Admission to Hospital

So, we got to the ER and Taylor was whinning in the car and she didn't walk to walk and it hurt her leg when I carried her but I was not about to drag that huge stroller around all over the hospital.  So we made it inside and again were told to wait in the conference room, but not even a minute later the nurse came and got us.  Vitals were taken and she was up to 103.4.  Then with Tylenol it went down to 99.8.  They wanted urine, but she would not go.  She did not want to move.  So many different nurses and doctors came in and out wanting to check her leg/hip pain and find out what was going on.  We waited around forever!!!  Taylor would never pee, and they needed that test done.  While we waited, the doctors were still trying to figure out what was going on.  I asked about t just being a pulled muscle and she said that kids don't really get those, it is not common.  They think it has something to do with a virus or bacteria.  They had her get an ultrasound to help diagnosis.  It came back good.  They took her blood and it came back good.  Later, her fever came back.  They were about to give us the antibiotic and send us home like normal, but then the head Doc was too concerned about her odd pain, so she wanted more xrays.   So she went for more xrays.  They came back good.  The doctors had lots of talks about Taylor's situation all night long, lots of different kinds of doctors.   They decided she needed an MRI so we were admitted to the hospital at 11pm and she was cutoff all fluids and food.

Taylor was still very tired and didn't want people touching her leg, but of course more ppl came in to do so.  An orthopedic doc came and examined her and talked about what could be the problem and why we were getting an MRI.  They said it could be sepsis or bone infection.  If it was the latter then it would mean surgery to dig the infection out of the bone since antibiotics do not work on those.  I did not like the sound of that.  We got all comfy in the room and Taylor got antibiotics and pain med and her normal meds.  In the morning, it took a while but we finally were told the MRI would be at 12:30.  Taylor was really thirsty and hungry and crying because she couldn't have anything.  A whole doctor team came in to go over the run down of Taylor.  It was neat, like being in an episode of Scrubs; all the docs standing around with their clipboards listening.  I was impressed with all the info they went through and nailed.  They helped fill me in on their thoughts and plan while they were there.  Then more waiting.  It was a long wait, but thankfully they got us down like an hour early!  That was awesome.  My husband met me for lunch while we waited for MRI.  She was out within 2 hrs and she wanted her popsicle. We got back to the room and waited on results.  No news, was good news because if they saw something bad they would have called while she was still under so that they could do what they needed to do with my permission. It took forever to finally hear anything though.

It took a while, but a couple hours after the MRI Taylor was fully out of it.  She was actually feeling better than she was.  So that was nice.  She ate some snack and watched tv.  Her leg seemed a bit better too.  We finally got word that the MRI was good.  They didn't see what they were looking for.  But they did see some inflammation in her muscle.  They said that it could be either myolitis (?) which is from like a virus or bacteria stuck in the muscle, or that it is a strained muscle.  So it was nothing serious.  It would eventually go away.  The plan was to give her pain med scheduled regularly to help her.

By the end of the day, she was feeling much better.  She was walking around, slowly with limp (a twist in her hip), she was sitting up and talking.  She seemed good.  We were hoping to go home but the docs said they wanted to watch her pain and see if the fever returned or not.  So we had to stay another night.  By that night, she was doing so well that the nurse and I decided she didn't need pain med and she went without it.  We had a great night's sleep and in the morning Taylor was feeling perfect.  Ortho came in at 6 to check her and he said she was perfect and that we should not be here much longer!

