Neither Keith nor I have had a chance to post for what will soon be obvious reasons. However, for better or for worse, Facebook is an awesome way to get info out to a lot of people at once....and it has been brought to my attention that people want to know (and worry with us). ;) Thursday, Maggie went from totally fine to seemingly having a terrible head cold in the span of about two hours. That night was awful, she awoke sobbing every half hour to 45min (occasionally an hour)....and getting her back to sleep was terrible. She couldnt nurse because her head was so stuffy, same for using the pacifier to soothe. By morning we were both flat exhausted. I didnt think to check a temp until that morning, Friday. (I feel like Mother of the Freaking Year about this....I do NOT know why it didnt cross my mind sooner.) At the time she only had a low grade fever....but honestly, I just had a bad feeling. I talked to a couple of other moms Im friends with, who without exception told me to trust my Mommy-Spidey-Senses. So I called Advice and talked to them. I only really wanted them to rule out an ear infection (my best guess for all the sobbing the night before) and double check her heart because of the fever. They said there was basically no way she had an ear infection after only a day of sickness....but when I said I was uncomfortable about the whole thing they hauled us in. Two exams and a goodly bit of clucking later....we got a diagnosis of ENTEROVIRUS. *deeeeeep breath* They said that with all her symptoms and the way it came on there was literally nothing else it could be. The biggest fear, as always with Maggie, is her heart. Her septal defects are largely healed....but she has that extra blood vessel allowing some blood to skip getting oxygenated....so fever and respiratory stuff is simply scary (especially combined). They examined her and poked her and prodded her and upset the heck out of my kid. The ultimate decision was that her lungs were clear enough that she didnt need to be hospitalized, although they stressed repeatedly that the respiratory issues can come on insanely fast. They told us to watch her like crazy for three things: uncontrolled fever spikes, respiratory distress, and signs of paralysis. No shit? Didnt we have a head cold like ten minutes ago? Paralysis? I was like....numb. I think I am a fairly middle of the road parent--not freaky over-protective, but not lax or too cool to care--but that freaked me the eff out. They told us to go home with a supportive care plan...which translated to me as about as useful as feed and water daily. My kid, the Chia Pet. I questioned the HELL out of the docs, they said there is No Way At All that this goes back to the bday party. It simply cant incubate that long. We did still expose a goodly number of people on Thurs before she had symptoms, for which I feel flat AWFUL. But at last check they were all ok, so hopefully we dont need to start calling her Typhoid Maggie. I also was EXTREMELY concerned about my Gram; she is healthy as an ox, but she is 90. Blessedly, enterovirus tends to outright bypass the elderly, and when they do get it, it is in a MUCH milder form. Phew. I left the docs office, got a half mile down the road, and pulled the car over and cried. Now we are two days later. She is absolutely sicker, but not yet sick enough to need to be admitted. Her fever stays under 100 with the meds, which is a GIANT blessing and something I am genuinely thankful for. She is pale pale pale....almost grey, and has dark circles around her eyes. Basically, my two year old looks like she is coming down off of a three-day bender. But she is clearly holding her own....and since the only difference between the kids who end up hospitalized and those who dont is how well their bodies fight, Im feeling as close to optimistic as I have for a couple days. Today was the scariest, though. She curled up on the couch and wouldnt move. Ive literally never seen her do that ever in her life. I asked her if anything hurt and she said her head under her hairs. She has said this consistently enough all day that I am assuming she has a pretty significant headache. All she wants to do is lie around and watch Frozen....we have now seen that damned movie more than the freaking animators. And I noticed yesterday....normally Maggie runs from place to place, she doesnt do a ton of walking ordinarily, at least not around the house. But for the last couple of days, if she does change locations it is this really slow ambling walk. Its breaking my damn heart! The virus usually takes a week to ten days to play out (up to 20 days or beyond in severe cases), and the respiratory stuff can kick in at any time. There is literally nothing we can do but comfort care and hope her body fights it well and that today isnt the day it gets really bad. She doesnt want to eat much at all...yet another time I am BEYOND thankful that she is still nursing. And Im trying desperately to push fluids....but how do you force a 2yo to drink? It isnt an easy thing, though I have gotten pretty durn creative with it in the last few days. (If you want me to rewind Ooo-off [Olaf] for the nine hundred sixty seventh time, take a big drink of this watered down juice.) My Magdalena is a tough little sprite, we will get through this....especially with the help of the AMAZING support system we have. It isnt gonna be a fun week, but I am finally at least hopeful (if not quite outright optimistic) that we are going to bypass a hospital stay. I appreciate SO much all of you who knew and who have been checking in, and even more all of you who have been letting me vent. I will keep people posted.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 06:47:17 +0000
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