Well….we had a few good weeks! May has not started out as
good as April, but we are hoping it will end on a good note!
My girl has been tired for about a week and kept assuring me
she was just tired. My gut told me there was a bit more to it, but one can only
push a teenager so much. She’s not always super honest when it comes to telling
me how she feels. She knows I’ll just drag her to the doctor and she is afraid she
has to up her meds again.
By Thursday she was pretty sick and Friday she asked to stay
home. I told her that it was fine; I was going to take her to see a doc though.
She had given up making excuses so I knew she was really not feeling good. She
was due for another Humira shot the next day, but with these biological drugs
it is important to not administer them when she runs a fever. They could make
symptoms much worse. Family doc was not available so off to the emergency we
went.
At emergency we were helped by a very thorough physician
this time. Both my daughter and I felt she took our worries serious , at least
we didn’t have to fight “that battle” again.
 |
| trying to stay hydrated, both orally and intravenously! |
Blood work done, urine samples, chest x-rays, blood cultures
taken. She was aching all over and had a bad case of the runs. The muscle aches
suggested she might have the flu so a flu swap was done( up her nose) but the diarrhea
contradicted that. She was dehydrated so they gave her an IV. Doc asked to come
back the next day and again the day after. Luckily she got to keep her IV
needle in so they didn’t have to poke her again the next day. No Humira for her
until at least 3 days fever free.
Next day the fever was down, at least during the day, it
came back at night time. Diarrhea…..still “running wild”. Another IV was given and a bag full of
containers was send home with us to collect stool samples.
On Sunday, (Mother’s Day, I guess this is what being a mom
is about; caring for your youngens!) she got another IV and was feeling somewhat
better. Monday she was supposed to write a PAT, but I thought she should stay
home and sick it out. She didn’t agree and wanted to write her exam. We agreed
that her dad would pick her up and bring her home from school when she was done
writing her test.
We went and saw the family doc after I came home from work,
to find out if there was any news about all the tests that were done. Some
elevated markers in her blood, a bit of blood in her urine, but noting crazy.
Stool samples were not back yet. For now they believe it was a virus.
Next day a field trip to Edmonton….went fairly well, except
for a couple of crazy nose bleeds. With the weather being nice and warm, the
air is dry and nose bleeds occur frequently. I have a weird child, let me tell
you.
Today, she’s still extremely tired and now she starts
sniffling with a runny nose. If not better by tomorrow; Doc, here we come
again.
The life of an immune suppressed body is never an easy one. Like I
stated in the beginning of this post; here’s to hoping this month ends on a
better note than it started. My girl’s grade 9 farewell is at the end of the
month, I believe she deserves to enjoy that day. She lost so much weight, I
hope we can still strap her in her dress somehow. Double sided tape maybe....?
