Our Sick Baby

 

This year I have been doing a pretty job of staying one top of my to-do lists, doing better at meal planning,  and even doing a better job at blogging- which in my world is a mix of journaling and scrapbooking (at least it is as close as Marcus is going to get).  Well 10 days ago or so life came to a pretty fast halt- at least for a while.  Marcus came down with the influenza virus.

We have been really lucky as parents, and despite getting ear infections and chicken pox, Marcus has been a really healthy little guy.  He actually has one of the best attendance records at daycare.  Being that he is so healthy I forget at times to appreciate it, normally that comes when I hear about the misfortunes and troubles that other families go through.  It is easy to forget how lucky you are until you are actually pressed with a moment of misfortune.

So about a week and half ago (actually the night of my last blog), I picked Marcus up from daycare and this is weird but true, when I walked in the door I knew he was sick.... I hadn't seen him yet but I just had a feeling.  I got upstairs and when I gave him a hug I felt that he was a bit warm.  I learned that strep was going around that another child had been diagnosed that day.  We got home and took a quick temp-  it was 102 degrees so I decided to take him in for a strep test.  We went to the target clinic and hung out and took the test (he was not a fan) and it came back negative.  This means we were sure it was just a virus.

Over the next two days, Marcus ran a fever and slept a lot.  Luke and I split days.  That way we can both get some work done and I don't have to burn all of my vacation time. Marcus quickly figured out that if he is sick and ran a fever he didn't have to go to daycare.... He woke up every morning and said "Mommy no daycare, I have a fever".  On Friday his fever was gone and we were relived- he was still really tired (healing is hard work) but was able to go to daycare and he survived the day. The teachers said he was exhausted and just wanted to rest.  Poor Marcus!  On Friday night we thought it was all better and that Marcus was on the mend.   When Marcus was sick pretty much all of my to-do's fell of the board and meal planning, that didn't really happen either.  Marcus became our main focus and all energy went there.

Saturday was even better than Friday.  He woke up pretty refreshed with no fever (still) and we brought Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Harvey to the train station-  Marcus thought it was neat.  Afterwards we went to Mickey's dinner for breakfast.  I didn't notice at the time but when I look at the pictures now I can see how tired he was. 

We had a very busy day, we went to book club at Great Grandma's house (where we ate again) and then home for naptime.  After naptime was over we for a rollerblade stroll (Mommy rollerblades while Marcus sits in the stroller) and ended the day with a fire in the backyard.  It was a pretty idyllic day and Marcus went to bed tired.  Luke and I were happy because we thought he was back.

Sunday morning was supposed to be a pretty low key morning.  To start with it was a strange day because of the transition to daylight saving time, spring ahead an hour, and when I got Marcus up he seemed a bit out of sorts.  First he asked me to carry him into my bed to snuggle for a while.  Not an odd request- next he wanted to be carried downstairs- also not odd.  I set him on the couch while I went to make his breakfast, he wanted a toad in the hole (his favorite breakfast) and while I was in the kitchen making it, he feel asleep hard.  I had to go and run an errand so Luke came and hung out with Marcus (who was sleeping while I ran out).
When I got back about an hour later. Marcus was still sleeping and now he was burning up - his fever was around 103degrees. I woke him up and he was really tired and sad.  I asked him if he needed to go potty and he asked me to carry him.  Now things were odd.  I went and grabbed Luke and we checked out Marcus and he was refusing to walk and we quickly learned it was because of pain in his legs.  Our poor baby-  this was pretty scary for all of us.

We did some googling and found out that it may be caused by the flu- a side effect for some kids.  We called the nurse line and they had us bring Marcus to the ER at Children's hospital..... This day was about to get really long!

Marcus and his puppy-  they both got hospital bracelets.

Marcus refused to walk so between Luke and I we carried him out of the house and into the hospital, where the long day of waiting began.  We waited to get seen and he was accessed by the first nurse.  Than they finally got us into a room to wait for the Dr.  We watched a lot of TV- all kinds of shows none of us had ever seen before.  Marcus thought the room was pretty neat but he was so exhausted and hot that he really just wanted to snuggle.  We had to put him in the hospital gown and he thought that was really funny too!  Everything was going pretty well until really odd happened.  The power went out, and the backup generator didn't kick in-  so we were sitting in the dark.  Fortunately Luke pulled out his IPhone and turned the light on so we were not all in the dark.  I guess this was a fluke, it hadn't happened before at the Children's hospital and it was out for awhile.

Finally the Doctor came in and checked Marcus out-  while Luke held the IPhone over his head..... probably not the ideal but it did the job.  The doctor thought that Marcus had influenza and myocitis of his legs but required some testing.  I have to tell you that the testing was the worst part of the entire day.  Marcus already felt horrible and then had a tube stuck down his nose and a lot of blood drawn.  He cried and cried.  I almost cried it was so tough.

 

The tests eventually came back and their were positive for both diagnosis.  They gave Marcus IV fluids (there is a risk with dehydration creating additional problems for his legs) and some Ibuprofen for his legs and fever and sent us on the way.   This all took about 5-6 hours.  It was a long day.  But this was actually great news because we didn't expect any ongoing problems and the doctor told us his legs would heal in a few days.  He just needed rest and fluids. 

 

We got home and Marcus passed out---- he was pretty much down for the night.  His fever was finally lower and everything was looking up.

 

On Sunday night I was a wreck and I think I woke up about every 30 minutes to check on him.  I even spent part of the time sleeping on the floor next to his bed.  I really wanted to have my sweet baby healthy again.

 

Marcus woke up early on Monday morning and he was SO much better.  He just barely had a fever but his legs were still sore and he wanted to be carried everywhere -  heck who doesn't want that!  But we got, got some Ibuprofen in and were playing with the play-doh by 7:30 in the morning.  Marcus was bouncing back and I was so excited!  I played with Marcus until about 8:30 and then I headed to the office for the day.

I wish that I could say that the illness saga ended here.  The last 24 hours were scary, not knowing what was wrong and than being completely relieved with the diagnosis.  Around 11:30 am on Monday I got a call on my cell phone from the ER.  One of the cultures that they had been running had just come back and it was showing an infection.  They told us that we needed to either bring Marcus back into the ER or in his MD right away to make sure he wasn't getting sicker.  I almost flipped out because this is scary stuff.  I instantly called Luke-  Marcus was doing so well that they were actually on the way to the Zoo.  And we all headed off to see our Pediatrician.  Going straight to the ending it was a bad culture and Marcus was just fine. OMG!  Since everything was under control and we all needed to de-Stress we went to the Zoo after all.

The whole scare is over now, and we are trying to get everything back on track.  I am so blessed that we have a happy and healthy little guy.  It reminds me that not everyone is so lucky as we are.  So today I am going to hug him a little tighter and tell him how loved he is (even more than I already do).