The "NO FUN" Halloween....

Yep.... that's Kam with ANOTHER IV! She's sick again... but not as bad. {Thank Goodness} She started vomiting around 2 am, and I just figured it was a virus. She kept at it until I had to go to work at 8. (Thanks to Grandma for changing her shopping plans to stay home and Babysit!)

I called my mom from work around 11 and she was still vomiting about every 20 - 30 minutes. So I talked with the Dr about it.... he figured we better take a look at her, given her recent history, so Grandma brought her in for me.

No Strep or anything obvious, so we checked her urine, and sure enough, she had another infection. So he sent us over to the hospital for IV fluids and bloodwork to see how aggressive we needed to be.

Her white count was a little high, but still within normal limits, so we opted to go home to Trunk-or-Treat and do Oral meds for now and we will re-check her next week!

So her vomiting was most likely related to a virus, and it just helped us catch her infection early! Thank heavens for small miracles!!!

Primary Children's #2

So we arrived BACK at Primary Children's Hospital around midnight Wednesday the 20th. Kambree was still fevering, and we repeated some blood work during the day, and they were really worried that the fluid around her kidney was abscessing, and that it would need to be drained. So they admitted her and was planning an early morning "real time CT" to drain the abscess and infection. But.... of course, as they monitored her all night, she never had a fever, so they changed plans in the morning on Thursday, and decided to watch her throughout the day. So we hung out, ate pink lemonade sour slushies (Kambree's favorite, and one of only two flavors they offered), watched too much of the Disney Channel (for Cory and I), did puzzles, colored, and played with play dough. She had a visit from her cousin Connor, and Aunt Ashley & Uncle Matt. (Cory and I were grateful, we were finally able to leave the room together, and eat together, rather than taking turns) It was a good day, as far as being in a hospital goes, and as you can see by the picture below..... Kambree was happy and feeling rather well.

They decided that without fevers, she might not have an abscess. They really didn't want to expose her to more radiation in doing a CT scan that wasn't necessary. (they figure one CT scan is equivalent to a year of radiation we naturally get from the environment) And while they had her there, they wanted to get a VCUG test. This test tells them if you have any reflux from the bladder to the kidney. (any urine that goes back up to the kidney, when it is not supposed to) They also wanted another U/S by a pediatric technician, since this was missed on her last one at Bear River Hospital, to see if they could detect the fluid around the kidney, and see if they felt it was abscessing. Then the plan was to place in a PICC line in her arm so she could go home and still be on IV antibiotics since these were working best for her. So to prepare her, and explain to her what would be happening to her, they brought in what they call a "Child Life Specialist" to explain everything to her. Her name was Holly, and she gave Kambree her own special hospital doll in a hospital gown to color and decorate herself.

She fell asleep during the U/S. It was a toasty warm room, with a warm mat to lay on, and a little back rub from the ultrasound wand, and she was having sweet dreams!

They decided she has mild reflux, which most likely she will grow out of, but will need to be on a prophylactic dose of an antibiotic for a year to keep her from getting another infection. The fluid around her kidney did not appear to be abscessing. Her PICC line was placed under sedation that they did right in her room..... which totally creeped me out, but I still didn't want to leave her. So I endured. Watching the monitors the whole time, counting her respiratory rate and pulse. All of these tests were done on Friday. My Birthday. My WORST Birthday ever. Not recommended...... EVER. Not just on your birthday, but on any day.... watching your baby cry and be tortured all day is Hell. I was on the verge of tears all day.... if any one person would have even asked me how I was doing, I most likely would have lost it. Especially when she had such a good couple of days before, and was feeling so much better. It's one thing to have them trying to find out what is wrong so they can get them feeling better, but when they are improving, and finally having good days, and seem to be on the mend, it was just so much worse to have them doing these tests. She lost her tolerance that day. She would no longer allow them to do the things they needed to, like vitals, administer meds, and such without a fight. She had HAD ENOUGH!! As you can see below, she was only too happy to leave come Saturday morning!

So far things are going well at home. She went to the Rodeo last night, and Church today. We do her IV meds at 12 and 6. That's 12 noon and midnight, and 6 am and pm. I will have to take pics of that.... she just carries around her little ball of medicine, with the line attached to her arm, and just keeps playing! So Cute!! She's on the mend!! Thanks for your prayers and words of support! We Love You!

A Few Pics....

One big beef I have with blogging through Picasa... you can only use 4 pictures. (but it's just so much faster and easier!) So here are a few of my favorites that I couldn't use with the previous post.... Connor.... Kambree's cousin came to visit one night, and they had so much fun with playdough!

Connor and his Dad in front of the Spiderman in one of the waiting areas. We knew Connor would love it, so we took him there before he headed home! (Notice Spiderman's owie? That's why he's at the hospital too)

Daddy and Kambree playing in her bed. Although it looks like daddy is otherwise occupied.... he really did spend alot of time with her. (did I mention Kambree LOVED the slushies??)

Kambree and Mom working on a puzzle. We had so much fun, we had to do it twice!! :D

Kambree Hospital Pics

Kambree Update....

Kambree started with a fever during the night last night and has continued during the day. I called the doctor here, and he had us go to the hospital for blood work. We just got home from the fair and there is a message on the machine from Primary Children's that Kambree needs to come back tonight. So here it is.... 10:25 pm and we are packing bags again, and headed to Primary's. Keep her in your prayers!!

