Sicker than a ...

October 29, 2009

I have quite a tale to tell about poor Miss Erica...

Last week Evan had come down with a fever and missed several days of school. Several days later Erica came down with a fever and we assumed she had come down with the same thing as Evan. By the weekend we thought both kids were well enough so we allowed Evan to play in his soccer game but had Erica sit out her soccer game since she was still recovering.

Life was pretty much back to normal by Sunday except Fred was starting to feel achy. We let Fred rest and the kids and I decided to go to the pumpkin patch (separate post).

Monday morning the kids got up and got ready for school. I could tell by the way Erica was slouched over at the kitchen table that she wasn't feeling very well. I took her temp and sure enough she had a fever...again! Later that afternoon it spiked to 104 and I was able to take her into the doctor.

Since Swine Flu has been quite prevalent, the doctor was asking what other symptoms Erica has had beside a high fever. She didn't have any other symptoms that would indicate Swine Flu but she had been experiencing back pain and side pain during the night. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic thinking that maybe Erica had a bladder infection (UTI). The doctor was going to send out for a lab test to see whether or not it was indeed a UTI.

By Tuesday, Erica had a few doses of the antibiotic but she was still running a high fever. Tuesday afternoon I took Erica's temperature and it was a dangerously high 105.7! Fred was home also since he wasn't feeling well and we tried to give her some Tylenol which she promptly threw up. It was very scary that Erica had that high of a temp and we couldn't get her to keep anything down that would help bring her high temp down. We ended up taking her to the ER where they were able to give her some infant Tylenol which is a more concentrated medicine. By the time she saw a doctor several hours later, her temp was down to 99.5. Erica was tested for Swine Flu (aka H1N1) and it came back negative but I also learned that it can be a false negative 50% of the time. I was frustrated when we left the ER because I felt like it had been a waste of time. The ER doctor more or less thought her high temperature wasn't that big of a deal that she probably had a virus and should be feeling better in a day or so. He also suggested we follow-up with her doctor to find out the lab results if she has a UTI.

We continued to treat Erica's fever with alternating Tylenol and Motrin. By Wednesday she was feeling better and she got a homework packet to work on. Despite missing 6 days of school, Erica proceeded to do all 6 days worth of homework in one sitting! That's my girl!

Erica was well enough to go back to school on Thursday and came home at the end of the day exhausted but happy. She was also starting to sound really congested and started to cough :-( She probably picked up a cold from being around all the sick people in the doctors office on Monday and in the ER on Tuesday.

I received a call from the doctors office on Thursday letting us know that the lab results are back and she does indeed have a UTI and that the antibiotics she's on is treating the infection. I'm relieved to learn what it was that was causing the high fever and this wasn't a virus.

Now that we're battling the UTI with antibiotics, we're now on a whole different batch of medicine to battle the cough and congestion.

Poor Erica has been a trooper through this whole ordeal! Here's to a healthy November!