Worst Week Ever

I imagine I should post about our crazy week. I think I can safely say that it was the worst of my life. The good news is that it is behind me and now I am due for a run of good luck, good health and relaxation so that should be nice. I hope it starts soon :)

Monday and Tuesday were bad work wise, but pretty uneventful at home. Tuesday night Avery woke up a couple of times (which is unusual) and felt kind of warm but when I took her temperature it was like 99, and she went back to sleep after a snack so I didn't worry. Although I did have to do some internet conversion from Celsius to Fahrenheit because Ella had messed up the thermometer and I could not figure out how to change it back at 3am.

Wednesday morning she still felt kind of warm but no fever so I took her to daycare and went to work and an appointment. While I was driving back to the office daycare called me on my cell phone to tell me Avery had a fever of 102.5. So I went to pick her up. She was acting pretty sick and wasn't eating but I wasn't really worried. We got home and I gave her some tylenol and tried to feed her but she wasn't interested. So as we were walking out to the living room she threw up all over. Since she threw up all the tylenol I had just given her, I tried to give her a little more but she was crying too much so I just snuggled her and she took a little nap. While she was sleeping she felt super hot to me so as soon as she woke up I took her temperature and it was 103.5. That kind of made me freak out so I tried to give her more tylenol (which she also threw up).

So I called the doctors office and they told me to take her to the emergency room. All this time Avery was crying and I started really freaking out and crying too so I called my Mom to see if she would come to the hospital with us. She did (of course) and came and picked us up. Right before she got there Avery threw up again and I was unprepared so it got all over both of our clothes so we had to change. The only convenient shirt was my 1998 High School Senior Fun Day tshirt, which has not been worn outside of the house in probably 9 years :)

We went to the hospital (at about 2:30) and first you check in and then you wait until they call you in to the admitting area. We got called in right away (which I took as a good sign that they were going to help us fast, but a bad sign that Avery was really sick) They got some information and took Avery's temperature again and it was 105.4 - which is really really high! So they took us right back to a room in the ER. They got Avery some tylenol suppositories and a cool cloth for her forehead and an ice pack. We talked to two nurses and a doctor.

All this time I was trying to decide if I should try and get in touch with Aaron. He is not allowed to have his cell phone at the academy and I didn't know how I could call the training center to leave a message. So I just sent him texts about what was going on and to call me and waited until I had more information.

After about 100 hours of waiting, we learned that they wanted to do a series of tests on Avery now that her temperature was down somewhat (to about 102 or so) the tests included blood tests, a flu test, a urine sample (with a catheter) and chest x rays.

They started with the flu test which involved squirting some saline into her nose and suctioning it out again. She was not a fan of that. Then they did the catheter. She was not a fan of that either - and neither was I. By this point, we were all exhausted and totally stressed out. I also had a killer headache - I think it was a combination of no food since breakfast, no caffeine all day, and being completely freaked out! Avery still seemed really sick and they hadn't really done anything but give her some tylenol. It was time to get Ella from daycare so I called my Dad to go pick her up. Then they came in to do the X ray - I had to stand out in the hallway but I could see the whole time. She did not like it, but at least no one was poking her in sensitive areas, so that was a little better.

Finally, at about 6:20 I got in touch with Aaron and he had a friend drop him off at the hospital. (By the way, this was the last time I saw my cell phone) And he showed up at just the right time, because the people from the lab came to draw Avery's blood for tests. He had to hold her because I couldn't bear it, I thought I was going to pass out. One of the nurses came in and gave me some tylenol she had which was very nice of her. But it did not make the blood taking any easier to bear. They had to try THREE TIMES to get some blood drawn and an IV in. THREE TIMES in both arms and in her foot! It was so horrible I could hardly stand it.

But they finally did it, and got an IV going. To keep her from pulling it out, they had to wrap her arm up around a brace kind of thing so it was sticking straight out. It looked like she had a broken arm. After that we waited around for the test results. In the mean time, her tylenol was wearing off and I thought maybe she should have some more. You know, to control her fever...the reason we were in the ER. Anyway, after waiting for a nurse to bring us some for a long time, I went out to find the nurse and ask her. She said she would bring it in right away. Well, after waiting for a lot longer, Aaron (or my mom) went out to ask again. Apparently, the nurse forgot all about it. Oops! So we finally got Avery some more tylenol. We were still waiting for the test results.