At 9am we still hadn't seen a doctor or nurse (besides her vitals being checked).. I mean what is going on?  I went to grab some breakfast at like 9:30.  Around 11 we finally saw a team of docs and they checked out Taylor and they were going to send us home with antibiotic for her to take but after seeing her they say there isn't really any sign of the myolitis.  So she went to have paperwork done up for us to leave.   At 11:45 she comes back and says there is a change of plans.  She ran into the infectious disease doc and he wants to see Taylor first, because he thinks she should still take the antibiotic.  So paperwork put on hold while we waited yet again.  They said he should be on the way.  While we waited Taylor took a little nap.  A while after she woke up, she diarrheaed all over the place.  It was a huge blowout mess that called for a change of sheets, clothes, and a sponge bath.  Finally, at 1:45 a doc from ID came and checked Taylor out.  Then she left to consult with the ID team.  I finally ordered Taylor some lunch and I went down to get myself something to eat.  I was starving!!!  Then, at 2:45 the whole ID team shows up.  Taylor was fully herself at this point, wide awake and all over the place.  They saw a happy, healthy, silly, energetic 4 yr old.  Oh my was she feeling good.  They say they want Taylor to take the antibiotic over the next 2 wks since it could be a bacteria causing the problems and they want to be safe.  They think the antibiotics are what helped her get better while she was here.  So they left and put the scrip in for the med and to get her papers ready so we could be released.  We waited around a while for the order so that the nurse could take out her port access.  Finally at 4:00 the nurse came to de-access her and we were out of there... Hit the pharmacy at the hospital on the way out and were driving away by 4:20... of course it was traffic hour, and we had to stop at walgreens as well, but we were home by 5:15, just in time to unpack, rest a bit, feed the baby, and have the meal our friends brought us.  Now it is time to get her ready for bed, hopefully nothing else eventful happens.

Lots of ERs

Wow!  So there has been a lot happen since the last post.  A few hours after posting, she got a fever and after watching it for a bit and it rising, we had to go to ER again.  They made us wait in the conference room to be away from others, it was a bit of a wait and she went potty while we waited.  It was really busy.  We were finally in a room then realized we didnt do magic cream for her port access, so the nurse had to go get the stuff, put it on, and then we had to wait for it to numb.  They did the access with the wrong size and it did not feel good, poor thing was in pain.  We got results and her counts were like 11000, still high so that was good.  They did a flu test, it was negative.  They wanted a urine sample, she didn't want to go.  I was really wishing we had a cup when she went when we got to the ER.  Finally we got her to go by bringing in a potty to the room.  Then, they gave her the antibiotic and Tylenol and we were still waiting on urine test.  It took forever to get the results!  Finally they came and said she had another UTI, strange.  She just finished up the meds from the last one.  And she also how no pain anymore.  Anyway, then we went home with a prescription for a new antibiotic.

The next day she was fine.  She was running around being Taylor all weekend.  Saturday night she was playing around so much that she fell and banged her head, cutting it open a bit.  So I had to take her to the local ER to get it glued back up.  It wasn't bad though, in and out really fast.  And she brightened up the faces there that worked with her.  She is such a charmer.

Tuesday afternoon she started complaining about her leg hurting, up by the hip groin area.  That night she woke up crying in pain over it so much that she woke others and I had to move her to our room.  I gave her some pain meds and that helped her sleep.  Wednesday morning she woke up and was still complaining.  She did not want to walk on it and if i picked her up, it hurt and it was awkward to carry her.  It was hard to find a way to hold her without her complaining.  We went to the hospital for our appts.  First it was ENT to check her throat again.  We had to wait a little bit but it went well.  She did awesome and everything looked perfect!  Then we were down to chemo.  It was crazy busy in there, we had to wait in waiting room for like an hour.  We finally got called back and our Doc was busy so we saw a different one.  Counts were good, temp good, but she was down almost a pound.  We talked about her leg/hip and they sent us down for xrays, which came out fine.  It was a small wait there, but in and out pretty fast.  Then back to chemo where everything went well.  It was a long day, but we got home around 2 and we were doing well.

She started acting tired and took a nap on the couch around 2:45.  At 4 I woke her and took her temp cuz she seemed like she prolly had a fever.  She was 102.1!  So, I knew I would be going back up to the hospital.  I finished feeding the baby and called the Doctor.  Then got Taylor and mylsef ready and jumped in the car.  The Doc called back right as we were about to leave and said they would let ER know we were coming... I was happy that at least we were getting this done early in the day so that we would be home at a decent hour and get normal sleep... that did not happen... finish this story in another post...