Do Emergency Room doctors really know what to do with kids? (wow this is long!)

I have told you that during the Christmas break we had to take Kambryn to the emergency room so let me tell you all about it. Well, to set the story up, on Thursday Jan. 3 we decided that it was best for Kyle to drive back earlier than we planned to miss the big snow storm that was coming in over the weekend. He left Friday and drove all day and made it safely there. The only downer was that the cheapest airline tickets for the kids and I weren't until the next Thursday. But oh well. So Kyle left Friday. Things were all great and fine and we were having a good time playing with family and hanging out. Saturday we went to Sandy and had dinner with Kyle's family. Kambryn was totally fine and normal at dinner. Kambryn fell asleep on the way home and when I got her out of her car seat she was totally normal, still a little tired but was waking up all fine. I had to unload the car and so I gave Kambryn to Dustin (my little bro) to hold and Jantsen was just playing along side them.

It was about 7:00 pm when I came in from unloading the car and took Kambryn back and noticed she was acting a little different. She was just very lethargic and quiet. For a second I just thought that she was still tired from being woken up. Then her eyes started to glaze over and she started tensing all her muscles up. She was squeezing her lips and fists really tight and they were turning blue/purplish. She was still breathing but her stomach muscles were starting to tighten up. I thought that she was just really constipated and trying to work it all out...if you know what I mean. But she wasn't letting anything out or even being relieved in any way. She just kept getting more and more tight and then her little body started shaking. It wasn't a seizure type of a shake, more like chills and muscles being flexed to hard and that was causing her to shake.

You can imagine how scared I was. She wasn't crying or whining or really making any types of painful screams just shaking and turning blue but still breathing. Her eyes are what really scared me. It was like this deep intense stare but glazed over, just looking off into nowhere. It was weird. So it is just Dustin (19yrs old), Jantsen, and myself at home. I really had no idea what to do. My first instinct was Dustin you need to give her a blessing. You could tell that he was nervous because he had never given a blessing. So then we tried to get ahold of my parents, no answer. I then called Kyle (who is in Omaha...not so fun of a night for him. To be 1000 miles away and hear his little baby girl is shaking and turning blue.) Anyways, I talked to him, started bawling, asking what I should do. Dustin called my other brother Curtis, who was on his way to my parents. I told Kyle that Curt was coming and that they were going to give her a blessing and then we will see what happens.

Well it was just a neat experience, as good as you can expect for the circumstance. Dustin did the anointing, and seriously, right when he laid his hands on her head, she completely stopped shaking, and relaxed her head on my shoulder. Tears just started streaming from my eyes. So he anointed the oil and then Curtis said a wonderful and comforting blessing. While I was holding this little infant in my arms with my 2 younger brothers blessing her, Jantsen sitting on the couch, witnessing a blessing on his little sister, my testimony just grew 10 fold. To be a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and to be able to call upon Heavenly Father, through the priesthood, and bless this little girl, it was wonderful. Kambryn is so lucky to have wonderful uncles, grandpas, a father that holds and are worthy for the priesthood. Dustin was so nervous at first, to be in a tense situation where his little niece is in trouble and not knowing if he will say all the words correctly, but the moment he laid his hands on her tiny head, wow...the spirit was amazing.

So after the blessing I fed her, changed her diaper and put her to bed. The whole "episode" lasted about 20 minutes. So, I called Kyle and told him she was fine and that she was sleeping and for him to relax. My parents came home and my mom started bawling because we couldn't get ahold of them. It was a crazy couple of hours, but the night wasn't over yet.

I fell asleep watching TV with Curt on the couch in the family room. Curt woke me up at about 11:00 saying that Kambryn was crying. I went in there and picked her up and sure enough, she was going through the same thing. Her little body was tight and her stomach was tensing up, lips and fists and feet blue. I grabbed her and ran upstairs to my mom's room. I knew we had to take her in and that something was wrong.

Curt drove my mom and I to the Orem Community ER. We went in there and told them that there was a 9 month old that can't breath and is turning blue. We kind of butted in line, but I didn't care. You think it is scary to get in the way of a mom with a sick kid, I say watch out for Grandma with her sick grand-daughter. Oh my mom just took charge. Anyways, we got in our room and immediately started the whole examinations of drawing blood, prepping her for an IV (that was horrible!!!), taking her temp, X-Ray of her stomach, ultrasound of her abdominal, all the things to see what was going on.

