The Fever.

Olivia was always a very healthy baby girl. Not so much as a runny nose of a diaper rash; until November. That's when the fevers started. Every 2-3 weeks, like clockwork she would spike a high fever, ranging anywhere from 101.7 to as high as 106. Terrifying. We went through 6 or more rounds of antibiotics, with no results. The fever kept coming back. She's had 5 chest x-rays, nasal and throat cultures, urine analysis {via a rather torturous catheter experience,} and more blood work than I can count; with no answers.

{at an appointment back in December.}

We kept getting the "it's a virus" run around. But I just didn't buy into that theory. A momma knows her baby, and I wasn't about to let it go at that. We reached the end of our rope in March of this year, and at her 24 month well visit Olivia's pediatrician decided that it might be time to seek another opinion. She referred us to the infectious disease clinic at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville. We discussed what they would do and say at our appointment. My stomach did a somersault when the words "spinal tap" escaped her lips. 

Big, scary words like cancer and immunodeficiency swam around in my head. It was a scary time for all of us. We tried to prepare ourselves and Olivia as much as possible. In true fashion, I researched the facility to the ends of the internet. Read tons of information on preparing your child for these kinds of procedures. My mother-in-law got Olivia a play doctor set and we began talking about what they would do when we got to the hospital- as best we could in terms a 2 yr. old could understand. We prepared for an over night stay in Nashville if that became necessary. And then we waited for April 19th, and prayed a lot.

Two days before her appointment we had a conference call with our pediatrician and his P.A. It was April 17th, and Olivia had not had a fever since March 26th. We started to think that maybe it was just a virus all along. We all agreed that it was not wise to put Olivia through the traumatizing invasive tests at Vanderbilt, unless we knew it was absolutely necessary. So, we canceled her appointment. The next day, on the 18th, she spiked a fever. Of course. This fever, however, did not go a high as the ones before and only lasted one day. 

So now we wait. We wait to see if she has another fever- or if the fever on 4-18-12 was an isolated incident. And we pray. We pray for peace and understanding, we pray for healing for Livi's little body, we pray that if she is sick- that the doctors are able to find out what's wrong, we pray for wisdom for her doctors. And then we pray some more.