Last Tuesday I woke up to my last morning in Florida.
I had enough nervous anxiety flowing through my veins to power a rocket to the moon and back.
I quickly dressed, threw my bedding in the wash, packed my bags and got ready to start the long journey back to my family.
The only problem was my plane did not leave until 5:50 that evening, finally landing in Salt Lake at about 11pm.
I knew that after waiting for my bags from baggage claim and the 40 minute drive home, my kids would be in dream land and I'd have to wait until the next morning to see them.
I was content with the thought of kissing their sweaty, sleepy heads though.
Even a day of shopping and lunch on the town could not compare to the thoughts of seeing my kids again, I wanted nothing more than to be safe at home with them.
I talked to Mr Bird a few times that morning to coordinate where he would leave the car in the airport parking lot so I could find it when I landed.
I made sure he had remembered to put M&M's car seat in the back.
As we spoke he mentioned Doodle had woken up with a sore throat.
Great, I thought, here comes another round of runny noses and coughs.
I could not be more wrong.
He dropped the kids off at my sister's house and flew out of town to the warm sunny beaches of San Diego.
As the day progressed and I spoke to my sister a few times and I began to be more and more concerned.
Doodle was getting sicker and sicker.
She would not move off the couch, she would not eat or drink anything, all of her muscles were sore, she was even tender to the touch.
When it came time to bring the children home so they could go to sleep in their own beds, Doodle could hardly walk.
She winced in pain and cried with every step.
My sister had gotten her to take some pain medication, which in and of itself was a total shock, Doodle HATES taking medicine of any sort and will usually opt for bearing through aches and even fevers than having to swallow anything of that sort.
While waiting in the Denver airport for my connecting flight, my fears really began to run wild.
I called home one last time. A neighbor went to my house to stay with my kids until I got home.
She told me more of Doodle's condition.
She could not even touch her skin without Doodle crying in pain.
Noises hurt her ears to the point that she would cry in pain and beg the boys to be quiet.
Lights hurt her eyes.
My neighbor was so concerned that she quickly called some Elders from the church to come over and give Doodle a priesthood blessing.
When she told me that, I wanted to come out of my skin.
I was sick to my stomach that Doodle was so, so sick and I could not be there with her.
Time seemed to crawl by as I waited for my plane.
The hour and a half flight seemed to drag on for eternity.
At last I was in the car and on my way home.
I came in the house, laid a sleeping M&M in her crib and went right over to Doodle.
She was sleeping soundly, but was burning up with a fever.
I tried to wake her to get her to take some Motrin.
She was delirious and I could not understand anything she was trying to say.
She refused the Motrin and quickly fell back asleep.
I fell into my bed as well, happy to be on solid ground and in my own home again.
Sometime during the night Doodle came into my room and got into bed with me, I was glad to have her so close.
First thing in the morning I called the pediatricians office to bring Doodle in.
Getting her into the car and then into the office was quite the chore.
She was worse than ever.
She could not even sit in the chair in the Dr's office.
The muscles in her neck were too weak to hold her head up.
She laid on the plastic covered table and the nurse got her a blanket and pillow to lay on.
When the doctor examined her she found that her left adenoid (which you usually can't even see because they are up, behind the tonsils) was swollen to the size of a silver dollar.
She immediately went and got one of her colleagues to come take a second look.
Her mouth and face were in so much pain that she could barely open her mouth for the exam.
Her neck below her jaw and ear was also hugely swollen and extremely tender.
She was running a fever of nearly 103 and was extremely dehydrated.
The Dr swobbed her nose for the influenza screening, but it came back negative.
The Dr recommended we hospitalize her to get some fluids in through an IV and to run some blood work, since we were not quite sure exactly what her poor little body was fighting.
Where was Mr Bird when I needed him?
Oh ya, that's right, San Diego...
After some talking and crying (on my part) the doctor agreed to let me take Doodle home with strict instructions.
I had to take her to the hospital lab for some blood work.
We had to work all day on hydration, Doodle needed to drink at least 2 liters of fluid.
I had to bring her back in the next morning to check her progress.
If she was not doing better by the next morning, she would have to be admitted into the hospital, no questions asked.
That day was one of the most tiring days I have ever experienced.
I was an emotional wreck.
There is nothing worse than being a mother and seeing your child so incredibly sick and feeling so completely powerless to heal them.
We headed strait to the hospital for the blood work.
I had to wheel Doodle into the hospital in a wheel chair because she just could not walk.
As sick was she was, she had no problem fighting the Phlebotomist.
It took two of them and me holding her down to get the blood they needed.
Once we were home every half hour I would convince myself that I had made the wrong decision and that I should just take Doodle into the hospital.
There was one point in the afternoon that I went to give Doodle yet another drink and her whole body was just shaking, her fever was as high as ever and I could not understand her when she spoke.