One Sick Little Girl

Saturday was a busy day, lots going on, but Kambree was fine. Acted fine. Ate fine. Never complained. Cory and I went golfing and to dinner that night, and we had a babysitter. (the most fantastic and best babysitter ever!) When we got home, she told me that Kambree had fallen asleep watching a movie (nothing new) and didn't want to eat dinner, she was just too tired, so she let her sleep and moved her to her bed later. I took the babysitter home, and when I walked in the door, Kambree came from her room crying, saying she didn't feel good. When I picked her up, she was burning up. Took her temp and it was a 104.3! I grabbed the motrin and ice packs and we sat int he rocking chair for over an hour trying to cool her down. She had dropped to 102.0 so I put her in her bed and set my alarm to wake 3 hours later to give her tylenol. 10 minutes before that alarm was to go off, she came in crying with stomach pain and fever again. So most of the night was spent in the rocking chair with ice packs. Even with tylenol and motrin on board, she had abdominal pain and would wine and wimper. I knew this was something.... so I took her to the ER at Bear River Hospital on Sunday morning. Strep was negative. Urine showed a bladder infection... but not that bad, especially to cause a 104 fever. So we did some blood work. It showed her white count was up to 28,000. (normal is 8,000) So we knew we had a pretty sick little girl. They started rocephin by IV int he ER. The picture below is from the ER.

More from the ER and a picture to show her IV.

They were really nice and good to her in the ER and gave her a little bag of toys, books, and fun!

They decided to keep her to watch her, so this is in her room. They never came to any conclusions, and didn't run any more tests, just treated the fever, and gave her antibiotics. She was doing a little better after lots of sleep and meds, so on Monday morning they sent her home.

After being home for a little bit.... she started running a temp and had more abdominal pain. So I called our reg doctor, and we went in to see him. He was really concerned, and wanted to know the source, not just treat the symptoms, but because she was treated with antibiotics already, it was going to be hard to find. He sent us to the hospital for an abdominal ultrasound and more blood work. The U/S was normal, but he called when we got home and said her white count was up to 32,600 so we needed to go to Primary Children's for more tests. So we quickly called grandma to keep Gage and Kassie, packed a couple of bags, and off we went!

Kambree @ Primary Children's

So we arrived at Primary Children's at 6:15 pm. Kambree was due for her dose of Motrin at 6:00.... I didn't give it to her so that they could get an idea of how high her fever has been. Big mistake.... I should have just given it to her. They wouldn't let her have anything by mouth until she saw a doctor..... that wasn't until around 9:10 pm! So she had to wait, hot and feverish.... miserable and in pain for 3 hours. The fever made her so thirsty, and she couldn't drink. She just wasn't understanding why we wouldn't just get her a drink. That was so hard for Cory and I to watch. You just really want to take away any pain and misery that you can, because there is so much that you can't. I couldn't help but think about the Pioneer Mother's while we were there. They did not have the modern medicines that we have. I cannot imagine watching your child go through such things, without being able to do anything to help them. I am sure such illnesses plagued their children too, but lasted much longer and most likely took their lives. Watching your child suffer for so long, and then lose that battle, and to dig a shallow grave and leave their little bodies behind would give you a broken heart you would never recover from. This picture is of her watching "Beauty and the Beast" to pass the hours we had to wait in the ER. After we saw a doctor, she ordered Ibuprofen and some tests and an IV. The waiting for these things could kill you. It took over 30 minutes for the nurse to come in, and then she did the IV first! I was just about to tell Cory to go out to the car and get our own Ibuprofen! The nurse brought it right in after she put in her IV (only because mom said we didn't want to wait any longer for it)

Primary Children's is a special place.

You feel it the second you walk through the doors.

Miracles happen there.

You encounter children there that take a little piece of your heart you never really get back. It makes you feel so blessed. While we were in the playroom on Tuesday after lunch.... an older man asked me why we were there... I had to say "we are lucky, my daughter's problem's are nothing in comparison, and I even feel a little guilty that we are here taking these talented and gifted doctors an nurses time." "She just has a kidney infection that any hospital could take care of.... we just had a hard time getting it diagnosed, so we ended up here." He proceded to tell me about his 2 1/2 year old grandson who was run over by a riding lawn mower the night before by his older brother. Just an accident, but he had been in surgery all night, doctors trying to save his leg. Blessed we are. We saw children with bald heads, bandages, without limbs, and in thier beds not moving.... all in only one day. This is the way they do their IV's. So much better. In the hand so they can still use and bend their arm, and then wrap it in a little brace so that it is also protected.

So after the abdominal CT, the radiologist came right out and said he could see that her Left kidney was very inflamed and infected and she also had a pocket of fluid around it..... but he would take a few minutes to check everything else out and make sure they didn't miss anything else going on.

That was the problem, and they would be keeping her overnight and doing some IV antibiotics. The pocket of fluid had not abcessed yet, which is good because if it does they have to go in and drain it. So the IV antibiotics should take care of the fluid too. Good News.... we found the problem, and it wasn't near as bad as the horrible things you have running in your head that it could be.

Kristian was able to come and visit, and she brought her a present! Kambree was so excited just to see her sister after so long.... but to get a baby doll too!! She was loving it!

Tuesday afternoon, they got all the tests back.... blood work, cultures, and sensitivities, and said she was doing so well.... with no fevers since last night, that she could go home!!! YEAH!! This is her wagon ride out to the car.

It's not over yet.... we have medications, and blood work to follow-up on. Still had a fever during the night last night.... so we are watching her closely, but she is so much better than she was on Sunday! Keep her in your prayers, that we will stay on this path of healing!