Germs, Germs, Germs!

Boy, was Emily sick, and kind of still is! It happened so suddenly, too. She went to bed Thursday evening and was feeling perfectly fine. She ate a good dinner and we didn't suspect that anything was wrong at all. Some time during the middle of the night I realized that she was sleeping next to me in bed. I have no idea what time she came into my room. I kind of noticed that she was moaning a lot in her sleep, but I just disregarded it at first thinking that she must be having a bad dream. When it continued, I sat up to check on her and realized that she was on fire with a fever. It was about 2 a.m. at that point and was running a temp of 102.5. I gave her some Motrin and asked her if anything hurt. I had remembered her mentioning one time earlier that her throat was a little sore, but she never complained again. And even then when I was asking her, the only thing she was complaining of was her head hurting her. We laid back down for about 30 minutes and that is when I heard the words, "Mama, I think I'm gonna throw up" ringing in my ear. It's a good thing my reflexes are fast. I jumped up and grabbed her and flew out of the bed. We just made it past the edge of the bed when the vomiting started. She threw up on me and on herself before we got to the trash can in my bedroom and then to the bathroom. At least it didn't get on my bed, too. And the sad part is that Emily is such a pro at throwing up that while I'm trying to get clean clothes for her and for myself, she is calling out to me from the bathroom..."I need a rubber band for my hair." and "I need a wash cloth to wipe my face." and "I need some clean pajamas." She never once cried about it. She is one tough little girl!

I obviously wasn't going to get back in bed and repeat what we went through so Emily and I headed to the living room to spend the remainder of the night in there where we had easy access to everything we needed. I got her comfortable on the couch with a trash can nearby and I took the recliner next to her. It was a very long night!!!

Even on Tylenol and Motrin her fever would never get lower than 101. And Emily continued to vomit throughout the night and day. We were getting very worried about what was going on with her. It is very hard to explain the kind of hell and uncertainty that we live in every time she gets an illness like this. And knowing that she is already having a shunt malfunction just adds to the stress and worry. These are the moments when I think people with healthy children take for granted simple things like normal everyday illnesses and viruses. To always be teetering on the edge of a medical crisis is a constant nightmare!

Emily's symptoms yesterday were exactly the symptoms of shunt failure with one exception...fever. She was lethargic, complaining of headache, saying she was dizzy, and vomiting. My only saving grace at that point was the fact that she had a fever. That had me hopeful that maybe Emily just had the flu or possibly strep throat. However, there was also the small chance that she could be having a shunt infection. Emily had her shunt tapped last month. This procedure does run a small risk of introducing infection into the shunt system. Regardless of what was going on, it was a Friday, and we couldn't just wait it out to see if it was a virus. I put a call in to our pediatrician and explained the circumstances and even though they were booked for the day, they made room to squeeze us in.

The whole time we were at the doctor's office, poor Emily was vomiting. I quickly explained to the nurse the situation with what is going on with Emily's shunt right now that we know of and how she had her shunt tapped just last month. She looked at me with kind of a scared look on her face and said that they better give her a neurological exam as well as a strep test and flu test. I told her that I was really hoping and praying that the strep test came back positive because Emily's throat was starting to smell like something died in there. She said that that could also be just from the stomach acid from so much vomiting, too. She let Emily walk with her to pick out a popsicle and as we passed the doctor in the hall, I saw the look of horror on his face as he was watching Emily walk by. It was not a good feeling.

Emily never could eat her popsicle and she just had to go lay back down because her head was hurting so bad. Keep in mind that every time you throw up, it causes extreme pressure to build up in your head. When you have hydrocephalus, that is just that much worse. Well, a short time later the doctor walks in with a huge smile on his face. He said, "Good news!!!!! She has strep!!!!" I said, "Praise the Lord!" And then I laughed and asked him how many of his parents actually wished that their children came in with strep throat. He smiled and said that when he saw Emily he thought for sure that she was in shunt failure again. We both talked about how happy we were that Emily had strep throat. As sick as my child was, it was almost a celebratory moment in that room!!!

We started Emily on heavy duty antibiotics last night. We are actually doing capsules once a day for her now instead of the nasty liquid stuff that children usually get. She has always had a very hard time taking the liquid and I asked for a pill form. Emily has not vomited since yesterday evening and she woke up today feeling so much better than yesterday. At least that was the case this morning. At least she is feeling better because she doesn't have fever. She is finally starting to have the pain now from the strep throat and that is really bothering her and we are doing Tylenol and Motrin around the clock. Also, now she is developing cold symptoms, too. She is getting very congested in the head and her nose is really bothering her. Basically, she is pretty miserable.

Now we just wait to see who is next in our house to catch this...