We had big plans for our Memorial Day weekend. We spent Thursday and Friday prior preparing the yard, and grocery shopping. We planned to grill out with friends and family, swim and maybe even set off some fireworks.
Yeah, not so much.
Sunday morning greeted us with a particularly grouchy Olivia. She is usually very good during church, but she had a hard time this day. That should have been my first clue for what we had coming. We survived though, with minimal embarrassment for Momma. We went to family's for Sunday dinner. Olivia fell asleep on the way over there, which is typical because we go over right at nap time, but she always wakes up happy when we get there. This time she kept on sleeping. Again, another clue. When it came time to eat we laid her on her nap mat and I noticed she was kind of warm- but just attributed it to the fact that the kid's a furnace when she sleeps. A few minutes later, I felt of her again and she was on fire. I didn't have a thermometer with us at the time (a mistake I won't make again) but I would wager that her fever was upwards of 103.
We called the nurse line when we got home, because we still had not been able to break her fever and there was an ominous bug bite on her upper arm. Given her history and the current conditions they advised that we bring her to the ER. They did more blood work, a urinalysis, and a chest x-ray. The ER doctor said he saw some inflammation on the chest x-ray and that her blood count was elevated. And Momma and Daddy breathed a sigh of relief that we finally had an answer and not another "virus brush-off." {Side note: if hear the word virus come out of another doctor's mouth I will scream.}
The fever continued through Monday with a little coughing and vomiting sprinkled in. We had been told to follow up with our regular doctor so I called Tuesday morning to make her appointment. She was just miserable all morning. Luckily her fever broke a little while before we had to leave for the doctor and she was saying she wanted chicken- so we went for chicken. After lunch we headed to the doctor, they took us back quickly. So thankful for our pediatrician's office. They are so wonderful. We always see Miss April, the PA, she is amazing with Olivia.
And that makes me pretty much love her. She had been copied in on all the tests that the ER had run and to my dismay, she disagreed with the ER doc. She saw no elevation in her blood count and nothing remarkable on the chest x-ray. So here we are with another unexplained fever. Ugh. We agreed that we would reschedule an appointment with the Infectious Disease Clinic at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.
After her appointment (and lots of stickers and suckers from Ms. Doris at the front desk) Olivia was still in high spirits so we decided to run a couple of quick errands. By the time we got home her fever had come back and it wasn't here to stay for a while. She just laid at the end of our bed and looked blankly at the TV until she fell asleep. She woke up every hour on the hour, crying inconsolably. Heartbreaking.
I ended up staying home from work on Wednesday. She continued to fight the fevers, and we waited on the phone call from the doctor's office about our referral to Vanderbilt. I prayed that they could get us in, prayed that the fever would break, prayed for guidance and wisdom, prayed for rest for her- and me, but mostly I thanked God that we are surrounded by group of people who love us so well.
Yesterday, I went ahead and went to work. Olivia had been fever free for 10 hours so I decided to give it a shot. We made it to 1 o'clock before I got a phone call. The fever was back, and it was back in a big way. She was having trouble swallowing and was dehydrated. There was a fury of phone calls. One grandmother driving across town to pick up a thermometer from another grandmother, then taking it to another grandmother. (did you get all that?) And then more phone calls. One to Daddy, one to the doctor. We talked with the nurse for about 20 minutes and at the end of the conversation we all agreed that Olivia needed some fluids for hydration. She had only had 1 wet diaper in 48 hours. So I left work, picked her up, and headed straight for the ER. We must have sat in that waiting room for 2 hours before a friend who works there happened to walk through. She said that she would get us back as soon as she could. We were in a room 15 minutes later. Thanks Jess!
No one wanted to give Olivia an IV unless we had to, so we waited for about 2 hours while I tried fruitlessly to get Olivia to drink something. Let me tell you, if a 2yr. old doesn't want to drink- they're not gonna. In all that time she maybe drank the equivalent of about 2 tablespoons. So it was decided that an IV was necessary. Rip my heart out now. Three very sweet nurses came in and talked with Olivia before the procedure, then another came in for the actual stick. She was less than patient with our little one. :( It's sad that it only took that one nurse to make our visit to the ER so unpleasant. She scared the pants off Olivia, and every time the IV monitor would beep Olivia would start to cry again because she knew the mean nurse was coming back.
They also did a throat culture since she was having difficulty swallowing- it of course, came back negative. Thankfully, the IV process went pretty quickly (30 minutes maybe) and we got to go home soon there after. I'm so thankful to those of you who have been praying for Olivia and our family during this time.
Today, Olivia had been fever free so far and seems to be in good spirits. Praying it stays that way. We go to Vanderbilt on the 14th. I'll update everyone after that.
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