Eventually we found out that Avery did not have (1) influenza, (2) pneumonia, (3) a UTI, or (4) a bacterial infection. But the doctor was still waiting for one more test. During that time Avery perked up a little, she gave us two tiny smiles and was playing a little. She really really wanted to play with the IV line so it was kind of funny to see her try and get at it. She also really wanted to put her fingers in her mouth, but her arm was in the brace thing and she couldn't bend it. But she really tried.

It took another 100 years, but finally he came back in to tell us that he was going to discharge Avery and we were supposed to take her to our regular doctor tomorrow for a check up. It turns out that the lab needed more blood (even though they had A LOT) to run the last test but it took them 3 hours to figure it out. And there was NO WAY I was letting anyone poke my baby with a needle again. So we left the hospital about 10:30 or so. For a grand total of about 8 hours in the emergency room. A new record.

Ella ended up spending the night at my parents house (which she was happy about because she got to watch Tinkerbell and read stories with Papa). We took Avery home where we diligently woke her up every 4 hours to administer tylenol. Not that she needed to be woken up because she was up every 1 1/2 - 2 hours to eat anyway.

On Thursday afternoon I took her in to our doctor. It turns out she has a mysterious and unnamed upper respiratory infection and a tiny ear infection in her right ear. So she got prescribed antibiotics for the ear and we just have to wait out the virus. In an exciting twist, somehow, over the time we spent in the hospital, Avery's thrush (which was almost gone that morning) got much much worse! AND, the antibiotics for the ear infection would make it even worse than that! Which is pretty awesome. So now she has tylenol or motrin for her fever, antibiotics 2 times a day and thrush medicine 4 times a day. And she hates it every single time and screams and coughs and gags which sometimes makes her throw up!

Luckily Aaron didn't have to work on Thursday until about 2:30, which made the morning and getting to the doctor easier, but he had to go on a ride along for the swing shift which is 3:00pm to 1:00am so the night was a little more difficult for me, but not too bad because Ella decided to be a really really good girl! Which was perfect timing. Avery decided not to be a good girl, but since she was a poor sick baby who can blame her. A little before 5:00 I started getting frantic phone calls from everyone I know who got the text message. So that added just a little stress. I went to pick Ella up from daycare and on the way home I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown, but I didn't! I made it home, made dinner, took care of the girls, got Ella and Avery to bed and watched about 20 minutes of TV before I fell asleep. Avery woke up frequently to eat but went back to sleep until she woke up about 3:30am and cried and cried and since I had been up the whole night before that, I woke up Aaron and made him have a turn. So he got about an hour of sleep because he didn't get home until almost 2:00am. He took care of her until about 6:00 when I had a turn and let him sleep.

Friday Avery was still sick but since Aaron was going to be home I went in to work and tried to frantically prepare for a hearing that is Monday (it didn't work because I still feel completely unprepared!) I came home at lunch because Avery had run out of medicine so I went to the store to get more. The best part is, that we were having a blizzard! It was snowing so hard I could barely see to drive and there were a million accidents. I made it safely, but I could not find the right kind of medicine at the two stores I went to. So I came home, tried to feed Avery and then went back to work. After work I went to three stores to find the medicine with no luck.

The stores were super crowded and I couldn't figure out why. Turns out everyone was trying to stock up on food and supplies because a volcano is supposed to erupt. I learned a valuable lesson. Never say "things can't get worse" because then you will be forced to drive all over town in a blizzard, some evil jerk will find your cell phone at the emergency room and text everyone you know, and then a volcano will erupt. Although, to be honest the volcano did not erupt yet. If it is going to, I hope it does tonight because then I won't have my hearing tomorrow :)

And, to top it all off, as if things were not bad enough, I got pink eye! Pink eye of all things!

But that was January - the month that tried to kill me. Now it is February and I think things are going to get much much better. I am sure of it. Avery is feeling somewhat better - she actually played and smiled for a little while today. She is sleeping - and when I laid her down in her bed she just turned her head and went back to sleep instead of screaming like I dropped her off a building instead of carefully and slowly laying her in her bed. All good signs.

It is a new month and I am positive things are going to get better.