Another Virus?

Last Saturday morning when Maya woke up, I noticed she had a fever. It was 101.5. Of course we were wondering what gives since she just got over a cold/virus. Gave her Tylenol, let her spend the afternoon with Grandma while we worked at home. By late afternoon, Gayla was calling us saying that Maya was shaking and her fever now at 103.5. We started Motrin at this point with cool washrags on her head. Charlie and I were talking about who we could call - to not bug the pediatrician again - and decided to email our co-worker whose wife is a pediatrician and they live in the next subdivision over. Maya was asleep by the time they called us, so we decided to forego them coming over. We honestly thought Maya just had an ear infection this time (because theER doctor last Sunday suggested that could happen). We went to bed around midnight, felt Maya's head and she was burning up. We had to wake her up, poor girl, and stick a thermometer up her butt. It was 104.5! She was upset by this time and just seemed to be getting hotter. Hospital...

Sunday: We went to St Luke's in the Woodlands this time instead of Tx Children's (again, we thought this was an ear infection). Checked in at 12:30. They gave her more Tylenol and Maya fell asleep. They finally called us in at 3:30. Once we were back there they took her fever since we asked for some Tylenol only to find out her fever was gone! The doctor checked Maya out & she couldn’t see any signs of any sickness(i.e. no ear infection, throat looked ok). So, she ordered another chest X-Ray & a test to check for a urinary tract infection (Maya's first catheder experience). The tests came back fine, so again they concluded that it “must be a virus.” Maya actually warmed up to the nurse in the emergency room, which is really surprising considering he looked like a biker with this long beard and not anywhere near a nurse! When he came in to discharge us she was all smiles despite the fact it was almost 6 in the morning & she hasn’t hardly slept a wink. So, we left the hospital & went home to go to sleep! Gayla came to get Maya after she had slept for several hours, so that Charlie & I could sleep a little longer. After Maya’s afternoon nap she had fever over 103 again. At this point we called in some reinforcements. Nani came over to stay with us. For the rest of the afternoon & the night we alternated Tylenol & Motrin while checking her temperature every couple of hours. Her temperature made it over 104 again, so we gave her a lukewarm bath which seemed to help. You never would have thought Maya was sick at all since she still continued to be so happy & babbling constantly. She is such a trooper!

Monday: This morning she woke up with fever over 103. Another visit to Dr. Bhakta. He did more blood work (tested neg for the flu) & noticed that her white blood cell counts were low, but still couldn’t say exactly what she had. So, we checked with Dr. Swoboda’s team to see if we the medicines could be causing the fever in some way. She wasn’t concerned about her white blood count & told us to not stop the medicines. Dr. Bhakta let us know that anymore than 3 days of fever and using the Tylenol/Motrin would be a concern. It was day 3, so we hope she gets better or else we might be coming back to Dr. Bhakta. She continued to have high fever in the afternoon/evening. We gave her a couple of baths, one of which resulted in an incident the tub. I won’t go into that any further, but Nani got to clean it all up!We had to cancel her aquatic therapy again this week since she has been sick both weeks. Her fever was down enough in the evening where we finally didn’t have to wake her up to give her medicine & check her temperature. Nani went home tonight since Maya seemed to be getting better. Maya didn’t want to go to bed at her bedtime today. We think the fact that she has several teeth coming in at once (five teeth) that she was in a little pain when we were trying to put her to sleep. Either that or she wanted to stay up & watch 24 with Mommy & Daddy. So, we put her on the couch & gave her my cell phone. We had all the lights turned off, so she when the phone lit up she got sooo excited. At one point she couldn’t even keep her head up since she was so tired. Finally, she went to sleep in our bed.

Tuesday: She woke up Tuesday in a WONDERFUL mood - so good that we were sure she didn't have a fever. Nope. It was 103.5! Geez, this fever just won't go away. Luckily though it did and that was the last one she had all week. Finally after tonight, Maya is going back to her crib! Good thing because my back and neck are a mess from sleeping on one side only with her.

The first virus she got she was very weak and didn't drink much. She wanted to eat, but we were scared to feed her too many solids because of all her congestion. The second virus, she wasn't weak at all (just jittery at times due to high fever), she wanted to drink but not eat. We've had two very rough weeks but hopefully that is it for quite some time and she stays healthy. We use GermX like crazy around her, she doesn't go to daycare, and we "safeguard" her from almost all germs when we eat out. Just don't get how she got sick both times. We think it must be her physical therapy and doctors visits. We gotta keep her healthy. I promised her at least one week without a doctor, nurse, shot, finger prick, etc and I haven't been able to deliver that promise yet. My poor baby! You won't hear Charlie and I say this enough. She is such a good baby (toddler, whatever). Despite all that she has gone through, she is so sweet and friendly, always smiling, laughing and waving. We are just so happy to be with her all the time!Every little thing she does, even the occasional whine, is music to our ears :)