Honest, I’m calling quits on this week!
Unbeknownst to me, I stepped on an emotional rollercoaster Saturday, and have yet to get off. Newest woke up Saturday morning with a low-grade fever. Nothing alarming, but considering we had just been to the doctor the Monday prior for bilateral ear infections, it was a little frustrating we were headed down the sick path yet again. By that evening, she was rocking a 102.8 temp. Still, I didn’t panic. She was on a strong antibiotic (they had already tried one antibiotic which didn’t clear up the ears, so now we were on day 7 of a stronger one) so logically, I assumed it was a virus. By Sunday midday we hit 105.5.
Yes, you read that correctly…105.5! Queue the first wave of panic.
We dropped everything and headed for the pediatrician. By the time we arrived, the ibuprofen was kicking in and the fever had dropped marginally, but still high. They tested her for the flu and RSV (please note, I felt like the worst parent in the world when talking to the doctor, we realized we never took her back for the second part of the baby flu vaccine. I just knew it was going to be the flu then). Both tests came back negative.
You know that moment when one doctor leaves the room, but two come back in and you know things are about to hit the fan??? Yeah, that was us!
Turns out her white blood count was hanging out around 30K. Now, if you’re like me, this doesn’t mean much, but let’s put it in perspective…it should have been around 10K. Off to the hospital we went. By the time we reached the ER and were taken back to the room, the ibuprofen was in full effect, her temp was normal, and she was determined to climb every surface in the place. The resident MD looked at us like we were crazy, and said maybe the pediatrician’s chemistry machine just wasn’t reading accurately.
Ha!
When his lab work came back with her white count hitting 39K, we suddenly had the attention of not only the resident but also the attending, as well as, a med student. They couldn’t believe the kid they were looking at had a white count of almost 40K while on a strong antibiotic, which meant the alarms for some very serious issues were ringing all over the place. The hours of torture that ensued were some of the darkest of my life. Outwardly, I was trying my best to hold it together, staying positive. But on the inside…it was ugly. Every terrible thought crossed my mind.
It was truly as though the world continued to move at a fast, blurring pace, but I was frozen, viewing my life with profound introspective. They say you should pray without ceasing…but I hit my knees begging.
As it turns out, she has a bacterial infection that was resistant to the antibiotics she was taking. They don’t know why or how it happened, but with a lot of poking and prodding, and three shots of a “nuclear” antibiotic later, she is well on the bend. We have more testing ahead of us and hopefully answers to come, but for now, we can see the tree line.
There have been a lot of events, between Sunday and today, that damn near gave me a heart attack, and I still jump every time the phone rings, but for the first time in nearly a week, I was starting to feel like I could breathe again.
Until I was nearly stranded on the side of the road today.
My own fault, really. Clearly ignoring the fact that I needed gas last night and this morning – as in the light had been on – was a great idea. So was coasting into the second gas station parking lot at lunch, only to find my bank card wouldn’t work. For the record, it didn’t work at the first gas station either, I just decided it was them, not me. Turns out, I apparently demagnetized my card…who knew you could really do that without a strong magnet.
So this is me, waving the white flag. Throwing in the towel. You can have this week Life, because I don’t want it anymore!
