Aubrey hit the 5 months milestone a few weeks ago,
which made me think back to the nightmare we went through
with Luke right before he turned 5 months old.
It all started with a Memorial Day weekend trip to Atlanta
for Ryan's cousin's graduation.
We had a great time chilin' in the sun
Chowin' down on some grub (rice cereal)
And relaxin'
Monday afternoon we noticed that Luke felt hot
like he was running a fever.
He did indeed have a pretty high fever,
so we gave him Tylenol and tried to figure out
what was causing the fever.
A few hours pass, and as I'm changing Luke's diaper I realize
what I thought was just a diaper rash bump
was instead a large circular area that looked infected
and seemed to be spreading outward.
Since it was a holiday and we were in Atlanta,
we weren't able to take Luke to see our pediatrician,
so we had an antibiotic called in for him.
After giving him a dose of the medicine,
we headed back to Auburn.
In the 2 hour drive from Atlanta to Auburn
the infected area spread quite a bit, and Luke
was starting to get fussy and a somewhat lethargic.
Seeing my baby like this was starting to worry me,
but we decided there was nothing we could do
until in the morning, so we all went to bed.
Luke woke up around midnight burning up with fever,
screaming and would not settle down,
so we decided to take him to the Emergency Room.
The doctor we saw acted like it was no big deal,
told us to keep giving him the antibiotic
and to go see our pediatrician the next morning.
This put our minds at ease for the time being.
Tuesday morning we took him to the pediatrician who, again,
acted like it was no big deal, but he did have to
drain the area, which was horrific,
because my baby was just laying there screaming
and there was nothing I could do to help him!
Tuesday evening into Wednesday things
went from bad to worse.
Luke was still running an extremely high fever, and
the infected area spread to about the
size of the palm of my hand.
During this time, I kept praying for the Lord to give me
a peace about the situation and for me not to worry about.
I was even quoting scripture about not worrying,
but not only did the worry never cease, but I had
a nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that
something was REALLY wrong!
I called the pediatrician's office back a couple of times and
kept getting the same answer,
"continue giving him the antibiotics".
Finally, on Wednesday night, when I just couldn't shake
that horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach anymore,
I called the doctor's office again and asked
the nurse as calmly as possible, "when should I be alarmed,
when the infected area overtakes his whole leg?!"
That must have gotten her attention, because she went to get
the pediatrician on call who told us to come straight to the hospital.
Upon arrival at the hospital, the doctor takes one look at Luke
and says he needs to be admitted and started on IV antibiotics immediately.
The pediatrician told us that she was almost positive that
Luke had MRSA, which is a kind of Staph infection
that is resistant to most antibiotics.
A Staph infection?!
How in the world did the two doctors we saw
in the last couple of days not tell us that our
5 month old son could have such a serious infection?
Once the nurses came to get Luke to start the IV,
the worry I was feeling suddenly ceased and
I finally felt a sense of peace,
because I knew that Luke was going to get
the medicine he needed to rid his body of this infection.
This was the start of three very long days in the hospital.
I stayed by Luke's side every minute and Ryan only
left when he had to take care of something at work.
There was more poking and prodding from the doctors,
so Luke did shed a few tears,
but for the most part he was a trooper!
I never got a picture of him with his IV in,
but this is him in his hospital "crib"
trying to make the most of the situation
which made me think back to the nightmare we went through
with Luke right before he turned 5 months old.
It all started with a Memorial Day weekend trip to Atlanta
for Ryan's cousin's graduation.
We had a great time chilin' in the sun
Chowin' down on some grub (rice cereal)
And relaxin'
Monday afternoon we noticed that Luke felt hot
like he was running a fever.
He did indeed have a pretty high fever,
so we gave him Tylenol and tried to figure out
what was causing the fever.
A few hours pass, and as I'm changing Luke's diaper I realize
what I thought was just a diaper rash bump
was instead a large circular area that looked infected
and seemed to be spreading outward.
Since it was a holiday and we were in Atlanta,
we weren't able to take Luke to see our pediatrician,
so we had an antibiotic called in for him.
After giving him a dose of the medicine,
we headed back to Auburn.
In the 2 hour drive from Atlanta to Auburn
the infected area spread quite a bit, and Luke
was starting to get fussy and a somewhat lethargic.
Seeing my baby like this was starting to worry me,
but we decided there was nothing we could do
until in the morning, so we all went to bed.
Luke woke up around midnight burning up with fever,
screaming and would not settle down,
so we decided to take him to the Emergency Room.
The doctor we saw acted like it was no big deal,
told us to keep giving him the antibiotic
and to go see our pediatrician the next morning.
This put our minds at ease for the time being.
Tuesday morning we took him to the pediatrician who, again,
acted like it was no big deal, but he did have to
drain the area, which was horrific,
because my baby was just laying there screaming
and there was nothing I could do to help him!
Tuesday evening into Wednesday things
went from bad to worse.
Luke was still running an extremely high fever, and
the infected area spread to about the
size of the palm of my hand.
During this time, I kept praying for the Lord to give me
a peace about the situation and for me not to worry about.
I was even quoting scripture about not worrying,
but not only did the worry never cease, but I had
a nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that
something was REALLY wrong!
I called the pediatrician's office back a couple of times and
kept getting the same answer,
"continue giving him the antibiotics".
Finally, on Wednesday night, when I just couldn't shake
that horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach anymore,
I called the doctor's office again and asked
the nurse as calmly as possible, "when should I be alarmed,
when the infected area overtakes his whole leg?!"
That must have gotten her attention, because she went to get
the pediatrician on call who told us to come straight to the hospital.
Upon arrival at the hospital, the doctor takes one look at Luke
and says he needs to be admitted and started on IV antibiotics immediately.
The pediatrician told us that she was almost positive that
Luke had MRSA, which is a kind of Staph infection
that is resistant to most antibiotics.
A Staph infection?!
How in the world did the two doctors we saw
in the last couple of days not tell us that our
5 month old son could have such a serious infection?
Once the nurses came to get Luke to start the IV,
the worry I was feeling suddenly ceased and
I finally felt a sense of peace,
because I knew that Luke was going to get
the medicine he needed to rid his body of this infection.
This was the start of three very long days in the hospital.
I stayed by Luke's side every minute and Ryan only
left when he had to take care of something at work.
There was more poking and prodding from the doctors,
so Luke did shed a few tears,
but for the most part he was a trooper!
I never got a picture of him with his IV in,
but this is him in his hospital "crib"
trying to make the most of the situation
The children's wing of this particular hospital was very
old, grim, and gloomy.
They didn't even have a place for
Ryan and I to sleep in Luke's room,
Ryan and I to sleep in Luke's room,
so they pulled in a twin mattress for us both to sleep on!
Although this was a terrible experience that I hope
I never have to go through again, I did learned that
the Lord gave me "maternal instincts", so I will know
when something is not right with my children and
to make sure that they get the care they need.
I never have to go through again, I did learned that
the Lord gave me "maternal instincts", so I will know
when something is not right with my children and
to make sure that they get the care they need.
4 comments:
Amen sister!
I know that must have been scary!
That must have been SO SO scary! Bless your heart! So glad he was okay:) BTW, his haircut is so cute. He looks like such a big boy!
What a nightmare! I can't even imagine how scary that must have been. I'm so glad that everything turned out okay.
Yikes - I can't imagine! I'm so glad that God gave you peace when you needed it and no peace when you didn't need it! That's an awesome testimony!
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