What a stressful week we had. It started with a runny nose and let to a mild fever. I took Aubrey to see Dr. Powers when she didn't want to eat or drink. He prescribed her an antibiotic and by that evening her liquid intake was back to normal. The next two nights her fever went from 100 degrees to 103 and her lymph nodes on the right side of her jaw were hard and swollen. Wednesday I took her back to see Dr. Powers. He did some blood work and said her white blood cell count was high and that he already called Children's Hospital and that they were expecting us. I was terrified. Dr. Powers never seems worried about anything and has never suggested an ER visit. I was afraid for the worst. I was so afraid they were going to tell us she has Lymphoma. I know that was the worst case scenario but Mommy is a worry wart. I cried in the doctors office and when Daddy drove us to the hospital, I cried the whole way there too. Daddy didn't admit it until later, but he was scared too.
We saw several doctors and each seemed to have a different opinion. The did a CT scan and strapped her down to a table. Mommy held Aubrey's hand while they asked Daddy to hold her head still. The results came back and they said that Aubrey had an absess and there was fluid in it. They admitted Aubrey to the hospital and put her on IV antibiotics right away. She didn't want to drink so they put her on fluids too. Daddy and I had to help hold Aubrey down while the nurses did the needle. Daddy couldn't look. Aubrey had a lot of great nurses in the hospital and some really nice doctors too. Mommy never left the hospital and Daddy only left to go to work. He came back every night to spend the night with us. He even left early when he was scheduled to work late because he missed his little girl so much. Aubrey didn't get a lot of rest in the hospital. We has noisy neighbors and her IV machine kept beeping and the nurses kept having to come in and check it. Then other people would come every couple of hours to check her temperature and blood pressure. They kept trying to convince Aubrey that they were giving her arm a hug. She wasn't falling for it. She pushed several people away, and not too nicely either. She was very forgiving though.
Our second day at the hospital, a giant poodle named Murphy came to visit Emily in her room. Maybe because we have a dog of our own, Aubrey wasn't too impressed and didn't want to pet him. Nice volunteers came by every day and with a rack of dvds for us to choose from. It was very nice, but the dvd player in our room didn't work. Not that it really mattered, we never got much of a chance to watch tv anyway. You would think with nothing to do, we would have had all this extra time, but we were busy. Between nurses and doctors coming in constantly and housekeeping, and people delivering her meals and checking her vitals. When we finally did get a minute or two to ourselves Aubrey and I spent it napping.
We did visit the hospital play room several times. We met a lady who's name was also Aubrey. She was very nice and she had a little girl named Dani. Dani was born with a cleft pallet. Her mom said she has had several surgeries and because of them she gets sinus infections. This time she got one that went to her eye. Dani's eye was swollen and red. She was such a pleasant little girl. She wanted to do anything she could to help take care of Aubrey. She handed her toys and dolls to play with. She moved Aubrey's IV if it looked like she was going to step on it. She even handed Daddy toys. Dani liked Daddy a lot. I think Daddy really liked Dani too. He seems to have a soft spot for little girls. Especially pretty and smart ones like Dani. Dani's mom would have her show us all the things she learned and perform for us. Later the girls even went in a ride in a wagon together. At night when Daddy and Aubrey and I would walk the hospital halls, we would walk past Dani's room hoping to have a chance to see her again.
