Anna's little hospital stay

Well, were back from an unexpected hospital stay with Anna. I guess we were due since she has gone three years without being admitted for anything.

So, all day Friday Anna was full of energy, and we were outside for most of the day just playing, and she wasn't playing with anyone that was visibly sick. Saturday morning was a different story though. She woke up before me and complained that her tummy didn't feel good. I asked her to go and lay down on the couch in the living room while I got the baby a bottle. I turned on the TV for her while I feed the baby, and then when the baby was done I put her down and went to cuddle with Anna because that is all that is usually takes. So, I went over by her and she had fallen back to sleep. I tried to wake her up but she only woke up long enough to crawl on me. I noticed right away that her heart was racing, and she looked very pale. I woke Jason up and took Anna to the ER nearest to my house right away. When I walked into the ER holding Anna it was VERY busy. After we got seen in Triage they told me to take a seat, and that it would be a long wait because there were 11 cases ahead of us. I told them that if we had to wait any longer at all I would just drive Anna to Children's (an hour away, but I would have been waiting there for 2 hours) and that since she was a high risk case they would take her at Children's right away. Needless to say, they got us a bed.

They took some blood, started an IV and took some urine to rule out a bladder infection. She didn't have a fever through any of this. After a couple of hours they got most of her labs back and her liver and kidney function were all normal, but her white blood cell count was at 30,000 (normal is 10,000) That usually indicates a virus or infection, but they couldn't pin point anything. They then called Anna's doctors at Children's, but since it was a Saturday they talked to a resident, who had to get a hold of Dr. Alonso, or Dr.Emerick (our very good liver docs) so that took a couple more hours. Anna's doctors wanted her there at Children's (which at this point I was very glad to hear) She was still so sleepy, and her heart rate was high. So, this was Anna's first ride in an ambulance. She was so good through all of this, didn't show any signs of fear, my brave little girl! By the time we got to Children's Anna seemed to feel better, at least she was able to stay up now. Anna was excited to be there, a very familiar place, and she asked to go to Mcdonalds! (there is one in the basement there) Asking to eat is a very good sign!

It was like a little reunion gong up to the liver floor. Anna hasn't had to be admitted since she was 7 months old. All of her old nurses were happy to see her and couldn't believe how big she was. We got a single room, but right outside the nurses station which is a little loud, but easy to get the nurses attention. They kept her on IV fluids, and started her on an antibiotic, even though they didn't know what they were treating. We got there around 6:00 pm on Saturday night, so we didn't get to see a real doctor until late Sunday morning. They sent blood cultures at the other hospital and they didn't grow anything, but Anna's white blood cell count was still high so they wanted her to stay one more night for observation, and to keep the antibiotics going. Monday morning Anna was feeling fine, so when the doctors came to make their rounds they told us we could go home. All of her liver functions were fine, as well as her kidney functions, and her white blood cell count was almost back to normal. It was scary not knowing why she was feeling the way she was, and the fact that they couldn't find anything wrong with her. Our liver nurse put it like this, "who cares what it was, as long as her liver looks good, and she is feeling better now". Today she is much better, but I am keeping a close eye on her.

I don't know how I ever survived staying at the hospital with Anna for weeks at a time. I was gong crazy for just two days. I also forgot about that 2 hour delay on everything that hospitals seem to have. Thank goodness Anna is home and healthy! I think Anna is just keeping us on our toes, to remind us to not take her health for granted. You did it baby!