Back We Go

Saturday morning started off pretty normal.  For once, we had NOTHING to do the entire day.  It was awesome.  I was looking forward to finally getting through my mounds and mounds of laundry, catching up on bills, and other chores, and spending a lazy day with the family.

The first odd thing I noticed was Meagan sleeping in.  She was kind of tired and wasn't waking at her normal time.  The second thing my husband noticed was Meagan's head - the normal large "crater" in the front of her head was completely filled.  This was not normal for her - especially considering she sleeps at an upright angle all night.  Meagan did nurse but then wanted to sleep again.  She was fussy and cried here and there.  I noticed more purple stitches coming out of the top of her head, leaving behind small blood mark and some of the incision spots oozing blood.

Later that morning when I went to check on her, I put my hands on her hands - they felt like fire.  I thought it was strange even her fingers felt so hot, so I took her temperature.  101.6.  Definitely a fever, but, nothing I was too worried about. She was obviously uncomfortable so I gave her some Advil.  A little while later, I felt her again -she was burning up even more.  This time the temperature was 102.7 even with the Advil, so I started to alternate the ibuprofen and acetaminophen   Her fever still did not break.  She was inconsolably fussy.  I was only able to get 4-5 ounces of fluid in her all day.  And her head was still puffy after being upright the entire day.  I knew at that point a trip to the ER was warranted.

We got to Children's around 9pm on Saturday night.  Meagan was fussy and crying the entire time.  They were very good about working us back quickly.  The doctor checked her out and saw the swelling on her  head and how irritable Meagan was.  The doctor also took her temp, which was still 103.  They did bloodwork, urine samples, and got a CT scan to make sure we weren't dealing with ballooning ventricles.  Meagan was absolutely miserable! The nurses went ahead and got an IV started to give fluids because Meagan was obviously very dehydrated.

Not a happy camper

The blood and urine results came back pretty much fine. The CT scan showed no major change in her ventricles.  The doctors were puzzled by her puffy head and her intense irritability.  That along with her nonstop fever was enough for them to admit her.  They didn't feel comfortable letting her go home in such an uncomfortable state.  Not to mention, she was having no wet diapers, so at the least she needed fluids.

We got up to our room around 3:30am.  She was still a mess and I was tired so I laid down with her. She fell asleep finally around 5am.  About 7:30am the Neurosurgeon on call came to see Meagan.  He agreed her head was very swollen but with the blood work and CT scan looking ok, and the fact that the area was still soft, he was in a "wait and see" mode.  One idea the doctors were throwing around was the possibility she has some sort of nasty virus causing the high fever (even though we don't see any other symptoms) and perhaps her body is reacting to the stress by becoming more swollen at the easiest source - her huge soft spot. Even though it's not normal for her, maybe this is the culprit. Or perhaps we have caught a brewing infection early on.   He didn't like the fact that she has been intensely irritable,  and noted the sensitivity she had to her head being touched, which were two uncharacteristic things for Meagan.  That and the fever starting to spike up again was reason enough to keep her another night.  They felt it was in her best interest to watch her closely and narrow down the cause of her discomfort, or make sure the fever breaks and she returns to her normal happy self before she gets discharged.

Resting finally

So that is basically where we are.   She is still very irritable.  She is better today, as far as having calm moments, but she is NOT my happy smiley Meagan.  We watch her tonight.... the fever has been as high as 101.7 again tonight, but has not reached the 103 it did last night, so hopefully we are on a downward trend.  I'm not really sure about the head - my 'mommy gut' says that her head is hurting her...she is wincing when it is touched, is light sensitive, and is hitting her head to fall asleep. It very well could be something as "simple" as a horrible headache from the fever. The good news is, as of this afternoon we FINALLY have wet diapers.  So the fluids are doing the trick in that area.  Diapers had been completely dry through lunchtime today.  I'm going to stay positive and anticipate my girl will be feeling better in the morning. I really miss my other girls.  I also felt like I was just getting caught up after Meagan's surgery and now will fall behind again.   Meagan's regular Neurosurgeon (Dr. R) should see her tomorrow and decide where we go from there. Hopefully it'll be home.

Taking care of my girl