Carlyn's ER experience

The end of this week was a complete disaster to say the very least! Firstly I studied hard for a quiz in Micro. and apparently read over all the wrong material because I basically failed it- awesome! That was Wednesday night.....on Wed. afternoon I took my little miss for her belated 6 Month well baby visit. She was totally fine going into the appointment, smiling, being her happy little self the whole time. She was scheduled to get her boosters of a few vaccines that she's had at her 2 and 4 month appointments (rotovirus, DTaP, HIB) and she had NO reaction whatsoever either other time. Anyways, I left for school and when I got back around 10pm Brett said she'd been moaning in her sleep for a while, my mom gave her Tylenol just before Brett got home too. So I just figured she must be sore from her shots???? I walked into her room and touched her, she was burning up- not just warm but that holy cow you are on fire kind of fever. So I ran down and grabbed the thermometer and her temp read 103.9! So I started thinking of all the possible causes, a usual reaction with shots should be around 100 degrees or so, not much more. So I pretty much stayed with her all night, checking her temp several more times each time reading it around 104-with Tylenol and Motrin mind you. Morning rolled around and she was not any better. Basically she looked drugged, she was lethargic, moaning and would let out random screaming cries throughout the day. I called the pediatrician's office (our regular doc. is out of town, of course) so they put me through to the "associate" doctor who we saw the day before as well. This doctor said to bring her in but her schedule was full so she double booked us in at 4:45pm. The boys went to Grammie's to play and Carlyn and I went into the doc.'s office. It was the end of the day and I felt like the med. assistant was irritated that we were there. The doctor came in, looked in Carlyn's ears, checked her throat and said "I am not sure why she has such a high fever, I am going to speak with the other physician because two heads are better than one and I'll be back" Not what I wanted to hear....20minutes later...... she says, "well, there is a possibility of a urinary tract infection" then her cell phone goes off..... then she continues seeming like she wants us to go home and said "I would like you to monitor her fever every hour tonight and if it doesn't break by tomorrow call us and we can squeeze you in for a UTI test, we have to do a catheter so it's a long procedure and I won't be here tomorrow but the other physician can double book you in if needed". I asked her a lot of questions like "what exactly is breaking her fever mean, can you give me a range?", "shouldn't we do the catheter soon, since her fever is so high?" etc. Carlyn sat on my lap the entire appointment and didn't even pick her head up. The doctor did not even feel her abdomen to check for anything, she didn't see if Carlyn would follow the light with her eyes, and she did not take her pulse!!!!! I left there pissed off, I am not a over worried mom bringing my daughter into your office to chat, there was something wrong and this doc. was either too tired, busy, or ready to go home to take the time to find out why she is this was when less than 24 hours before she was perfect!

Chapter 2:
I am home, put a pizza in the oven for the boys and holding Carlyn. I had a tearful moment of feeling like nobody knows my daughter like her parents and I am worried about her well being. Brett called me on his way home and I explained what happened at the doc. His response "take our little girl into the ER! don't hesitate, be ready to go when I get home, there is something wrong with her and I am not okay with just watching her suffer". So I felt a little relieved that I wasn't just being over worried, but we had a legitimate reason for concern. So off we went....walked into the ER and checked in. We got there around 7:15pm and so did the rest of the Roseville population! IT WAS PACKED! So a slight germophobe I held my girl and stood in the corner not touching anything and keeping her far away from the germs being barfed and/or coughed up all over that place! They called her back and then the real adventure started....

Chapter 3:
The physician was very nice but Carlyn had some stranger danger anxiety! He obviously was concerned about her fever and immediately said it could be a urinary tract infection, if so we need to address it sooner rather than later because once a fever like this is a symptom often times the infection has gone into the kidneys. He also said he wanted to do blood work to check her white blood cell count etc. He also asked if I was okay which was nice, I think he understood that I was less than satisfied with our little visit with the doctor earlier in the day. The first thing they did was get us into a private room, less noise, contamination, and more privacy for an infant. Then they ordered a chest x-ray as a precaution, and let me tell you the contraption they had to keep her still was effective but it really really made her mad! Then they drew a lot of blood from her teeny little arm to send to the lab. Next the nurse came in and attempted to put in the catheter, it didn't go so well! Carlyn peed just as she was getting situated. So she tried again, no luck! During this process Carlyn is being held down mostly naked, cold and pissed off. I had to pin her legs up like a frog keeping her still while the nurse tried her best to catheterize her tiny self. So then the shift change came and in came another nurse, by this time it is around 1am. After the third unsuccessful try at the catheter, I was over it. I told the nurse that I will stand here and catch her urine as she pees with the test tube. The nurse said "you can but I don't want you to get tired, it could take a while" so I said I am happy to do it and that is just what I did, and about 15 minutes later I caught the pee, and gave it to the nurse to send into the lab. We waited for a while and FINALLY got news, NO urinary tract infection! Her white blood cell count was a little high but not off the charts. So they said, we are going to figure out a reason why she is having this fever. Then about a half-hour later the doctor came in. He said he looked over her chest x-ray and found some dark areas on her lower right lung. SHE HAS PNEUMONIA, so I said really?? She has had no cough, wheezing, or congestion at all?? The doc. explained that a lot of times your body's immune response is to get the bacteria out, but that is only if your immune system is winning the battle. In Carlyn's case her immune system is not winning this battle and her infection is in her lower lung so it is hard to hear wheezing with the naked ear unless it is higher in the bronchi. So I was pretty much shocked, and extremely happy that they gave her an x-ray.
More than anything I am glad I went in. If I hadn't the regular doctor would have just given the UTI test and when it came back negative, they would have sent us on our merry way. She would not have gotten better and this would have been a longer more excruciating experience than the one we just went through.

Soooo, she got a big dose of antibiotics in the ER and then I got to bring her home at 3am, sleep for 2.5 hours and get up again to pick up her prescription and take care of the boys.

Today, Saturday, she is doing much better! Her fever is slight/normal and she is smiling and acting like herself!

Nobody knows your baby like you do, listen to your instincts and get what your little one needs!! That is the lesson I took from this all.

Love that baby and am glad to see her almost healthy again :)