little neutrophil dance. (She needs neutrophils b/c they're what helps her little body fight off infection.)

And to answer a couple of questions:

Amy, no they haven't checked her ears again, but she hasn't had any drainage, or pain and she's not pulling at them. I might have them peek anyways this afternoon. It's always a big deal b/c nobody can ever see in her tiny ear canals except the ENT. Good idea though, thanks.

Nora, a bladder infection would have shown up on her urine sample, I asked. We'll still wait for that culture though.

Naomi, she's on antibiotics. Fortaz and omnicef I believe ... one treats a gram negative and the other a gram positive, so if it's a line infection we should be covered. Our "fever" is 101.5, not 101, and they did get the cultures and antibiotics started before she hit that official 101.5 b/c I knew something was wrong.

Update, 5:45 pm

She's still in and out from her 3 hour nap. I slept most of the time too, I'm making up for last night. Her blood pressure remains stable and her temperature is finally falling into the normal range on its own. Right now she sits at 98.1. Whew.

Here she is last night before she started feeling really crummy. I can't wait until she looks that good again.


Update, 9:15 pm

We had a great visit from Aunt Jenny and family this evening. Thanks for bringing me food! Chelsea perked up just before they got here and was feeling well enough to play with her cousins for a bit. After a while she was back to sitting on my lap, but she's been awake all evening and even ate most of her pizza and peaches! She's downright refusing her meds still and when we do succeed at getting them in her mouth she spits it right back out. We tried to get creative and mix it with her half cup of milk, and that seemed to be a good idea, but of course she won't drink that last two ounces. What is it about the bottom of a kids' drink? It's like they'll drink all but those last few sips. I just laid her down and her temp is back up to 99.8, sigh ... I hope we get some answers soon!