skip to main |
skip to sidebar
September was a full month of just getting back into the swing of things and school. A few activities started this month and I'll break those out in separate posts later. But the month ended on an oink.
Rachel came down with a high fever and ended up testing positive for the swine flu. She missed three days of school, but bounced back pretty quick from it. Her only symptoms were the high fever and a cough. Rebekah started getting a bad cough right after Rachel came down with it. She ended up missing three days of school, but she didn't have the swine flu. Hers was just a bad sinus infection that settled in her chest. She never ran a fever.
This is why Rachel missed the party where Savvy Kids was taking pictures (see post below). She also missed school. So, now, she will not say the words "swine" or "flu" and said that that made her very, very sad.
Once the girls were healthy, we went and all got our seasonal flu vaccinations. The girls were so excited to be able to get the flu mist. Rachel hadn't been able to before because of her asthma. But since we haven't had any flair up in over three years, her doctor felt it was safe. Also, the last two years that she has received the shot, she spent that evening in bathroom throwing up all night. Made me wonder if there was something in the shot that didn't agree with her system. Jon Paul gets his flu shot at work and they didn't have the mist option. My doctor also didn't have the mist, so I got the shot. We are all vaccinated now!
After much thought, prayer and questioning, we decided not to get the H1N1 vaccination for any of us. I was really nervous since it is a NEW vaccine and I felt it was really rushed into production. Did they take the time or have the time to thoroughly test the side effects and everything? Are they going to come back in five years and talk about something bad in it? I don't know, it was just a personal family decision we made and I don't fault anyone for making the decision to give it to their children. Also, with Rachel already having had the virus, she should be immune. And, we were all exposed when she had it and no one else came down with it. So, we didn't take the shot.
Here are some photos I took with my iPhone of the girls at the doctors office. They went on separate days and they had to wear this mask if they were coughing and had flu like symptoms. Rachel was upset because her mask was messing up her view of her DS! :) I figured out a way to make it fit better when Rebekah was there.
When Rebekah was five months old, I was feeding her one morning. I noticed she felt hot. Sure enough, she was running a fever. I called the doctor and miraculously they had an immediate opening. We were called back quickly and were there for about two hours. At the end of the two hours, Bekah was lethargic and ashen gray looking. The doctor (not our pediatrician), did not like to looks of her. She went to get Dr. Miers, our pediatrician, and Dr. Miers took one look at Rebekah and said she was septic. We were told to immediately go to the hospital. I was scared to death! Long story short, we had one sick little baby. She was in the hospital for three days and on some strong IV antibiotics and fluid. She had gotten a urinary track infection that had turned into a bladder infection that had done into her kidneys and her system was in shock. Dr. Miers was 99% sure that Rebekah had urinary reflux.
What is urinary reflux? Well, Rebekah peed, some of her urine flowed back up into the kidneys instead of it all draining out her urethra. Urine normally only goes one way. And when urine flows back up, germs can get into the kidneys. If it isn't noticed soon enough, infections can lead to scarring and kidney disease. We were referred to AR Children's Hospital for a voiding cystourethrogram (VCUG) and a kidney ultrasound to confirm our doctor's suspicions. Her pediatric urologist, Dr. Redman, said she had grade 4 reflux (5 being the most severe) and a duplicated renal collecting system on her right side. The course of treatment is to take a low dose antibiotic everyday. She was put on Bactrim and all was well for a few months. She had a breakthrough infection so a second antibiotic was added, amoxicillin. She has been taking these two antibiotics everyday since she was eight months old! I hated giving her these, but I must say, she has been extremely healthy! She has only had two ear infections and that is about it (until this past week!).
We went back last year for a check up. They repeated the VCUG and ultrasound and said she was getting better, but it wasn't gone. Most kids will outgrow the reflux over time. She was at a grade 2 and we were told to continue the medications and come back in a year. Well, we went this past Tuesday to get checked again. She did great through the tests. The VCUG is uncomfortable (they have to use a catheter and fill up your bladder!) and she was hesitant to go potty in the bed. But she did and they got great pictures. And the best news yet...SHE IS NO LONGER REFLUXING! She has outgrown it. Praise God!
