Captain Happy Takes On A Nasty Infection!

Daddy and Captain Happy in his Superhero cape!

Wow - this week did not exactly go how I had planned (what else is new around here, huh?).  What was planned...getting ahead at work and packing for our trip to visit Dr. Bauer in Chicago next Tuesday to have our tissue expander removed on Thursday.  What was not planned???  A trip to Phoenix Children's Hospital for two nights for a round of IV antibiotics!!!

It started on Monday night when Zac spiked a fever.  Though he's had 2 fevers during this expansion process, this one felt like it was higher.  The next morning, Zac was still really hot and very cranky.  He was also whimpering like he was in pain with any sort of movement.  I refilled his normal antibiotic and gave him his first half-dose.  The next day, he was still running very hot and acting even more listless...his temp registered 102.5!  We made an appointment with the pediatrician's office - we needed a pre-surgical physical anyway.  The doctor ran a  CBC and found that Zac's White Blood Count was VERY high.  His recommendation was that Zac needed IV antibiotics.  I immediately called Dr. Bauer's office and spoke to nurse Susan thinking we may need to go to Chicago a little earlier than planned if the expander was infected.  Susan said that IV antibiotics were a good idea and it would help him prepare for the surgery.  She said Dr. Bauer did not want Zac poked or prodded any more than he already had been for the first test at the ped's office and that the hospital should call Dr. Bauer as soon as we got to the hospital BEFORE they attempted anything.

We grabbed our superhero cape and headed to the hospital.  Upon arrival, we had the admitting doctor call Dr. Bauer and we proceeded with trying to find a good vein to put the antibiotics in.  When I talked to Dr. Bauer (who I called on his personal cell phone - I LOVE THIS MAN) he also wanted me to see if I could withdraw any fluid from the port area since it was swollen and looked like it could be the source of the infection.....oh, happy, happy, joy, joy...lucky me!  Why me when I am surrounded by a plethora of medical staff??  Dr. Bauer said that I knew the port and expander better than anyone there...(a huge compliment but....)  So...I'll spare you the details but let me tell you that slipping in that needle under these circumstances when Zac was NOT numb from Emla cream and already screaming....with a host of medical professionals hovering over you = the worst stress of my life!

After spending almost 4 hours in a triage room smaller than my closet...after watching two "IV teams" try to find a place to stick my beautiful boy...we decided to put the needle for the antibiotics in his head.  So, for the third time that day...I watched my little precious guy being held down and stuck by nurses...at least I didn't have to do the holding this time.  I sure was ready to do the comforting though.  After getting his little antenna, we were herded to another room of about the same size to wait for a bed.

After his first round of antibiotics - already improving!

So, Zac got his first round of antibiotics in this tiny room.  After that, he hung out with me on a gurney and watched American Idol with me.  ***Lesson learned....when choosing a vein for antibiotics - just choose the one in the head.  It seems painful but it wasn't any more painful than the hands or feet and the bonus was he couldn't see it and therefore didn't mess with it***

It was coming up on 9 p.m. (we'd been at the hospital since 1:30 p.m.) and Daddy had to leave to go get Zoie when we were transferred to our new, shared room.  Oh, yeay for the 16 year old boy we were sharing a room with - I am sure he was thrilled to share the room with a cranky baby LOL.  The sides of the hospital crib were not working so Zac and I slept huddled up on a padded cot/couch type thing which was slightly sloped making it a little challenging to not roll off while I was sleeping.

After the dark comes the dawn!  We woke up from a horrible night of sleep - but Zac was feeling so much better!!  We had to spend the entire day at the hospital much to our surprise since we went in thinking we'd be there for 24 hours...only to find out we may be there until Saturday morning.  After 4 rounds of antibiotics, we got to leave this morning though and we are VERY anxious to go to Chicago and visit our Super Team to get this tissue expander removed.  We are even more excited to have four whole months before we have to do this process again even though we are entirely thankful for it and the fantastic team of doctors and nurses in Chicago we are blessed to have found.

Happy Again!  What a trooper!