Rough Start to 2010

Fifteen minutes before we brought in the new year Colin woke up screaming. He had a low grade fever (100.7) and vomited. For Colin, a temperature above 100.4 is concerning and requires an immediate call to the doctor. Gigi and Papa quickly made there way over with blankets and PJ's in hand. After a couple of conversations with the Dr she decided it would be best for Colin to try and get a good night sleep so we stayed home and piled into Mommy and Daddy's bed for a slumber party. Needless to say it was a long night with minimal sleep.

The next morning Mommy and Daddy took shifts napping and after Colin's nap the Dr decided it was time to bring him into the ER since his temp rose a little and he hadn't eaten anything for two days. The first thing they did was a chest x-ray which came back clear. Next they drew blood and hooked him up to fluids. The final step was a culture. When Colin's blood counts came back Mommy and Daddy were shocked because they rose significantly from Tuesday. His ANC was 1100 which is up from 296. If it had been treatment day Colin would have been able to get treatment. This is good news!! The culture came back clear as well but to be on the safe side they decided to give him a 48 hour antibiotic (ceftraixone). He received the first dose on Friday evening in the ER. We were then given the option to take Colin home or admit him over night. Of course we decided to take him home with the understanding there was a slight possibility we may need to take him back throughout the night. Colin was very irritable that evening and once again we had a slumber party in Mommy and Daddy's room. His temperature stayed the same (hovering at or just below 101) so luckily we didn't need to take him back overnight.

Saturday afternoon we headed back down to the ER for the second dose of the antibiotic (cetraixone). By now, he had developed a little cough and a slight runny nose. Both the nurse and doctor heard some crackling in Colin's lungs so they decided to put him on zithromax which is an antibiotic for pneumonia. The ER only has this antibiotic in a pill form so they crushed it and put it in some water so we could give it to him orally. He didn't like this medicine at all and threw it up immediately. While Mommy and Daddy tried to calm Colin down and get cleaned up we had our first negative experience with as the nurse just stood there watching us. She didn't even lend a hand when we ran out of paper towels. After about five minutes we asked her to come back so we could calm Colin down before the shots of ceftraixone. Upon her arrival she insisted we try the oral medicine again but Mommy and Daddy were not going to do that to Colin again so we asked that a script be written so we could get if filled at a pharmacy where they can add some flavor. Since our pharmacy was closing in an hour we had to quickly get on the horn to find a pharmacy that was still open and had this drug in-stock. Thankful the other drug store in town was open until 10, had the drug and the Dr who was working with Colin responded quickly with our request. Once we had that straightened out two nurses came in to give Colin the shots. He received one in each leg and since it was a slow moving shot he was not happy. He quickly told them he wanted to go home so minutes after we signed the paper work we bolted out of there. Again we had a slumber party in Mommy and Daddy's bed where Colin was very irritable .. we think he got a belly ache from the medicine since it happened both nights.

One more piece to the puzzle ... earlier Saturday morning we were informed that cousin Frankie was diagnosed with shingles. We hope he has a quick recovery and in the meantime Colin's Dr's are keeping an eye on him in case he was exposed but at this point they are not too concerned.

On Sunday we checked in with Colin's doctor as requested. We updated her .. Colin's nose is running a little more, coughing a little more, very whinie and irritable, temp now hovering at or just under 100 and is still not eating. She communicated we're doing all the right things for Colin and he only concern right now is dehydration so she wants us to keep an eye on his intake and outtake. She'd like us to keep them informed daily so the next check was Monday morning.

Colin and Mommy headed down to Yale this morning for a quick evaluation. Colin seems to be having some tummy cramps because he will wake up at night or during his nap in the fetal position screaming. It isn't until we hold him upright when he calms down. The nurse who evaluated him is pretty confident it's just cramps so we'll continue to monitor him until his next scheduled appointment on Thursday.

Signed tired and stressed Mommy and Daddy