So, when she finishes the current antibiotic she is on now (zythromax), she won't have to take any more daily medications!! On another note, she scared us early Monday morning. She woke up at 3am and was on fire. I took her temperature with a temporal thermometer and it first read 106.6 - HOT! I immediately took it again and it read 105.8 - STILL HOT! I went and found our oral thermometer and tried to take it that way. She wouldn't cooperate and I just got it in her mouth, but not under her tongue. It read 104.5. I really believe it was at least 105. We took her to the emergency room and she had a bad throat infection, the doctor thought it was the front end of something and put her on the zythromax. She completely lost her voice and ran a fever for two days, but she is MUCH better now. We only have one more day of the medicine.
So, we're thrilled that she is better. We're thrilled her urinary system is working properly now. We're thrilled she no longer has to take two medicines everyday. We just hope now that she is off the medicines, she doesn't catch every little bug that is going around!!
Today we got some work done, but not as much as we had hoped. I was awaken at 2:30am by Rachel. She wasn't feeling well and I took her temperature, it was 103. I gave her some Tylenol and she went back to bed. A little after 7:00am, she woke up again. She was crying, not feeling well, so she got into bed with me. She went back to sleep. Around 8:00am I could tell she was on fire. I took her temp again and it was 104.7! That's the highest she has ran since she was seven months old and had RSV. I called the after hours line and they recommended taking her up to AR Children's Hospital. Ears were clear, throat looked okay, strep test negative, but she has a nasty cough. The doctor ordered a chest x-ray. He said there was a specious spot that looked like the beginning of pneumonia. Yuck! So, she is now on an antibiotic. Her fever stayed around 104 when the Tylenol wore off. Poor baby.
Rebekah didn't like it one bit that her sissy was sick. She was so sweet. She was getting Rachel's blanket for her, getting her stuffed animals to sleep with, getting her water. It was precious. At one point Rebekah said, "I love sissy. I was her play with me." Rebekah got to spend some one-on-one time with her Granna while we were at the hospital. That made her real happy!
Jon Paul stayed here to get the U-Haul and my step-dad came over to help him load it and unload it at the storage unit. By the time we got back from the hospital, they had started working on installing the attic ladder. It took them a while, but they got it done. We cleaned out the garage (swept and re-organized), cleaned one more window and played some games on the Wii.
Tomorrow, some more work. Clean more windows, trim some bushes, rake the yard, install new back-splash in kitchen and maybe start on my Creative Memories closet. We'll see. Hopefully Rachel will feel better. Until next time...
Yes, my baby is sick. Not Rachel and not Rebekah, but Jon Paul. Sunday he had a bad headache. It went away, but the fever set in. And it is still here. He hasn't slept well for the past two nights, me either. He didn't work yesterday or today. He is either extremely cold or extremely hot and his fever hasn't dropped below 100.4 since Sunday. We decided to go ahead and see the doctor today. We knew there was probably nothing to be done (we were right!), but we went just in case there might be something more serious going on. He was tested for strep and flu, both of which came back negative. The treatment? Alternate Tylenol and Ibuprofen and try to get the fever broken and gone! He was instructed to stay home from work for the next two days or until he hasn't had any fever for 24 hours. Hopefully it will break soon.
Rachel was sad tonight. She prayed last night for her Daddy to get better. After we prayed tonight, she got tears in her eyes and said, "I prayed last night and it didn't work." I explained to her that sometimes we have to keep praying, but that Daddy will get better soon. She started to cry and said, "I want Daddy to be better right now!" So sad and so hard for a five year old to understand. Rebekah couldn't understand why Daddy couldn't play with her. But she was content to sit in the chair and read books with him.
You prayers are appreciated! Until next time...