I called Mr Bird to tell him I was taking her into the hospital.
I don't think I have ever prayed so hard for anything in my life as I did for my poor, sick girl that afternoon.
Mr Bird was ready to call the airline and book the next flight home.
I wanted nothing more than for him to be home with me and to hold me.
I think the only time I have ever missed him more was waiting for him to get home when my water broke with M&M.
I was convinced Doodle was going to die in her sleep.
I called my angel sisters and made arrangements for the other kids.
I thought I'd check on Doodle one more time before I made the plans final.
I was shocked to see her eyes wide open, she was standing next to her bed on her way to go potty.
Her skin felt mild, the fever and shaking were gone.
She told me she was feeling a little better.
I helped her go potty and get yet another drink and she wanted to go lay on the couch.
I was so relieved.
I think the shaking must have been her fever trying to break.
I called Mr Bird and told him it was a false alarm, he could stay and finish his conference.
I had Doodle sleep in my bed the next two nights.
It was so comforting to just be able to reach my arm over and feel her breathing.
I could gauge if she was getting feverish.
I was able to wake her several times during the night to make her drink more.
The next morning she was feeling so much better, you could just see it in her eyes.
We took her back into the doctors office first thing in the morning.
The doctor came to see her while we were still sitting in the waiting room.
She looked right in Doodle's eyes and said, "You look like you're feeling so much better!"
The blood work showed that Doodle's body was fighting a bacterial infection.
The Dr said the infection is in her lymph nodes.
I had no idea you could even get an infection in your lymph nodes, how does that even happen?
She has been on antibiotics since then and has greatly improved.
She is still not 100% though.
Her neck is still really painful, she does not have much of an appetite and is still quite lethargic.
Her fevers have not come back, that's really good news.
I was hoping that once we started the antibiotics she would get better really quickly.
I am thinking I'll take her in again in the morning because she is just not doing as well as I think she should be at this point.
Mr Bird got home Friday night.
I finally felt like I could breath again.
It has been such a nice, quiet weekend with everyone at home and safe.
Here's to praying Doodle makes a full recovery really, really soon!
All I can say is this, I'm so glad Mr Bird's San Diego trip is over, at least for this year...
I had enough nervous anxiety flowing through my veins to power a rocket to the moon and back.
I quickly dressed, threw my bedding in the wash, packed my bags and got ready to start the long journey back to my family.
The only problem was my plane did not leave until 5:50 that evening, finally landing in Salt Lake at about 11pm.
I knew that after waiting for my bags from baggage claim and the 40 minute drive home, my kids would be in dream land and I'd have to wait until the next morning to see them.
I was content with the thought of kissing their sweaty, sleepy heads though.
Even a day of shopping and lunch on the town could not compare to the thoughts of seeing my kids again, I wanted nothing more than to be safe at home with them.
I talked to Mr Bird a few times that morning to coordinate where he would leave the car in the airport parking lot so I could find it when I landed.
I made sure he had remembered to put M&M's car seat in the back.
As we spoke he mentioned Doodle had woken up with a sore throat.
Great, I thought, here comes another round of runny noses and coughs.
I could not be more wrong.
He dropped the kids off at my sister's house and flew out of town to the warm sunny beaches of San Diego.
As the day progressed and I spoke to my sister a few times and I began to be more and more concerned.
Doodle was getting sicker and sicker.
She would not move off the couch, she would not eat or drink anything, all of her muscles were sore, she was even tender to the touch.
When it came time to bring the children home so they could go to sleep in their own beds, Doodle could hardly walk.
She winced in pain and cried with every step.
My sister had gotten her to take some pain medication, which in and of itself was a total shock, Doodle HATES taking medicine of any sort and will usually opt for bearing through aches and even fevers than having to swallow anything of that sort.
While waiting in the Denver airport for my connecting flight, my fears really began to run wild.
I called home one last time. A neighbor went to my house to stay with my kids until I got home.
She told me more of Doodle's condition.
She could not even touch her skin without Doodle crying in pain.
Noises hurt her ears to the point that she would cry in pain and beg the boys to be quiet.
Lights hurt her eyes.
My neighbor was so concerned that she quickly called some Elders from the church to come over and give Doodle a priesthood blessing.
When she told me that, I wanted to come out of my skin.
I was sick to my stomach that Doodle was so, so sick and I could not be there with her.
Time seemed to crawl by as I waited for my plane.
The hour and a half flight seemed to drag on for eternity.
At last I was in the car and on my way home.
I came in the house, laid a sleeping M&M in her crib and went right over to Doodle.
She was sleeping soundly, but was burning up with a fever.
I tried to wake her to get her to take some Motrin.
She was delirious and I could not understand anything she was trying to say.
She refused the Motrin and quickly fell back asleep.
