It began one night, in the middle of the night, I heard Holly cough, and it woke me up. I sat for a minute, and realized she was throwing up, so I went to check on her. I got her cleaned up, changed her bedding, checked her temperature, and put her back to bed.
Minutes later she threw up again. And again. And again. By now her stomach was empty, and yet she kept retching. I was up with her all night, and lost count at about 18 episodes. She was iin a lot of pain, too, her tummy was just balled up tight and she cried and clutched her stomach over and over. I can't remember if we took her to the ER that night or the next, but at some point, we did. She finished a cup of water and was given a dose of Zofran. I was so grateful that she finally slept.
Two days later, and she was not throwing up, but she started having diarrhea and more stomach pain. Low grade (very low) was starting to set in, and I became worried, having been through a terrible bout with rotovirus with Ben. I took her back to the ER, and made them take a stool sample. She was rehydrated (her bloodwork came back with a small electrolyte imbalance.) Her blood work also shows a liver enzyme imbalance that concerned the doctors. They told me to follow up with our pediatrician about the enzymes, and that they would send her labwork over.
Two days go by, and Holly is still very ill, although not throwing up and not fussy anymore. She still had diarrhea, but the main thing was that she had NO APPETITE. At all. I had gotten in touch with the pediatrician who tells me that her lab work looks fine, and that if she isn't better in a couple more days, bring her in.
The next after noon, I get a phone call from the State Health Department informing me that my daughter's stool sample contained dangerous amounts of campylobacter, and how was her treatment coming along, and also, where did she get this?
I was stunned. I had been told by both the lab at the hospital and by my pediatrician that she was fine. That her labs, all of them, came back normal. When I told her that I had no idea what she was talking about she seemed stunned that I didn't know we were talking about food poisoning here.
I made an appointment with her pediatrician to be seen right away. When we got there, he took one look at her, and decided that she had failure to thrive, without taking into consideration that she had thrown up for 48 hours and had been having diarrhea for going on over a week now. He quizzed me on what she eats. He shamed me for breastfeeding an 18 month old. When I talked to him about the campylobacter, he seemed to think she was fine, and she'd be over the symptoms soon. I told him she'd lost almost 2 lbs. He still just wanted to talk to me about what I was feeding her. As he was walking out, he again, shamed me for breastfeeding a toddler, and told me to keep a log of her food intake for 48 hours and get back to him. I told him, okay, but she hasn't been eating for a week, I think she's still hurting. He practically rolled his eyes at me, saying that campylobacter shouldn't be causing her pain.
As he was walking out the door, I asked "What about the liver enzymes. My family has a history of liver failure, I am worried about that." He looked over her chart, and said "Go to this lab, and have them redraw her blood, we should get the results tomorrow sometime." he tore a sheet off his prescription pad, and wrote down the address.
We got her blood drawn. We took her home. She wouldn't eat. So I nursed her.
The next day, I left the children with Ted to go with my mom and Angel to the Nutcracker. I was so relieved to not be thinking about all this, and to just be having a good time. I was a little worried about Holly's blood work, but since it was late in the evening, I figured everything was fine, and we were in the clear, aside from her eating issues. I was also a little worried that our pediatrician had pigeonholed Holly's case and would soon be referring us to CPS, since I had heard stories of families with failure to thrive being investigated.
We were parking the car outside the theater and deciding where to eat, when my phone rang. It was the pediatrician. He sounded very terse and said that Holly's blood work was back, and that her liver enzymes were highly elevated. He wanted to admit her to Primary Children's Hospital first thing in the morning. I was stunned. I said "The ER doc seemed to think her elevated liver enzymes could be as a result of the body trying to process the bacterial infection. What are we planning to do with her at the hospital?" He told me that he was very worried about her weight, and that she was nothing but skin and bones, and that he wanted to find out if the campylobacter was causing the liver enzyme issue, or if improper nutrition was responsible. I asked him what they were going to do with her there, again. He became agitated and told me he was admitting her for observation, and did I want to decline this advice, because he could certainly dismiss me as a patient. I started to cry, and he softened his tone a bit and said "I am extremely worried about how underweight your daughter is, and I want to get to the bottom of this."
I consented, and the next morning, we took her to Primary Children's Hospital for observation.
The mechanism for raising and lowering the beds had a little red ball on the end. When Holly got tired of being on the bed, I let her wander the room, and every single time, she would be drawn to the red ball...I couldn't figure out what she was doing at first, so I knelt down and listened to her. She was saying "Mommy! Sucker!" and trying to eat it! So cute!
Holly spend a lot of time coloring in the hospital. Look how skinny her legs are!
This picture shows how drawn and ill she looked...she looked like this for a couple weeks. The stethoscope she was wearing was what kept her distracted while she was having her multiple blood draws. She got it done a total of 4 times while we were there. She got to the point where she would cry when a nurse walked in, even just to do her vitals.In the hospital, once the history was given, and the doctor sent his notes over, the staff seemed to be looking at us like "What on earth are they doing here?" It was obvious that while Holly had been a very sick little girl, she was clearly on the mend, and did not need hospitalization.
They took a totally different tune with regard to breastfeeding an 18 month old. They encouraged me to keep it up, especially since she was not eating very much else. They told me those calories were probably her lifeline those few days where she was still throwing up and very ill. They compared her weight to the World Health Organization's growth charts, and that, combined with her family history told them that she was actually a very well nourished little girl. Her physical exam showed that she was bright, meeting her milestones, was healthy, showed no signs of neglect, and that her appetite was coming back.
And it did. She ate everything they brought to her. They kept her overnight and through the next day to see if she would gain any weight.
She did. And the sent us home. They said her elevated liver enzymes were clearly caused by her illness, and that we should keep following up and getting her blood drawn until the come down. and they did, several weeks later.
Let me tell you, that was one of the most difficult experiences in my life. I was scared to death of the power this pediatrician weilded over my family. Upon following up, he still didn't seem pleased that I was still nursing her, and only wanted to talk about why she could possibly be so small.
We fired him good and quick after that. Let me tell you, you have to be your own best advocate in the health care system.
Holly's doing much better. She recently broke the most anticipated 20 lb mark, and continues to be meet or exceed her developmental milestones. I am one proud Mama!
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