Rachel's 1st visit to the ER
We had quite the eventful night tonight!
Rachel woke up from her nap today with a sudden fever of 102.8 - I gave her some Motrin and within an hour she was back to her normal, playful self. Jason came home from work and played with the kids for a while, then we ate dinner and then went to get ice cream.
On the way home in the car, we noticed she was starting to act "off". We got home and I sat her at the table so she could eat her ice cream and she just sort of sat there, looking sad... almost worried. A few minutes later I started a bath for this kids and when I went to take her jeans, shirt, jacket, socks and shoes off, I noticed she was already shivering quite a bit. I figured the ice cream made her cold, so I put her in the tub and started washing her body.
Within seconds she went from a slight shiver to a very scary convulsing. Her lips and hands started turning blue instantly and she looked like she was having a hard time breathing. I pulled her out of the tub and laid her on the floor in the living room, calling out her name and trying to make sure she was okay. She didn't respond to me at all; just stared off in space and the shaking continued about 15 seconds.
After her body loosened up a bit and she got some of her normal color back I took her temperature and realized she was burning up at a whopping 104.8! So I called Kaiser -- the advice nurse and Dr. both agreed that she needed to be seen right away and they thought she had a fever induced seizure.
We met my Mom at Kaiser (thankfully the ER opened up in November '07 right here in Brentwood!) and she took Ethan to her house, just in case we were there for a lengthy amount of time. Thank you, Mom!!
The main concern there was that her fever, though medicated, was not dropping. She was lingering around 103.8 the entire time.
The Doctor pretty much told us what I was already thinking - her fever got to 104.something and then I put her in the warm tub (without knowing, of course) and then her body went into shock trying to cool itself down, thus the shaking and convulsing.
He does not think she had a seizure. They gave her more Motrin around 10pm and by 11pm her fever was down to 102.4, which was huge progress.
She does, however, have an ear infection and what looks to be strep throat. :( He said he's not 100% sure about the strep, but if it is, the meds for the ear infection will work to fight that away as well.
We were able to come home around 12:30am and were told to monitor her throughout the night, since her fever still isn't gone. She had her dose of Antibiotics and went straight to bed (quite willingly!) when we got home.
I was telling my friend Laura that the hardest part for Jason and I, was seeing her so unlike herself. They put her in a little hospital gown, hooked her up to machines and she was just so lethargic and out of it; barely speaking, even to us. We were able to get her to say "yeah" to things, but nothing more and with just a slight voice. Those of you that are around Rachel often know that is very odd behavior for her.
Once the 2nd dose of Motrin kicked in (around 11:30) she was walking around the room, talking our heads off -- "how was your day, Daddy?, I wanna go home now" and so on. The Dr. was quite thrilled to at least see her normal personality coming back.
We were so thankful to get such a nice Doctor! He has kids of his own and just seemed very practical and down to earth. I get very annoyed with overly dramatic Doctors.
Anyway, we're home and so thankful to have our baby feeling somewhat better.
I've uploaded a couple of cell phone pix we took tonight. The center/top picture she's showing Jason her wristband. Although it had cute teddy bears on it, she did not like wearing it. :)
The left picture is when her fever finally started to break.
The right picture is probably when she was at her worst, before we knew what was wrong. Jason laid down with her to keep her company on the bed... she was so worried we were going to leave her. :(
We're so thankful to God that it ended up being nothing too serious and nothing that can't be cured! Its weird when stuff like this creeps up out of nowhere, but nowadays, who knows where and how our kids get the germs they do. Rachel has been such a healthy girl all her life, so it was very odd seeing her so sick. Please pray that she'll continue to get well and soon.
Comments
Does anyone agree with me?! I can't be the only person that sees this connection. I know when I got my wisdom teeth I ran a horrid fever (almost uncontrollable and also threw up several times.
I just hate when I present the idea at the Dr. they right away say "kids don't run fevers when they're sick."
I want to say I also would get ear pain when I teethed as a child.
Anyway... I'm out to prove this. :)
About the teething connection - I don't know. Gillian never got sick when teething. When I got my wisdom teeth, I wasn't sick either. But, I guess teething could cause a weakened immune system, right? Because of stress?
My Mom reminded me that she's very late in getting her eye (pointer) teeth. We were starting to wonder if she just didn't have those baby teeth.
She said that she's heard those 4 teeth can often cause bad ear pain.
Who knows... its just an odd connection to me.
She's doing much better today, though still running slight fevers. She woke up around 5am with a fever back up to 104.9 so she and I didn't get a ton of sleep last night. :(
My Mom reminded me that she's very late in getting her eye (pointer) teeth. We were starting to wonder if she just didn't have those baby teeth.
She said that she's heard those 4 teeth can often cause bad ear pain.
Who knows... its just an odd connection to me.
She's doing much better today, though still running slight fevers. She woke up around 5am with a fever back up to 104.9 so she and I didn't get a ton of sleep last night. :(
It will be interesting to see if she breaks out in a rash in a week or so. That type of high fever can be Roseola, which is very common at that age and starts with a high fever.
Anyway, glad she is okay! I'll pray for her. (((hugs)))
Oh, and yes...our kids all got fevers when teething. :)
My Doctors REFUSE to say that kids can show symptoms, other than excessive drool and that's the one thing my kids have never done while teething.
They get runny noses, fevers, Ethan threw up once, they get abnormally clingy and fussy, lack of appetite and more -- never have they acted totally normal.
We were warned about the rash she might be getting. I'm glad they said something because that would have freaked me out. :)
These pictures totally break my heart! I'm so glad she's safe and getting a bit better now.
-->in other news, you look adorable. Even at midnight in the ER (but maybe that's because I'm a sucker for pictures of moms with their babies).
Thanks though!