About three weeks ago she woke up sounding like she had croup. By mid afternoon, she was running a temperature of 103. It was, of course, a Sunday, so Monday morning we headed off to the doctor. Sure enough, croup it was. We kept her on Tylenol and Motrin and the doctor put her on steroids to clear it up faster. After about 3 days we took her back off of the steroid because she was miserable. You could tell she would have ran laps around the house if she could have just gotten up. She was literally trying to climb on the table.
The cough and wheeze was clearing up about the time the green drainage started. We called the doctor and she said it was very common to get a sinus infection after croup and called in Suprax, an anti-biotic. She took it faithfully for the ten day course and by day 6 or 7 the green goop was gone and she was on the mend.
She finished the Suprax on Tuesday. Wednesday she was clingy and a little fussy and by Thursday she was not feeling well again. I called the doctor after I put her down for a nap and set up an appointment for Friday. I figured if she woke up feeling well, we could cancel; if she woke up feeling bad (inevitably it would be after 5 o'clock) we would be all set. She woke up at 5:05 (do I know this child or what) running a temperature of 103.3. She didn't have any other symptoms. During the night it would go up to 103.5. We gave her a cool bath and tylenol and motrin through the night and put her in the room with us. Even on both drugs her temperature only came down to 100.5.
We got up this morning and it was the same story. We headed out to the doctor and our regular doctor was out for the holiday weekend. The on-call doctor was very sweet. She didn't see anything wrong. Ears were clear, no cough, no congestion, no snot, no nothing. Her throat was a little red so she did a Strep culture. That came back negative so she took blood for a CBC because she "didn't trust this one".
She came back in and explained that Kate's white blood cell count was low which follows suit with a virus. She was also anemic. Her neutraphils were also very low. I'm not going to pretend to know what I'm talking about, but I think these are a part of the white blood cells that serve as the first defense against infections. I guess the normal range is 1.5-7.2 and hers is at 0.9. This is called neutropenic.
I asked why she keeps getting viruses. It seems we have been at the doctor every other week for months. Only one of the times we have been in her entire life, has she had a true infection. All of the rest of the times we've been told it is an "unidentifiable virus", no different than today. The doctor explained that it is "normal" to get between 18 and 20 viruses the first year in daycare. That's fine, but she is not even a year old, has had more than 20 viruses and has NOT ever been in a daycare. That, to me, would be NOT normal. We quit going to the gym in October because she kept getting sick, she hasn't been to the church nursery in months for the same reason. We use hand sanitizer and wash often enough that she knows to rub her hands together when we say "wash". The only contact she has with "the outside world" is an occasional friend over, going to work with me 1 day a week and us. The doctor said that Leah is most likely bringing home germs. However, she doesn't go anywhere much more than that and she isn't sick. Granted she could be carrying germs without getting sick, but how is it Kate gets EVERY....SINGLE...ONE? Excuse me for thinking there may be something more going on. Anyway, being that the doctor was just a "sub", I don't think she really wanted to get into much, but I DO plan on trying to get to the bottom of this next week with our doctor.
She explained that she couldn't "fight off a flea" at this point and that we should keep her fever down and keep her away from germs for the weekend and follow up with our normal doctor next week. Also, if her fever didn't respond to the medicine or anything changed to get to the hospital. She even gave us her lab results "so you can take them with you". I HATE when they do that. I feel like I am ill-equipped to judge when she needs to go in. I feel like my natural tendency is to over react so I try not to. At the same time, I don't want to under-react (yeah, I'm sure that's not a word). Giving me the paper is almost like saying, "just go check on in" and if she were that bad, don't send her home with me, send her over! It is serious torment to me. Looking over the results, out of 15 items on the lab results, 4 of them were in normal range. The other 11 were in abnormal range. Doesn't make you feel any better.
We came home and I called my sister-in-law, who is a nurse, and asked her opinion. She said she would call when she got home and could look it up. When I got home I made the mistake of Google-ing it and scared myself pretty badly. I guess having low neutraphils (or ANC) can be a sign of Leukemia or cancer. In the three minute scan, I didn't see one hit that said, "caused by virus" so I panicked. I called Lisa again and I told her what I had found and she confirmed that was her only knowledge of it. My heart sank. I decided to call the doctor back and try to find some peace of mind, knowing I wouldn't sleep a wink unless I did. I sat and sobbed wondering what is to come in the next few days, weeks, months, years.
By then Lisa had looked it up and found that it CAN be caused by viruses. About that time the doctor called back and explained that this was an isolated test and nothing could be diagnosed from it. She said that they don't like seeing this ever, but that she didn't feel that it was something that serious.
I have since learned (I think) that with Leukemia the white blood counts are high, not low. While I am feeling much better emotionally tonight, my mind has done a lot of work today. I feel like I know in some small, VERY SMALL, way what parents might feel like when they get a dreaded diagnosis on their child. Time stops, your heart stops, reality stops. Even though it was just for a moment. I can't imagine what they go through. I pray that God give them extra comfort and peace. While we are not at a place of knowing what is going on with Kater Tot, I feel at peace tonight. (Did I warn you that I tend to "over react"?)
I also had an interesting time with today being Good Friday. Watching Kate feel lousy, checking her temperature, giving her medicines, comforting her, wanting to trade places with her, really hit home spiritually. I can't imagine what God felt or went through sending His one and only son to this Earth to be mistreated and ultimately killed for a bunch of unworthy sinners. I can't imagine, but am ever so grateful He decided we were worth it!
As of tonight Kate's fever is still 100.5, on the dot, while on Tylenol and Motrin together. Fifteen minutes before the next dose is due, it shoots up to 103.5. And such is the cycle. Hopefully it will continue "responding" to the medicines and we won't have any more drama until our appointment Tuesday. Impeccable timing with the holiday weekend kiddo!
3 comments:
Oh man Becky, I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this. Try not to worry too much until you can get back into the doctor. I know, easier said than done. The internet is a great tool, but it can wreak havoc on your nerves for sure, so no more googling! Let me know if there's anything we can do for y'all. We'll be praying!
I feel the same way when it comes to not knowing when to take your child to the ER. And I'm a nurse!!! I think in many ways being in the medical profession you tend to over-react and under-react! Hang in there. Go to see your regular doc this week and push to look into this deeper. I think that is the best plan of action. And STOP reading the internet. Sometimes that is the WORST thing you can do. (I admit I am horribly guilty of this too! It's hard!)
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