another type of reflux

It was Gianna’s birthday and we were taking both girls for their well checks.  No biggie, besides the whole shot business.

I got home with Gianna from preschool and went to feed Aleesia who felt like she was on FIRE! So I got out the temporal thermometer (love that thing) just for kicks.  Except it said 103.1! So I did it like, 4 more times and then got out the rectal thermometer.  It said 101.somethingthatIforget. 

Good timing since we were walking out the door to the doctors office.  So, of course we told them about her fever and totally threw the resident off his game.  She looked fine – ears were good, not stuffy, not coughing etc.  Scrawny (she had only gained 2 ounces in 6 weeks – and I am sure that gain came after we had her lip and tongue ties corrected) and feverish for no good, obvious reason.

The pediatrician told us “you know, they keep babies this young in the hospital sometimes for fevers”.  And I rolled my eyes – there was NO TIME FOR THAT! My sister was getting married. In 2 days. Lots going on.  But he really felt strongly that we needed to have blood and urine cultures done on her, and perhaps an LP, and the ER was the best place to go.

So we went.  And my sister waited with me for many hours while Mike took care of things with Gianna. (who hung out with both sets of grandparents and really didn’t realize we weren’t there!)

She loved the crinkly paper on the table.  She did pretty well with the blood draw and the straight cath.  And we waited for the results.  Which were that this little peanut had bacteria in her urine and her blood. She had to have a spinal tap (which, I did not stay in the room for because I couldn’t. it was hard enough to be outside the room). And we were not going home.  I am not sure if I cried because she was sick or because it was Gianna’s birthday and I had spent most of it in the emergency room or because my sister’s wedding was in TWO DAYS!

Either way, I cried a little, but knew she was in the very best place she could be.  We have a fabulous children’s hospital in our area. 

They ran the first round of IV antibiotics while we were in the ER waiting for a room. (which took approximately 3 more hours)

We got up to our room after midnight, did the whole admission thing.  And tried to sleep.

Doctors came in and out, just as soon as both of us fell asleep of course.  Friday was kind of a blur – but after that second round of antibiotics that morning she looked SO MUCH BETTER.  She was able to rest and the infection that had been brewing for who-knows-how-long was on its way out.  They also had her on continuous fluids which helped as well.

Her pediatrician rounded in the afternoon and he had mentioned that she might not go home until Sunday, depending on how thigns went.  And I tried not to cry right then – remember, WEDDING!! But we also saw infectious disease who told us her official diagnosis would be urosepsis secondary to pylonephritis.  (so, she had a blood infection from a UTI and kidney infection) – however he did say that with the right antibiotics she could go home the next morning. Urology came and checked on her and did a renal ultrasound (it looked ok) as well.

I made sure everyone was on board with us getting the heck out of dodge before noon on Saturday and praise the lord (and thanks to many prayers) we were out of there and on our way to the wedding day festivities by 11 on Saturday!

Tuesday we went for a VCUG to check out her bladder/kidney function.  The urologist, pediatrician and infectious disease doctors all thought the likely culprit was kidney reflux.

She did great during the test and it immediately showed VU reflux.  We saw the urologist right after who graded it as a Grade III – middle of the line in severity, basically.  We will follow-up closely with the urologist over the next year (and hope she grows out of this!) and she will be on a daily antibiotic to help prevent future UTI’s.  The reflux itself isn’t necessarily the problem – it’s when infected urine enters the kidney’s and lead to a UTI that causes the problems. 

So – she has some MSPI, some GI reflux, some VU reflux and now that they are under control – she is literally a different baby.  It’s pretty astonishing the difference in her personality.  But everybody is allowed to cry when they don’t feel good, right?

While it was pretty frustrating having her in the hospital, and the timing could not have been worse, I’m glad we were there, figured out the problem, have a treatment plan in place and it isn’t anything more than this.