All is Well

As everyone is well aware of, Mimi was one sick little girl this past week and landed herself in the hospital. The fun began on Saturday when we noticed that she was feeling a little under the weather. Not running around and playing with her sister like usual. She began running a temperature that night and we assumed it was a bug...a lot of those going around lately. On Sunday she was still feeling rotten but she had no other symptoms other than a fever so we gave her Tylenol and encouraged her to rest. After waking up from her nap she started complaining of arm pain. We thought that her joints were just achy but by bedtime she had a swollen, red area right above her wrist and she was not using that arm at all either. We decided that it was better to go to the ER at 8:30 rather than waiting and perhaps going at midnight so off we went.

If you have to visit the ER, Sunday night is a good night to do it. It was empty so we were able to get right in. The ER doctor examined her but was unsure of what was going on. Another ER doctor came in and between the two of them they ordered an X-Ray and a blood test. Oh the fun began then. Meirah is deathly afraid of shots. When I brought her in for her H1N1 and seasonal flu shot it took myself and two nurses to hold her down. When the lab tech came in to draw her blood, she took one look at my face and called a nurse in to help.

After all of that fun we waited for the doctors to decide what the course of treatment would be. By now it's after 10:00 pm and Meirah was exhausted....but she refused to let me put her bed down and rest. I snapped this picture with my phone as she was almost asleep sitting up. After she almost tumbled over I made her lay down only to have her start crying because she was afraid that if she fell asleep they would give her another "shot". Poor girl, if she only knew how many more "shots" were in her future she might have made a run for it. Eventually the nurse came in to tell us that the ER doctors had consulted with the on call pediatrician and that they decided she needed to have an IV antibiotic....and another blood draw so that they could do a blood culture. We got the IV in and distracted her with weird late night cartoons and eventually Hannah Montana and finished around 11:00 pm. We went home with instructions to follow up with her doctor at the clinic in the morning. However, by 4:30 in the morning she had a raging fever of 104 and the redness on her arm had tripled in size. I contemplated heading back to the ER but decided that I wanted her doctor to see her so I hung out in her room with her over the next two hours to monitor her. I gave her the Tylenol with codeine that the ER gave her but it didn't do anything for her fever or the pain in her arm. At 6:30 we started getting ready for the day while she fell asleep in our bed. Ellie went to school and I went to work for a few hours (no sick time at my new job yet!!!!) and we waited for 11:00 as that was when she was going to be able to see her doctor. Andrew and Mimi met me there and let me tell you she was one miserable little girl. Her arm was incredibly sensitive and painful, we couldn't even touch it and her fever hung out around 103. Her doctor took one look at her and sent us over to the hospital. He officially diagnosed her with Celluitis and after consulting with the pharmacist, started her on Vancomycin and Ampicillin. Apparently Vancomycin is pretty much the strongest antibiotic you can take and because she didn't respond to the first dose of a methicillan/penicillin antibiotic, they were treating her as if she had a MRSA (methicillan resistant staph) infection. They posted a contact warning sign on her door and she was quarantined to her room, which wasn't that big of a deal because she was in no mood to go and play in the play room.

We got settled in her hospital room and guess what...she needed another blood draw and an IV. Eventually she got started on the Vancomycin and the Ampicillan and alternate doses of Motrin and Tylenol to help with the fever and the pain. We had let her open a Christmas present early (the new Tinkerbell movie) so we attempted to make her comfortable and distract her from her misery. Later I left to get Eliana and bring her in for a visit after school and while she was visiting we spotted a familiar looking person out in the hallway. A very convincing looking Santa came in and brought both girls a gift and attempted to make Mimi smile and feel better but she was having none of it. I found out later that "Santa" is an aid on the 2nd floor and every year he dresses up and bring gifts to the kids on 3rd floor when they have to visit around Christmas time. She did score this very nice bear from Santa and cuddled him all of the rest of the night. After visiting hours were coming to a close, Andrew and Eliana went on home. I was the lucky one who got to stay because I was on call for the mobile crisis team and really didn't have any other option. It was OK though, I wanted to stay with her and actually got some sleep because I was so sleep deprived from the night before.

She continued to receive both antibiotics through out the night while having her temp. and vitals checked. By morning her fever was gone but the redness on her arm had actually continued to spread. Her doctor came in and took a look at her that morning and decided that she needed to stay another night. He felt that she was improved because clinically she was looking better and her fever was gone but he wanted to make sure all of the infection was gone (or well on it's way to being gone) before he let her go. He likened it to freight train..he felt like we had put the brakes on the infection but that it just wasn't going to simply stop but continue to spread somewhat. She later to have another blood draw as they needed to check the Vancomycin levels in her blood and make adjustments, up or down. They also checked her weight periodically to make sure her kidneys were handling the super strong antibiotics well. She had some visitors on that second day...her preschool teachers came to cheer her up and bring her a ton of gifts!! She made out like a bandit during her stay and scored a hand made quilt (by a group of quilters that makes them and donates them to the peds floor), a teddy from Santa, a balloon bouquet and teddy from Grandma Margo, a bunch of gifts from her preschool teachers, an etch a sketch from her nurse (who felt bad that she had to have yet another blood draw), two movies and new sockies from Mama and Papa and Eliana brought her a balloon and an angel figurine. We had to make two trips down to the car when she was discharged! Andrew displaying one of Mimi's gifts. Her teachers felt bad that she missed her Christmas program so they brought all of her Christmas artwork and had all of the kids sign a pillowcase for her. Hanging with all of her loot!! The doctor and nurses traced the progression of the redness so they would know if it was going away or not. It started as a small spot above her wrist and spread to almost all of her arm. You could see it trailing up a vein in her arm.

When they did that second blood draw they determined that she needed even more antibiotic and so the dosages increased and we settled in for another night. The next morning her arm was faded to a pale pink in just a few spots and was mostly gone so when her doctor saw that he gave her the OK to go home (after one last dose of Vancomycin that is). Her doctor said the blood culture never grew anything, which was good in one sense because it didn't have a chance to spread to her blood (and potentially her organs) but we never did find out exactly what caused all of the ruckus. All we know is whatever it was, it wasn't nice.

She was so happy to be disconnected from the IV, to put on her new jammies that her teachers brought her and to head home to the utter relief of everyone. No one wanted to spend Christmas in the hospital. We are thankful for all of the prayers that were said on her behalf and as of today she was running around like a wild woman...though she still thinks she should be waited on hand and foot :) She has a week to ten days of an oral antibiotic to take and follow up appointment with her doctor next week to make sure all is well.

Home again!!!!