For the second time, Aubrey pulled out her IV. Not the needle in her arm, but the tube connected to it. The second time, the nurse said she would need to restick her. Aubrey didn't like having an IV. She did much better with it then I ever could have imagined. At first she kept pointing to it and telling me to, "Look." But it bothered her when she was trying to sleep and when she was trying to drink her bottle. Aubrey is a wiggly sleeper. She changes positions constantly and kept bending her IV and laying on top of it. Then it would stop working and the nurse would have to come in and flush it. Aubrey didn't like that at all. She also didn't like not being able to use her left hand to hold her bottle. She might be left handed. I don't know. But she was annoyed that she couldn't use her left hand when she wanted too. Several times she would randomly try to rip out her IV. She would also put her arm thru the bars on the crib, which would make the board thing her hand was attached to become loose. After the second time, the brought her to another room to redo her IV. They asked me to help hold her down. I know that babies veins are probably harder to find, but this phlebotomist was really upsetting me. The nurse and I were holding Aubrey down while they were carrying on a conversation and after they pricked her they said one vein, when they tried to flush, the liquid went up to her skin. I didn't know what that meant, but I was getting upset because they tried her right hand, her right wrist, and her ankle. We were probably holding Aubrey down for over twenty minutes while they kept resticking her. Then she would move the needle back and forth and I know how much that hurts. Finally I asked them to stop. I wanted to give Aubrey a break. Her head was soaked in sweat and she was miserable, understandably. Daddy and I brought her back to her room and gave her a bath and got her dressed in some fresh clothes. I assumed that another phlebotomist would come and try later. Instead our nurse said, she got permission from the doctor to stop the fluid and switch her oral antibiotics. I was nervous because I thought IV antibiotics were supposed to work better.
All the doctors seemed to have different opinions about Aubrey's condition. They all agreed, her lump was most likely caused by a staff infection and that the lump absess was very large. Some of the doctors thought that antibiotics alone would probably do the trick. Another thought that since the absess was so large, that it would probably require surgery. (giving her anesthesia and cutting and draining) That would be worse case scenario. The nurse that admitted Aubrey said at the very least we would be at the hospital 48 hours, and that would be if God healed her, because the medicine doesn't work that fast. Well sure enough, that is what happened. Less than 48 hours later, the doctor asked what I would like to do. She said she was considering releasing Aubrey from the hospital because she was doing so well. I told her I was torn. On the one hand I missed the kids and wanted to go home, but on the other hand, I liked that Aubrey was being closely monitored and didn't want her to have to make another trip to the ER. The doctor decided to have us stay another day.
Friday, was our last sleepover at the hospital. Grandma brought the kids to visit when the got out of school. She had picked them up from school Wednesday and had been watching them while Daddy and I were with Aubrey in the hospital. We missed them so much. Emily got to wake Aubrey up. Aubrey was a little disoriented at first. We took the kids to the playroom for awhile. Anthony and I played a game of Sorry while the girls played independently. When we got back to our room, Aubrey's dinner had come. Grandma offered to feed Aubrey her dinner so Daddy and I could spend some time with Anthony and Emily. We went to the hospital cafeteria and had dinner. The kids were wild, and while we missed them terribly, we enjoyed the quiet time after they left. Saturday morning Aubrey took a good long nap while waiting to be officially released from the hospital. I read some of my book and took a nap too. Daddy came to pick us up.
We stopped at our local Walgreens to have Aubrey's prescriptions filled. At first they said they had to call the doctor because and ask for another medicine because it wasn't covered under our insurance. Then they said it was, but they didn't have it. They called around and all the other pharmacies in our area were either closed or didn't have it. They called other Walgreens and finally found one in Knoxville that had it. So we drove all the way back almost to where we had come from. The pharmacist convinced us we should add flavoring to her antibiotic because it doesn't taste good. We knew this to be true, because the doctors and nurses had warned us at the hospital, and Aubrey made sure we knew it was gross. The pharmacist had us convinced and then told us the only flavor they had was lemon and that it would take 30 minutes to mix. Why oh why did we flavor her medicine with lemon. Aubrey hates the lemon flavoring far worse then she did when it was unflavored. Giving her the antibiotic is now a two person job. Daddy has to hold down her arms while I have to hold her mouth open and give it to her. I've done it several times on my own, but it's much easier with Daddy there. Luckily today is Friday as I'm writing this, and I believe she has only one dose left.
Aubrey is doing great. The antibiotic is working. The swelling has gone down, and I can't even feel the lump anymore. She has a follow up appointment next week with Dr. Powers. A lot of friends and family were praying for her speedy recovery and to those we thank you. Aubrey is doing just fine.
While we were in the hospital, Aubrey mastered her walk. She had room to run and run she did. She already knew how to shake her head no, but there she learned to nod her head yes. It was at the hospital that I discovered that toast with jelly is one of her favorite foods. And our last day there, Aubrey learned how to drink from a straw.
