To make a long story short, I realized Sunday that Harrison had a fever. After treating it at 104.3 degrees, the fever went down and then spiked back up to 105.1 degrees. At that point I decided it was time to go to the ER.
Luckily we have a fantastic children's hospital here. Dell Children's is the only Level I Pediatric Trauma Center in Central Texas and one of 17 in the entire United States. We are SOOO fortunate to have this resource here.
Harrison and I were there for about two-and-a-half hours before Mark arrived to join us--he had driven up to Waxahachie that morning to visit his parents and had to drive all the way back from there. During that time we were assessed, given a private room (with a real door and walls...much different than my experiences in an adult-centered ER) and Harrison's treatment was started.
They gave me a little hospital gown to put on Harrison, which was a size medium! It made me sad to think about the poor babies that are small enough to wear the small or even extra-small size.
The nurses that took his blood and urine samples were just great. The little needles and catheters are so tiny, I don't know how they are able to do it.
Harrison was totally frustrated when I put the hospital band on his wrist, so you can imagine his delight when they took his blood and left an IV line in his hand in case it was needed.
The nurse taped a board on his wrist to immobilize it. She said some patients try to pull at the IV site, so she could put a sticker on it to distract him. That made me laugh, because as she was saying this, he was using his mouth to try and bite the line out of his wrist. So, she ended up wrapping it with gauze and tape and then putting a sticker on top of that. He was still frustrated but at least couldn't rip the line out.
He was so upset after all of this, and it was so hard to help hold him down, but I knew this was the only way we would find out what was wrong with him. He fell asleep in my lap and it was just so sad to have this limp, hot little body there just helpless.
Finally Mark arrived and was there when Harrison woke up. He was so happy to see Da Da there too. We had to wait about an hour-and-a-half for the results, which showed that it appeared he did not have a bacterial infection, and that things were most likely viral.
During this time he developed quite a rash on his torso, and after checking it the doctor said this was a strong indication that things were viral, so there wasn't anything they could give him. We could treat the fever and just keep him comfortable. They gave him some Motrin, put about 30 minutes worth of a saline solution into his IV, and watched him for a while longer to see if the rash changed.
By 9pm although his fever was still high (103.5) they gave him a final dose of Tylenol and told us we could take him home.
We ended up home at about 9:45, so it was a six-hour adventure. Poor Harrison was so good during the whole ordeal and was just exhausted. I had to wake up at 2am and check to see if he had a fever, but he felt cool enough that I just let him go until morning.
We saw our pediatrician this afternoon and she said he looked remarkably good for where he was yesterday, as he was his usual crazy self. Aside from the rash still being present along with a low-grade fever, he seems just fine. His appetite is back and he was kissing his image in the mirror this afternoon :-)
We are so thankful that it was nothing more than a nasty virus, and so happy to have our crazy boy back. Here is a picture of Harrison and Mark from the hospital yesterday. Somehow despite feeling horrible he still looks so cute in his little gown .
Oh, and he's growing like a weed!! He was 33 3/4 inches long and 23lbs 12oz today at the doctor vs. 32 inches and 22lbs 8oz at his 15-month check up.
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1 comment:
oh, we're glad you're already on the road to recovery!!
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