ER Visit Last Night

Yesterday at 4pm, when Kaitlyn woke up from her nap, she was complaining that her legs hurt. She is now smart enough to know that when her legs hurt, she can ask for some Tylenol and it will help. I did not give her any Tylenol because I noticed that she was burning up. I took her temp and it showed a fever of 102 degrees. I thought maybe it was high because she had just woken up from a nap in her cozy "big girl bed" with 4 blankets on top of her. So, I waited for 1/2 an hour and then retook her temp. Still, it was at 102. I called the Dr. who told me to bring her to the ER and I called Mike to inform him of her fever and ask him to come home from work. While I waited for him to get home, I ran around the house like a crazy person trying to pack some stuff in case Kaitlyn was admitted to the hospital.

5pm - Mike finally home and the bags packed, we were off to the ER.

Once at the ER, it was a waiting game. They had to access her port in order to get a blood sample. The nurse in the ER, Matt, told us that the IV nurse would be delayed for a while and that he could access her port instead. But, he did not look as skilled as the nurses we are used to in the clinic. He looked like a college student. So, I asked him how much experience he has had with accessing a child's port and he said that he had done it about 10 or 15 times. I asked him if there was someone else with more experience that could do it. He said that he would check. I replied, "I don't mean to be rude, but she has been through enough" GOOD GOD...10-15 times? that's it? There was NO WAY I was going to allow this guy to use Kaitlyn like a pin cushion...she HAS been through enough!!! Within 30 minutes of that conversation, he came back to the room with the IV nurse.

6pm - Her port was accessed and her blood was drawn for labs. Even the IV nurse looked like a nervous wreck trying to access her port. Poor Kaitlyn was in so much pain that she was shaking on the table. I can't stand seeing her like that...it usually isn't that bad. The clinic nurses are so skilled that it takes them about 10 seconds to find the right spot and stick the needle in. We are thankful for that. Anyway, they also hooked her up to an IV drip with antibiotics. With the blood sent to the lab, we were waiting again.

While we were waiting, I noticed that Kaitlyn's left eye was starting to swell and she wasn't using her left arm. We pointed it out to the ER doc, but she didn't seem overly concerned. I asked her if Kaitlyn could have some Tylenol and she said, "of course". The "new" nurse, Michele, brought it in around 8pm. Shortly after taking the Tylenol, she started using her left arm again and I even got her to stand long enough to pee in a cup!

It's really scary that without the Tylenol, she could barely move fron the pain. We were told that once she came off the steroids, she may experience some aches and pains...SOME, but they never told us it would be debilitating pain. I am really scared what two more doses of the Doxorubicin are going to bring. Seemingly, this drug is much worse than the other two that it replaced. Up until this point, Katie has really not had many bad side effects from her Chemo. In that sense, we have been lucky. But, I really think this drug is kicking her butt. Hopefully it is kicking Leukemia's butt too.

8:30pm - I went looking for the ER doc to ask what the holdup was. She told me that the labs had come back a while ago, but that they needed a "manual differential" to determine whether or not she was neutropenic. I asked her what her count was on the automated differential and she said it was almost 1200. Then I said, "I don't think the manual differential is going to be so drastically different that it would be under 500, making her neutropenic. She said, "Yeah, that's a good point. I will just call Dr. Usmani and talk to her" (Dr. Usmani was the pediatric oncologist on call last night). Dr. Usmani decided to send us home.

9pm - Some dorky resident came in to tell us that we would be going home shortly. He had us sign the discharge paperwork and was saying his "Have a good nights", walking out the door and Mike says, "Don't we need to have someone de-access her port". He replied, "Oh yeah. That would help".

What the heck is wrong with these people? Are they paying attention to what the F*** they are doing? Sometimes, it is SO FRUSTRATING. I digress.

So, of course, now we are heading home and we are all starving. Katie wanted Cheesy Tots, Fries and a chocolate shake from Burger King. Need I say that she got it?

Back at home, she ate her Cheesy Tots while watching Noggin. Then after she finished eating her dinner, we cuddled on the couch watching her favorite shows. I was hoping she would fall asleep, but I am the one who ended up falling asleep. I woke up at 11:30pm and SHE WAS STILL AWAKE! At which point, we had to force her to go to bed.

We spoke to Dr. Usmani today and she told us that her blood cultures are still negative and her urine culture was negative, but that her Hemoglobin is low and she recommends a blood transfusion. We have to call the clinic on Monday morning to schedule that.

Right now, as I type this entry, Kaitlyn is napping. I only hope that she does not wake up with another fever or we will be back in the ER tonight. Stay tuned...