Last night he got really fussy, and as the night wore on I was unable to console him. Around 1:00am I noticed he was burning up. I took his temp, and it was 101. I called the after-hours doctor who said to give Tylenol and recheck and to go to the ER if his temp didn't come down. We gave the unconcentrated tylenol after poor Travis went to the store for the concentrated tylenol which I now know is no longer available in the US.
His temp came down a little, he ate a little, and then he fell asleep on my chest. I didn't move. Right at 4 hours after I gave the Tylenol his temperature was back up to 100.5. I made a quick call to Beth at work to make sure I wasn't overreacting and decided to take him to the ER.
Trav stayed home until Jack woke up. I got us to the new UMC pediatric ER, and it is beautiful. I mean really nice. Travis jokes that we are bailing UMC out of debt one delivery, ER visit, and surgery at a time.
Charlie was weighed and had vital signs: weight 5.8kg/12lbs12oz. Temp 101. Sats 100%. Heart rate 168.
We got back to a treatment room, and a nurse gave him some more tylenol, a resident came in to interview and assess, and shortly afterwards his attending came to do the same. His super sweet nurse Anna did a urine culture and blood culture, both on the first attempt, thank goodness. I was a mess trying to comfort poor Charlie as he cried harder than I've ever seen. Then we just got to rest and wait. Travis and Jack arrived. About an hour later the CBC and urine analysis results came back and were fine. Yay! Culture results will take longer. The doctor said both of his ears were infected and that Charlie needed rocephin. He had an IV, so that infusion took about 30 minutes.
The nurse came in to talk about discharge, and I told her I was concerned that swabs weren't done for RSV or Flu (I had asked the resident, but we won't go there). She swabbed for both. Not 1 minute later she was back in the room saying his RSV swab came back positive faster than she'd seen all season. The flu swab was sent down to micro, and we'll call for results tomorrow. We were sent home with instructions to keep Tylenol on board and go to our pediatrician tomorrow for a 2nd dose of rocephin and to follow-up lab results. He already has his 2-month appt. for tomorrow. Not as "well-child" as his doctor expects. I'm not sure if he will get his vaccines tomorrow or not- depends on his temperature. He will get a 3rd dose of rocephin on Tuesday. I dread the rocephin shots. They hurt!
Poor sweet Charlie, my heart is just broken over him. Of course, I feel incredibly guilty for taking him with me to the ER on Wednesday. The ER attending today made me feel like the worst mother in the world for having done that... I wanted to tell him that parents usually already kick themselves a million times and don't need help regretting their decisions. Mean man.
Since we've been home, Charlie has slept well, eaten decently, and has just wanted to be held. I have hardly put him down. His temperature is still up but manageable and staying under 100 with the medicine. I have the cool mist humidifier blasting in our room.
Please say prayers for Charlie to feel better soon.
1 comment:
Poor Charlie! Hope he's feeling better. Sorry that you got some "feedback" that made you feel badly...please, don't! You are a great mommy and do what you need to do. :-)
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