Back in the DAMN hospital

You know, this routine is getting REALLY old...

Katie is back in the hospital with fever. Yesterday, she was walking around with bright red cheeks and I thought, "oh, here we go again". So, around 1pm, I took her temperature and surprisingly, it was normal. So, I passed it off as me being paranoid, expecting the worst as she comes off the high dose of steroids. But, later (around 8pm), I felt her forehead and sure enough, she was burning up. I took her temp again and she was running a fever of 101 degrees. Mike was working down in Providence for the day, so I thought it best to call him right away. So, I called and let him know about her fever and told him that I was going to take it again in another hour and hope that it was coming down.

Another hour down, and I take her temp again. Now, it was 102 degrees. So, with it on the rise, I thought it best to call the doctor and make our way to the ER.

9pm - Mike home, bags packed and on our way to the ER.

9:30pm - Arrive at the ER.

11:30 pm - They finally accessed her port and took her blood.

12:30 am - Blood work back and a call to Dr. Keuker was made. He decided to admit her at least for 48 hours. Although her blood work looked good and she was not neutropenic, he expects that because of where she is in the cycle, her counts are about to plummet and he would rather her be in the hospital when they do so that they can keep an eye on her.

1:30 am - A resident from the 5th floor finally comes down to examine Kaitlyn. I guess it is "protocol" for someone on the 5th floor to examine the kids and write their own report before they can be admitted to the floor. At this point, I was completely disgusted with the "protocols" because my poor sick child was TRYING to get some sleep!!! I finally had to tell the resident to back off, that enough was enough and to let her sleep. Argh, it is so frustrating sometimes. It's the middle of the night, what could be SO important that the three previous doctors didn't catch??? ARGH!!!!!!!!

2:30 am - We are finally moved from the ER to a room on the 5th floor - 2 HOURS after they made the call to admit Kaitlyn - 2 HOURS!!! We spent a total of 5 hours in the ER before getting to a room. Then, once in the room, the nurse assistant wanted to take her vitals, which I allowed because she was now wide awake from the transport up to the room. But here it is 2:30 am and they are struggling with her to take her temp and her blood pressure, all the while, she is screaming and crying. Will this night EVER end??? Mike and I were completely exhausted and we were starting to lose our patience as well.

3:30 am - Finally, left alone and able to go to sleep.

Like I said, this routine is getting REALLY old.