I'm sorry I haven't posted but I have been slightly exhausted, both emotionally and physically since Friday. Friday night was very hard because once we did get the fever to 102 range, we were still worried. Of course it was a holiday weekend this past weekend, and of course Jeff went out of town for work on Sunday morning. Saturday Muriel was better, only having a 99.6 fever in the middle of the night, but all day she was fine. I should mention she has not been sleeping well at night, usually up at 11pm for medicine and then 1, 3, and 6am she's been waking up thirsty or vomiting or hot, and has alot of nasal drainage. Sunday morning Muriel woke up with a barking dry cough and again she was around 99. Jeff left and I took her to the pediatrician. He said it was probably a upper respiratory virus. So I relaxed and went about the rest of the day. Same routine for Monday, seemingly fine during the day, up at night with a low grade fever.
On Tuesday morning, I called our cardiologist, Dr. VanBergen's nurse Angela. Before I could finish telling her what has been going on, she said I needed to come in to the hospital for chest xray and blood work. Luckily, both girls were at preschool and my mom could pick them up at 11:30 and 2:00. It still took me forever to get out the door. Sunday on the way to church, our garage door broke (because Jeff is out of town). So the car with Muriel's rear facing car seat was trapped in the garage. I had to switch around car seats and put one in my mom's car. That sounds like a simple task. I loathe car seat installation, we all have talents and let's just say it is not my forte. That, plus getting oxygen tanks and packing a just-in-case overnight bag delayed departure considerably. We finally arrived at the hospital to the nurse awaiting or arrival. She sent us off to xray and labs. I saw Muriel's xray on the screen as soon as it was taken. I'm not a doctor, but it did not look "clean". I was immediately worried about another plural effusion. Muriel had blood drawn again-10ml!-for the third time in three weeks. Her little arms are bruised again. She had extra blood taken to see if any bacteria grow in a petri dish.
Angela met me in the lab and took us to the ECHO lab. She was wonderful and spent an hour talking with Muriel and I. Dr. Van Bergen looked at the xray and said it was good. I mentioned to Angela that I know I'm not a doctor, but it didn't look that clear to me. Angela said that was just the congestion, and the pediatrician was right, that it was just a virus. All her blood (white/red) were in normal range after just having surgeries. I asked her why when she had 103 fever was she having oxygen saturation all the way at 94, and Angela explained that the body's reaction when we have a fever is to have a higher cardiac output, thus more oxygen in her blood. Dr. VanBergen was in the PSHU yesterday, but he didn't come downstairs to see us, which made me happy, since he was helping truly sick kids! Dr. Ross did come to take a look at her and sent us on our way.
At any rate, the final consensus is Muriel is a-ok. Now we just need to get rid of the fever, which was 99.1 this morning. Too much tylenol does not help her liver congestion. I told Angela I'm not coming back to the hospital again until INR testing the 21st, and then the doctor on November 7th. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment