PCMC

Many of you know, (via facebook and friends), that we spent part of our weekend at PCMC with our little Tagen.

Here is a recap of what happened over the last week so you know why.

On Sunday night, Tagen started to get what I initially thought was a diaper rash. It was red and warm. She's had many of them before, so I didn't think a whole lot about it at first. Then on Monday I noticed she had developed what looked like a pimple on her "lady parts" down in her diaper area. For a couple days is looked like a pimple while the area surrounding it continued to get redder, hotter and more swollen. She woke up from her nap with a fever of 103.2 and I realized this wasn't a diaper rash. I noticed she also had cold symptoms so I thought we were having a recurrence of her Adenovirus and maybe that was causing the high fevers. (Kids really should come with instruction manuals.) On Wednesday the "pimple" turned purple and nasty looking. We took her to the doctor and he swabbed it for a culture. He also treated Olivia for pink eye. Nice to "kill two birds with one stone."

He put her on Augmentin and said to watch it. If it continued to get worse, I was to bring her back in on Friday. The fevers of 103 degrees or higher continued and the sore turned white and looked REALLY infected. So... on Friday, I took her back in. Her doctor sent us right up to PCMC ER with a warning that we might be admitted. Her cultures that he took were growing Pseudomonas and many other nasty things. He was worried that she was going to also grow MRSA. MRSA is Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). It is a bacterial infection that is highly resistant to some antibiotics.

Brad left work and met me at home. Olivia was at RaShawn's house having the time of her life. Brad and I drove up to the ER and they were waiting for us. We got right in and they started doing more tests. It took FOREVER to get an IV on Tagen. She was really dehydrated and she has tiny veins. They had to stick her 3 times before they finally got a good IV in her foot. The doctor did what is called a conscious sedation. They gave her Ketamine, a drug that will make her not remember any of the procedure even though she looked like she was awake. Once that had taken effect, they lanced her sore trying to get out the infection. Nothing came out. We were really surprised and so were the doctors. They gave her IV antibiotics and admitted her for 24 - 36 hours. We were taken to a room where we would be staying. Brad stayed until about 9:00 that night then he left to go home and take care of Olivia. I slept on the "bed" they provide for parents. Tagen has been so traumatized by her recent visits to the doctor and to PCMC that every time someone wearing scrubs walked in the room she started crying. But, we had fantastic nurses and techs and they treated us great. She did remarkable with the medication. I was surprised on Saturday morning when I changed her diaper. There was so much improvement. So much so, that she got to come home after 27 hours of being in the hospital. Things are looking MUCH better. She's not completely better, but improving.

The other scary thing that was happening that we were told about, but didn't really realize quite the magnitude of how serious it could be was that her white blood cells are REALLY low. (The doctors really downplayed their worry while explaining it all to us.) While in the hospital her neutrophils (white blood cells) went from 900 to 500 to 100. Normal range is 1500 - 8000. They tested her for leukemia and other types of cancer!!! Thank goodness the oncologist said she doesn't have cancer. WHeW!!! They think the low number might be a reaction to the antibiotics. We will go back in a week to have more blood drawn and see if they are still low or not. We're praying for a good outcome with those tests.

We are so grateful for the blessings we have and the miracles that we've witnessed. We're grateful to Bishop and Brother Moffet for coming to the ER and giving Tagen a blessing. We are thankful for family and friends who were willing to take care of Olivia while we were at the hospital. I know we are truly blessed to be able to bring Tagen home and to have her recovering so quickly.

This is right after we got to the ER. Poor little sickie.

Tagen hooked up to all the machines and me trying to entertain her.

The nurse gave her this little bear and she wouldn't let go of it.

She FINALLY got a little bit of sleep while we were waiting.

Right after the procedure and her coming out of her sedation.

Still coming out of her sedation. There was something very interesting above her that we couldn't see. She kept pointing to it.

She just looks miserable, right?

Her "attachments." EKG wires, blood pressure cuff and IV tubing.

It was reassuring to hear the beeps and to be able to read her monitor.

Thank goodness for paramedic school.

Getting settled in her room. She wasn't sure about the new digs...

Enjoying some cuddle time with daddy.

This was her breakfast Saturday morning.

I couldn't believe the difference in her appearance... and her appetite!

Our "grand suite."

This is while we were waiting to be discharged.

She was playing with Brad and emptying the box of tissues.