I fell into my bed as well, happy to be on solid ground and in my own home again.
Sometime during the night Doodle came into my room and got into bed with me, I was glad to have her so close.
First thing in the morning I called the pediatricians office to bring Doodle in.
Getting her into the car and then into the office was quite the chore.
She was worse than ever.
She could not even sit in the chair in the Dr's office.
The muscles in her neck were too weak to hold her head up.
She laid on the plastic covered table and the nurse got her a blanket and pillow to lay on.
When the doctor examined her she found that her left adenoid (which you usually can't even see because they are up, behind the tonsils) was swollen to the size of a silver dollar.
She immediately went and got one of her colleagues to come take a second look.
Her mouth and face were in so much pain that she could barely open her mouth for the exam.
Her neck below her jaw and ear was also hugely swollen and extremely tender.
She was running a fever of nearly 103 and was extremely dehydrated.
The Dr swobbed her nose for the influenza screening, but it came back negative.
The Dr recommended we hospitalize her to get some fluids in through an IV and to run some blood work, since we were not quite sure exactly what her poor little body was fighting.
Where was Mr Bird when I needed him?
Oh ya, that's right, San Diego...
After some talking and crying (on my part) the doctor agreed to let me take Doodle home with strict instructions.
I had to take her to the hospital lab for some blood work.
We had to work all day on hydration, Doodle needed to drink at least 2 liters of fluid.
I had to bring her back in the next morning to check her progress.
If she was not doing better by the next morning, she would have to be admitted into the hospital, no questions asked.
That day was one of the most tiring days I have ever experienced.
I was an emotional wreck.
There is nothing worse than being a mother and seeing your child so incredibly sick and feeling so completely powerless to heal them.
We headed strait to the hospital for the blood work.
I had to wheel Doodle into the hospital in a wheel chair because she just could not walk.
As sick was she was, she had no problem fighting the Phlebotomist.
It took two of them and me holding her down to get the blood they needed.
Once we were home every half hour I would convince myself that I had made the wrong decision and that I should just take Doodle into the hospital.
There was one point in the afternoon that I went to give Doodle yet another drink and her whole body was just shaking, her fever was as high as ever and I could not understand her when she spoke.
I called Mr Bird to tell him I was taking her into the hospital.
I don't think I have ever prayed so hard for anything in my life as I did for my poor, sick girl that afternoon.
Mr Bird was ready to call the airline and book the next flight home.
I wanted nothing more than for him to be home with me and to hold me.
I think the only time I have ever missed him more was waiting for him to get home when my water broke with M&M.
I was convinced Doodle was going to die in her sleep.
I called my angel sisters and made arrangements for the other kids.
I thought I'd check on Doodle one more time before I made the plans final.
I was shocked to see her eyes wide open, she was standing next to her bed on her way to go potty.
Her skin felt mild, the fever and shaking were gone.
She told me she was feeling a little better.
I helped her go potty and get yet another drink and she wanted to go lay on the couch.
I was so relieved.
I think the shaking must have been her fever trying to break.
I called Mr Bird and told him it was a false alarm, he could stay and finish his conference.
I had Doodle sleep in my bed the next two nights.
It was so comforting to just be able to reach my arm over and feel her breathing.
I could gauge if she was getting feverish.
I was able to wake her several times during the night to make her drink more.
The next morning she was feeling so much better, you could just see it in her eyes.
We took her back into the doctors office first thing in the morning.
The doctor came to see her while we were still sitting in the waiting room.
She looked right in Doodle's eyes and said, "You look like you're feeling so much better!"
The blood work showed that Doodle's body was fighting a bacterial infection.
The Dr said the infection is in her lymph nodes.
I had no idea you could even get an infection in your lymph nodes, how does that even happen?
She has been on antibiotics since then and has greatly improved.
She is still not 100% though.
Her neck is still really painful, she does not have much of an appetite and is still quite lethargic.
Her fevers have not come back, that's really good news.
I was hoping that once we started the antibiotics she would get better really quickly.
I am thinking I'll take her in again in the morning because she is just not doing as well as I think she should be at this point.
Mr Bird got home Friday night.
I finally felt like I could breath again.
It has been such a nice, quiet weekend with everyone at home and safe.
Here's to praying Doodle makes a full recovery really, really soon!
All I can say is this, I'm so glad Mr Bird's San Diego trip is over, at least for this year...
3 comments:
What a nightmare Sara!!!! Maybe you can convince Jay's board that the conference to be moved to say, Salt Lake next year?
Wow, I'm so glad she is doing better. That would be scary. Perhaps next year the incident will be minor in comparison.
Oh my word. What an awful ordeal! I was glued to the screen till the end of the post, just dying to know how things ended. I'm so GLAD to see things improved! Praying for little Doodle and her brave mother...
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