April 3 - bag was needed

Unfortunately, that packed bag was needed.  Darn it!  


Sophia's fever was gone and she was feeling much better by Friday, however, Madelyn was noticeably sick.  A fever of 101.5 presented itself Sunday morning so it was off to Seattle Children's ER for MJ and I.  (As soon as Madelyn gets a fever of 101 we have to head to the hospital).


We were in the ER from about 1:00pm until about 6:00pm.  They accessed her port, pulled blood for CBCs and blood cultures and two different instruments were put up her nose for viral tests.  We are talking wayyyy up her nose, poor honey.    Those tubes and swabs looked like they could have reached her stomach.  


Her CBC came back with an ANC of around 7,000 and WBC of 6.2!  Her little body was obviously fighting something big time.  I had never seen these numbers from Madelyn before and they concerned me so I asked them to talk to Oncology.  Poor Madelyn.  That talk resulted in another swab being stuck up her nose and seemingly down to her toes.  By this third nose swab / torture she was over it.  That girl knows how to scream when she wants to and boy did she scream bloody murder.  I did't blame her.


Mom's of cancer kids often get called Mom-acologists.  We learn a lot going through this process.  We learn a lot about the medical "stuff" but also gain the confidence to always ask questions, clarify and help make decisions.  I saw this in myself several times in the ER Sunday.  Here are a few examples:


Without being asked I immediately indicated that I didn't feel Madelyn's counts would probably be low because she just finished a five day pulse of Dexamethazone.  I thought a Whooping Cough test might be in order due to possible contact at school.


The amount of blood they drew from Madelyn did not seem enough to me for doing a CBC and blood cultures.  As they were leaving I asked them about it and they said we don't have orders for blood cultures.  I was sure this was wrong.  They called and yes there was a mistake.  The blood cultures were needed but were missed in the orders.


When I was speaking with the Nurse Practitioner in charge, Madelyn's IV pole started beeping.  Her bolis of saline was complete.  Without stooping my conversation, I turned off the IV machine alarm.  The NP said "I can't believe you know how to do that.  I don't know how to do that."  


The ER nurses and NP were all very nice to us and MJ enjoyed all the attention as usual.  She took a nap, had snacks and watched a little Thomas the Train on the IPad. 


We were released from the ER around 6pm but were still unsure whether we would be picking up some additional medicine at the pharmacy.  So we killed a little time reading books in the car and picking up dinner at the grocery store.  I decided it would be best to stay in a hotel that night as I wasn't sure what the blood cultures would show.  If they were positive it would mean heading back to the hospital for IV antibiotics and possible in-patient stay.  Plus I was tired.  I really didn't want to drive all the way back home.  I also didn't want to go to my sisters and bring MJs sickness to her family.


All the tests came back negative!  We heard some initial results that night (no meds to pick up right away) and the next morning blood cultures were negative.  She has a common cold.  Hooray for a cold.  


Even though it is stressful and exhausting it doesn't bother me at all to make these ER runs.  If it's nothing.  Again, hooray and I can rest easy.  If it is an infection that needs to be dealt with immediately, I know we got there are soon as it presented and we are in the best hands.  It is just a no brainer.


Tonight, Tuesday, she is feeling much better; just a little run down and no more fever!  She is also done with her steroid side effects and we have our Madelyn back!  As far as I go... Lock Down (due to Skagit County Whooping Cough outbreak), plus sick kids, plus lots of classic Seattle spring rain = ughhhhhhhhh.  Mama is feeling close to loosing it.  :)