Lizzie's Journey
Hooray for Viruses!!
Lizzie is feeling much better today, so we are assuming it was just a virus. Hooray! We still don't have the culture back, but since the fever is gone and the urinalysis was clean, I think it's safe to say we're in the clear. It's just so hard not to stress out about a high fever when just a year ago a fever that high usually meant another hospital stay. I sometimes find it hard to let that part go and accept that she really is doing this well. It's the old bridge over troubled water syndrome. I know the bridge is there, and safe, but I can't help but see the water below and be afraid of what could happen.
Anyhoo, little girl is feeling better, insisting on tea parties and torturing big brother, so things seem to be back to normal. Thank you for all the well wishes and prayers for Lizzie. You guys are great!
Labels: sick, UTI, virus
Another long night
It's turned out to be a really long weekend. Lizzie is still not feeling well, and we can't really figure out why. :( Her fever spiked to 103.6 this afternoon, and I feel completely useless. If I keep her medicated with tylenol or ibuprofen, the fever goes down, and she feels much better... until it wears off. Then the fever spikes again, and again she is miserable. The weird thing is that she has NO symptoms. The doctor checked her ears, throat and lungs today and everything looked great. So where is the infection coming from?
When she woke up this evening with 103 again, I broke down and called urology about the abx. I didn't feel comfortable giving her another high dose of abx under the circumstances, but I was completely second guessing myself (despite all my research) and needed some validation. The uro on-call agreed that the abx would be useless b/c the urinalysis was clean. Clean urine is clean urine, it's not the kidneys. Which is great!!! What a HUGE relief! But it still sucks that she is so sick with no clear reason. The uro doc felt I should contact the peds on-call tonight b/c she felt like a fever of 103.6 was concerning. Not necessarily dangerous (as she reminded me she wasn't a peds) but concerning especially with no other symptoms.
So, I called peds back and lucky for me, it was the same doc I talked to yesterday, so she already knew the story. She said that it was a good sign that the fever was going down with meds, so she would let it run it's course for now. She said that we would probably see signs of some type of viral infection in the next 24 hours or so, but admitted it was a little strange to have no symptoms yet. We should call our regular peds tomorrow and let him know what is going on and that if by Tues there was still fever with no symptoms that he will probably want to do some testing. He may want to see us tomorrow, depending on how things look tomorrow.
Labels: fever, signs of infection, UTI
A Long Night
So tonight I've been a little worried about Lizzie. She had a very emotional and needy day, and just didn't seem herself. By this evening, she had a temperature of 102 F, and it's making me a little jumpy. Normally a fever of 102 brings a little concern and a lot of watching, but I don't usually get that worried, nervous feeling like I used to. She hasn't had a UTI in a year now, since her vesicostomy surgery, and we've kind of taken it for granted that we've moved on from the constant infections. Nothing like a good ole rude awakening.
Lizzie has been off of her antibiotics for 5 days, so my worry level is already on high alert. She probably just has a virus of some sort, but her timing is impecable. If her fever is high in the morning we'll call peds, and I'm pretty sure they will have us bring her in so they can cath her and get a urine culture. Another benefit to the vesicostomy.... cath'ing is much easier through the belly!
I always hate being in this situation. You know the one, where half of your mind says your crazy for being worried, and the other half thinks you should freak out immediately. I can never figure out which side to listen to... they both have such good arguments. Hopefully the fever will be down in the morning, and I won't have to pick sides.
Labels: fever, high fever, signs of infection, Urinary Tract Infection, UTI
