Friday, June 12, 2009

A First

Yesterday, we had a true first in our family. Something that Brady has never "experienced" yet in his 3 years. Something Lucy beat Brady to.

Yes, this is a picture of Lucy hanging out in the ER of (the brand new, very huge, amazing, beautiful) Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Wearing a mask just in case she had swine flu. LOL We knew she didn't have swine flu, but the precautions they take in ER's in this day and age are a bit much.

Lucy started having a very high fever on Tuesday afternoon. She had her 6 month well baby appointment on Wednesday at the base right before we were scheduled to leave for Pittsburgh. The doc noted the fevers, checked her ears (no ear infection) and said that if the fever hit 102 or higher that I was immediately to take her to the ER regardless of if we were in Dayton or not. We drove to Pittsburgh that afternoon and wouldn't you know, as soon as we get here, I take her temp and it's at 102 flat. Well I decided to wait it out, see what would happen because to me, it seemed that taking her to the ER was a gross overreaction. I didn't want to be one of those parents! Tylenol kicked in, dropped the temp to a cool 100.5. This happened for the next 18 hours. Temp would jump to over 102 and drop again. Finally yesterday afternoon around 2pm when it hit 102.5 for the 5th time I decided to take her to the ER like the doc told me to do the first time it hit 102. Lucy had not been herself for over 48 hours, cranky, clingy, crying and crying, not drinking her bottle or eating her baby food, so it was time.

We got there and they made both her and I wear masks because she had a fever for more than 48 hours AND we had been outside of the state in the last 7 days. They took a rectal temp and it was 103.9

They put us in an isolation room and made all the nurses and docs wear gowns and masks to come in and see it us. It was pretty comical trying to keep a mask on a 6 month old. Turns out, the admitting nurse made a mistake with the whole mask and isolation thing. Lucy WAS NOT having any respiratory symptoms which is what should have triggered the whole isolation thing, I guess if there is a high fever AND respiratory symptoms and you've been out of the state that ='s isolation and mask but Lucy has no cough, drippy nose, etc. Just an extremely high fever!


They checked her ears, no ear infection. So then, poor thing, had to have a catheter for a urine sample to rule out a Urinary Tract Infection. That came back just fine. And that was it! So they sent us home with an explanation of Fever of Unknown Origin! She continues to run these high fevers but her mood has improved and she is drinking 2-3 ounces of her bottles so hopefully she is on the mend.

Brady is spending the day with Mema and Pop downtown riding the Subway and having lunch and doing whatever else the might come across. The kid is a transportation fanatic. Aren't most boys at this age? Lulu is napping and hopefully she'll wake up feeling a tad better.

Finally, if you've read through this wordy long post, the only thing left to say is LET's GO PENS!!!

4 comments:

Sally said...

Poor Lucy! I hope she kicks that fever soon. Nothing would make a person crankier than feeling so yucky your body gets hot and you can't eat. Hang in there, Jenny...I know how frustrating it can be to not know how to "fix" the little ones. Best of luck!

The Zaisers said...

Oh no. Poor little Lucy. Although she is sick, she looks cute wearing the mask. I hope she starts feeling better.

Erin said...

Oh, I hope little Lucy feels better soon. It is always so scary when they are sick and you aren't sure what the right thing to do is. Hopefully she will start feeling better soon!

Sarah said...

Oh Jenny, I'm so sorry! What an ordeal! That picture needs to go in her scrapbook at any rate, poor baby girl...all that fuss and no explanation! I hate the ER...feel better soon sweet Lucy!

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