Well the rest of our trip report will have to wait
I took the kids to see our Pediatrician yesterday about an what looks like an infection on Sebastian's finger. It turns out he has a yeast infection and she prescribed Diflucan for him. Siennah also has yeast on her fingernails. It's all those blasted antibiotics the kids have been on! Our ped also looked at Savannah. She has pneumonia. Also, some of her labs came back from last week. Her immunoglobulin came back low and she is aenemic. She told me to get her admitted to the hospital. I dropped the kids off at my in-laws house and took Savannah to the hospital.
Brian had been up coughing and throwing up the night before could not come with. Instead he went to the urgent care again. The strep throat is gone, but now he has bronchitis.
It's been another one of those whirlwind experiences. The Pediatrician here at the hospital seems stellar! Her name is Dr. Washburn. Dr. Queen sent over Savannah's chart and the two have been coordinating.
Dr. Washburn said the first time a baby comes in failure to thrive they pursue the GI angle. The next time a baby comes in failure to thrive...they start "looking for some Zebras."
Savannah's dance card is filling fast. A Neurologist to check for seizures relating to the arching and rigid episodes. An ID (Infectious Disease) doctor for all the ear infections, fever, mucus etc. Immunologists and Hematology and Oncology for the low immunoglobulins, elevated platelets and anemia and Geneticists to check for Chromosome Disorders. We also have not seen the last of the Gastroenterologists.
Lot's of fun in store
Yesterday Savannah had a chest X-ray. They put her into this contraption called a Pigg-O-Stat. I've seen my kids go through a lot of stuff and this ranked right up there among the most tortuous. Savannah HATED it. She basically was smooshed in a tube while I had to hold her arms above her head and one of techs held her head still. After all that the X-rays didn't come out because she was too short and we had to them again on a table in another room.
Here is our littlest sweet heart. What amazes me about Savannah is how pleasant she is even while she is sick. I think she probably has just gotten used to it. If you enlarge this photo you can see the pus coming out of her ear (just below her strawberry birth mark).
Savannah started an antibiotic called Ceftin last night. Here she is getting her GI meds from our night time Nurse, Elizabeth.
This morning Savannah had an EEG. They came for us at 7:00 a.m. Good thing I was up and showered. The EEG was another experience I don't ever care to repeat for my kids. The test itself is not painful at all. The hard part was holding Savannah still to put the 21 nodes on her scalp. She is fiercely strong when upset. I had to straddle her on the gurney to hold her body down and use all the might in my hands to keep her jaw from moving while the tech measured and drew on her head and then scrubbed and applied the conductive jelly and wrap. We had to take several breaks because she was just so irate. But in true Savannah fashion she bounced right back to her sweet natured self when the torture was over and actually did just what the tech wanted...fell asleep.
This morning Savannah weighed 10 pounds 4 ounces. Dr. Washburn gave strict orders that she is to be weighed everyday on the same scale. So it was a real shocker when she weighed in this morning half a pound less than yesterday's 10.12. This afternoon they brought in another scale because Dr. Washburn could not believe she would have lost that much. The new scale put her at 8 pounds 3 ounces which I knew was just ridiculous! I said let's go put her back on the same scale we used in the morning. I carried her stark naked through the hall to the treatment room. She was 10 pounds 9 ounces. So that is what we are counting as today's weight. It is incredible though that in three months since her 9 pounds 11 ounce 2-Month Well Visit she has not yet gained a full pound!
Savannah packs away the food. We've already gone through three boxes of the Enfamil nursette's. In the picture below she just polished off her second 4 ounce jar of baby food and went on to drink 4 ounces of formula. In addition to all the formula and baby food she is still nursing three times a day.
Dr. Washburn is coordinating all the specialist so that we can just do one big draw. She said that this afternoon, "the blood letting begins." She has a funny way of talking. I like it. This morning she asked me, "Have you seen the whites of a GI's eyes yet?" It took me a few seconds to figure out what she meant. The wittiness reminds me of my buddy Ashley (thanks for your blog post btw!)
We've had Nurse Susan yesterday and today. We've had her twcie in the past also. We've actually had most of the nurses here before and most are absolutely wonderful!
In the meantime I am glad that Brian arrived. Being by myself got lonely....fast! Also being incomunicado is hard. I did read a whole book called "Milestones of Medicine" that I swiped from the waiting room. We're only on the second day and I already miss Sebastian and Siennah.
I had Brian bring Savannah a headband so that random folks would stop telling me what a darling boy I have.