So, my baby, Cora (10 months) has been sick.

Here’s a rundown of events, which I’m basically putting in one place because I have friends and family who want an update and things have been so piece-by-piece on Facebook and etc that it’s nice to just point everyone to one post where it’s all laid out in story form.

The symptoms started up last Friday when she sported a fever of 104. My husband took her to InstaCare, where they (mis)diagnosed her with an ear infection. Well, she started projectile vomiting, and she was refusing to eat, so the on-call pediatrician at her primary care office said to try to get fluids in her. She had us feeding her a mixture of Pedialite and Gatorade, which Cora hated. Her fever kept going up, and she was refusing all of her medication and fluids, so we called back. The doctor put us “on call” for the ER, meaning if her symptoms got worse, we needed to take her to the Emergency Room right away. We (somehow) made it through Saturday night. The doctor had us meet her at the hospital on Sunday, and she looked over Cora and confirmed that she had no ear infection. She thought the symptoms were probably Roseola, and if that was the case, she’d have four(ish) days of fevers and then a rash. No big. We were supposed to call her regular pediatrician on Monday to follow up.

Fevers kept increasing. Monday they actually stabilized a bit, so I didn’t call in until yesterday (Tuesday), when her fevers were upwards of 103 and she was refusing food/formula/medication and was starting to show signs of dehydration. Her doctor saw her first thing yesterday morning, and I had the dubious honor of holding her down while they inserted a catheter to test Cora’s urine for a UTI (it legitimately traumatized both of us. I will NEVER do that again. Period.). I was sent home with the knowledge that it would take two days to get the results. No one had any answers. Her high fevers and refusal to eat were a huge concern. They seemed to think that if it was Roseola, she’d have rashes by now so that was tentatively ruled out.

So I took her home, and shit kind of hit the fan. Her fever was up around 104.7, and I called in to work again because I couldn’t leave my kid like that. We got her to sleep around 9pm. We stayed up, because she was sleeping fitfully. I fell asleep, and had slept for about an hour when my husband woke me up, “Sarah, we have to go to the hospital. Cora’s temperature is up to 106.7.” We took it two more times, and the thermometer said 107.whatever each time. We dressed up our 4 year old, and dropped her off at her grandparents and then made our way to the local children’s hospital and arrived around 1am.

Long story short, it was easily one of the worst days and nights of my life. They gave Cora an IV of some medication which lowered her fever. They took a whole bunch of blood, and some snot to test. They did chest X-rays and a whole bunch of other things. They’ve ruled out just about everything…. which leaves us…. here.

Basically the snot test showed that it’s not a virus. Her red blood cells are enflamed (or something) well above normal range. Other blood tests showed that her body is adequately fighting an infection. Her chest x-rays ruled out pneumonia, but showed that she “has an infection.” The doctor seems to think that she might have Kawasaki Disease. The issue with that diagnoses is that other than the blood test that shows inflammation, and her (extremely) high, persistent fevers, she has no other symptoms. The other issue is, we still don’t have the results of that urine test back, and we won’t until tomorrow.

So here we are. If the urine test comes back tomorrow and shows that she has a UTI/kidney infection, then we’ve already started a (very strong) dose of antibiotics and we’re on the road to recovery. If, however, that test comes back negative, then they want us to check her into children’s hospital tomorrow for an EKG, some other tests, and to start treatment of Kawasaki’s Disease. She will have to stay there for an unspecified amount of time.

Today she’s been a lot better. She’s happier, more active, her temperature’s highest point so far is 100 degrees, and that was a brief spell. Usually things seem to climb at night, so we shall see what tonight brings. and I’m reluctant to hope because I’ve hoped before, and things just got worse when I thought they were getting better. I told my work I will show up tomorrow, barring any more temperature increases. I really hope things start getting better from here. I feel like my whole body is clenched and I break into massive amounts of tears every time I think about any of this. As an added benefit, Cora no longer trusts ANYONE in a uniform. We took her to the grocery store to get us all out of the house and, you know, buy some sustenance, and she just about levitated when she saw the guy behind the meat counter.

That’s where I’m at. That’s what’s been going on. Expect more radio silence because I’m kind of trapped in the middle of a nightmare and I really don’t have the energy or headspace to think about anything but this right now.