Sickness

I think one of the most helpless feelings in the world occurs when you have a sick child. This is made worse when you are in the hospital with a sick child, and even as the doctors and nurses are doing everything they can to help, your little girl seems to be getting sicker and sicker. About two weeks ago, Abby got a cough and fever that I didn't think too much about. I took her to the doctor Saturday morning. They thought she had pneumonia because she was having trouble breathing, her heart was racing a million miles a minute, and her oxygen levels were really low. We were sent right to Primary Children's Hospital. We spent 4 hours in the ER while they observed her. I am so grateful to a dedicated nurse who watched Abby carefully. We were almost released twice based on the doctor's observations, but the nurse who was in charge of us had some reservations which lead to Abby being admitted. For the rest of Saturday and until Sunday night, she seemed to get worse.

In addition to the fever, cough, respiratory issues, and accelerated heart rate, Abby had red eyes and sores in her mouth.

They drew blood, sucked out snot, did nasal swabs for all kinds of tests, and consulted infectious disease doctors. They threw out all kinds of possibilities: pneumonia, mycoplasma (walking pneumonia), adenovirus, atypical measles, Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, and Kawasaki Disease. Everything they tested for came back negative.

Sunday morning she was moved from a regular room to a negative air-flow one since they couldn't figure out what was making her so sick and therefore didn't know how contagious it was. They never were able to figure out what she had. Apparently there are all kinds of viruses out there that they don't yet have tests for. It's not that unusual for a baby/small child to get an unidentified virus which will cause the fever, cough...but Abby's situation was so strange because of her eyes and mouth.

Finally on Monday morning she was almost back to her normal, crazy self. The purple tongue below wasn't part of the sickness, although that would have been another interesting symptom.

I love Primary Children's Hospital, the doctors, nurses, techs, etc. are amazing. As we checked in they told us that we could order any food for Abby any time during the day. When Rich told me that the first time he called, they answered "Food service, what can we do for Abigail today?", I started crying. I know this is such a little detail, but it meant so much to me. She was released on Tuesday afternoon, but had to stay in "quarantine" for an extra week to make sure she didn't spread anything.

I am so glad this is over. We owe a huge thanks to my mom. She was so sweet to stay with us and help so that Rich and I could spend as much time at the hospital with Abby as possible.

I am also thankful for the many thoughts and prayers, cards, gifts, meals, calls and visits we received. We know how lucky we are to have family and friends who care.