2:30 in the morning, the doctor comes in and says that everything checks our just fine and they can't see any signs of infection, her oxygen concentration level is normal, no signs of bowel or stomach problems. So she is fine....hmmmm...yeah I don't think so. But what could I tell the doctor, no you are wrong?! The only thing that they couldn't do was get a urine sample because the little pee bag (dumbest thing ever) they put on her kept getting wet and falling off....I wonder why!! So they print out some abdominal pain discharge papers and send us on our way. 11:00 pm-3:00 am we sat in that hospital room trying to figure out what was wrong. And I am left with nothing. ( side note: Dustin ended up coming to the hospital at about 11:45 to join us. It was 4 adults and a 9 month old hanging out for hours. My brothers really know how to liven up an ER room at 2:00 in the morning. All I am going to say is Dustin, latex gloves, head, SOOO funny!!! If I can learn to post pictures from my camera phone, we will post some!) oh and I called Kyle when we were driving to the hospital, so he got an update every 30min-2hours. I felt so bad, I would have gone crazy if I was in his place.

Well then Sunday came and she woke up around 11:15 am tensing up, this time with a fever at about 104.6 degrees. I thought it when my mom comes home from church at 12:00 I will take her to Utah Valley hospital in Provo. I gave her some Tylenol and fed her, and then she fell asleep, and 10 minutes after she fell asleep her fever broke, at about 11:50. Her temp went up that night to about 104.3, dropped during the night, went up, dropped. The only thing is when it dropped it was still at least 100 degrees. I called my ped. in Omaha on Tuesday to see what I should do and they said just monitor her if it is breaking and dropping. well the only reason it was dropping was when I gave her Tylenol. Then after it wore off, it was right back up to almost 105. So for sun-wed her temp as between 100-104.7. I don't think it went under 100. And she was VERY lazy and lethargic, not whinny or in pain, but wanted to be held and would just lay on your shoulder for hours.

I was flying out the next day and I needed to get her checked out before I flew, just in case. So my mom and I took her this time to the UVMC ER. They checked this time for strep throat, phenomena(another Xray), I told them that at Orem ER they didn't get a urine sample, but I guess it wasn't that big of a deal, SO they came back with "Nothing. She is fine, it is just a viral infection that will run it's course. Just keep giving her Tylenol" Oh I was so mad and frustrated. She is not fine, something is wrong, give me an antibiotic to get rid of this infection that is causing her fever. AGHHHH!

Well I flew out on Thursday and yes my kids were fabulous. Kambryn slept the whole 2nd flight from Phoenix-Omaha. She however, did still have a very high fever through Thursday night. I scheduled an appointment for her on Friday at her ped. office. We went there, they already knew what was going on because I called them while in Utah. So they said their first initial idea is that she has a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). Which in-order to test for that they need, what do you think....a URINE SAMPLE!!! They were very surprised she didn't get one in either of her visits to the ER. Well they had to catheter her and get a sample. They had to wait for the culture to grow to see if it was for sure, but they did a dip strip test and there was definite presence of white and red blood cells in her urine...a sign of UTI. They gave us an antibiotic and we were on our way. (one test...painful to watch, 40 minutes...not bad, and an ANTIBIOTIC...fabulous!! and we were out of there!!!)

It has been a week since she has been on the antibiotic and she is doing great!! Her fever stopped on Saturday and has just kept getting better and better each day! But it was a horrible week watching her get poked and prodded and stuck with needles, and tubes put up her. I think we have scarred her for life with doctor's offices. But the end is finally here, she is better! However, we still don't know what caused the "episodes" and I don't think we will ever know.

So after reading this hour long post we have learned, that:

1. ER doctors don't always know what they are doing, in the opinion of a frustrated mom.

2. Don't always stop after getting a 2nd opinion.

3. If you child is still sick after a bazillion doses of Tylenol and days with a fever, don't listen to the doctor that says nothing is wrong. Dang viral and the words "it will run it's course"

4. Even if it takes all night, get a PEE sample. The first night could have saved us from poking and prodding. (UTI's are very common in infant girls, so I hear)

5. a Mother Intuition when your child is sick is better than any medical license is!!

*Kambryn, you are such a doll and so many people love and care for you. Thank you to everyone for their prayers, love, concern, calls, and support. I want to especially thank my Mom! She kept me calm for this week and was there by my side for almost everything Kambryn was going through. I want to thank Dustin and Curtis! You two are wonderful brothers and Kambryn just adores you two!! The rest of my family, Natalie, Dad, Cami and James, you guys were a big help (especially at the end of the week when i just couldn't hold her every minute of the day.) And of course all the other love from all our family. We are really blessed and we love you all! Lastly, Jantsen is my little helper. He loves his sister so much and I am so grateful for a sweet boy, who wouldn't complain when he so badly wanted me to play trains with him but I was too busy dealing with Kambryn and her fever, however he was so quick to help me when I needed him. He is such a sweet little boy!