After our ER visit on Sunday, life got back to normal. We had a follow up appointment for Sydney on Wednesday with her primary Pediatrician, where they put her on antibiotics and asked us to come back on Saturday. So, Sydney and I headed back Saturday morning. At this appointment I had noticed the lump was larger, and so did the doctor. But she wanted to give the antibiotics a chance to work, so asked us to come back on Monday. So, again, Sydney and I headed back to see the doctor on Monday afternoon. Now the lump was much larger and turning red. The doctor didn’t like it at all, so she called Children’s in Minneapolis and told us to head up there.
Okay, so here is the situation. I’m like, what about Kendall. So I call my mom and she is willing to take care of Kendall for us. I ask if she can meet me at our house and bring Sydney and I up to the hospital, knowing Chad can come get us. This way I know she has a car with car seats. The doctor did warn me that they may admit her and that she may need surgery. So I quickly run in the house and put together a few clothes and other items…just in case we do spend the night. We get to Children’s in Minneapolis, where my mom drops us off and we proceed into the ER. They see us right away, but then we wait FOREVER in the room. Didn’t I just say in my last blog that I hope we never visit an ER again…well I guess I was wrong. Chad finally meets us there, where we are told she will be admitted and put on IV antibiotics. But here’s the catch, they don’t have a room for us. So we get to wait in the ER until a room opens…3 hours later, we finally get a room. Poor Sydney has been looked at from about 10 different people, she is so tired from crying each time she was touched or poked. When we finally get to the room, I’m able to get her settled down for bed. Then over a 3 hour period, she is constantly woken up, so a variety of doctors (from interns to residents to staff) can review her case. I think it was about mid-night when the visits stopped and we were both able to fall asleep…until we were woken by the surgeon at 6am.
At this point the surgeon said we could not do surgery as the lump was hard, which meant there was no fluid in there to drain. So she was to continue on IV antibiotics, receive no food (except clear liquids until about 10am), then nothing. They want to do a CT Scan, to see what this lump was. In order to do this scan they need to sedate her (she cannot move at all during the scan), so she needs an empty stomach. The scan was set for 2pm on Tuesday 11/18. At about 1pm, another surgeon comes in and says…cancel the scan, prepare for surgery. He has Chad and I both feel the lump, where we can feel that it is soft in the middle. This means there is liquid in there to drain. This is good; as they now are sure it’s just a swollen lymphnoid that needs a little help. And this means the antibiotics she has been on are doing their job. The surgeon did explain that there is no real explanation as to why this happened. Sometimes our bodies just cannot fight off bacteria and this is what happened to Sydney. So she is scheduled for surgery at 530pm. She is to remain off foods and liquids until then. Poor kid, she has had anything to eat since the night before.
At 520pm, we head down to the OR. They go through everything with us, to assure us what they will be doing. Basically, they will make a small incision on her lump, about a 1/2 inch long. They will then drain the puss out of it, and if there are any pockets within the lump, make sure they drain as well. Then they will pack the incision with gauze, so it can absorb any more puss that may be in there. The whole procedure took about 15 minutes, then she went to recovery for about 45 minutes. Before they took her, they gave her some medicine, via IV, that made her “drunk” like. It helps keep her calm when they take her and with this medicine she doesn’t remember them even taking her from me. This was hard to watch, she was so out of it. Sitting there in the family room was also hard. Luckily for us, a friend stopped by and kept our minds off it a bit. We were unable to see her until she was out of recovery. But then she recognized me immediately and wanted nothing but me holding her. We headed back up to the room, where I held her for about 2 hours. She had a bottle, then 2 hours later another bottle, poor kid was starving. She then went right to sleep. She would have slept all night, but the dang IV in her foot kept getting kinked so her machine kept going off. I think at about 2am, we both finally slept for about 4 hours straight.
The next she was in good spirits, no temp and had no side effects from the surgery, so the doctor said we could go home that day. But, they wanted us to wait until the results came back from her surgery…just to make sure nothing showed up. They all came back negative, which was great.
All in all, it was a good experience. Not that I’d want to do it again. But the doctors, staff and especially our nurses were wonderful. Trying to keep an active infant in a cage like crib for 2 full days is not easy. Sydney stayed home with Grandma Karen on Thursday. We thought it might be best if we have her home 1 more day, then she can return to daycare.
Thank you to everyone for your thoughts, prayers, support and most of all…all the help we received during this time. We are very fortunate to have such great families and friends in our lives!!!
Now, we only hope 2009 brings us much better luck with hospitals and ER’s. We’ve spent even time in them in 2007 and 2008, we should be good for a while.
Waiting in the ER for a room.
Keeping Sydney busy, so she didn't remember she has had nothing to eat all day!
Right after surgery...looks a little out of it
Her new friends that she got from Grandma Shelley, Grandma Karen and Daddy's work. She just got her IV's taken out and was told she can go home...a good time for all of us!!!
2 comments:
We have been thinking about Sydney all week - we're so glad she is doing better! I second the motion for no ER's and hospitals in 2009!
Wow guys! I was starting to get suspicious that something might be up since there hasnt been a blog for awhile, I was just hoping it was because you were too busy and not because Sidney got worse. I am so relieved to hear that she is ok. I know first hand how unfun it is to try to keep a sick kid in a hospital bed and with the IV getting tangled constantly. Karly was 11 months old when she was in the hospital and it is no fun at all plus you are terrified at the same time. Hugs and kisses to the girls!!
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