Well that was no fun

I have not updated here on the blog since most people were aware of Penny's pneumonia, and also because I just find it hard to write about. There are a lot of painful memories and emotions surrounding her hospitalization. It was a very scary time, and I find the panic rising in my chest even thinking about the details to write them down. So, suffice it to say that she is well now. She is no longer on antibiotics and we stopped doing breathing treatments a few days ago. She's been having residual tummy troubles, but that's almost straighted out too I think.

Personality-wise, she's herself. She's a happy and active 4 year old. She's been back to school since last week and attended dance class on Monday. I confess that I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop. I can count on my fingers the number of fever-free days she's had since mid-October, and everytime one illness would subside, another would begin. So far, she seems to be holding her own though. Thank you to everyone who contacted us or thought of us while all this was going on. Maybe now I can post some fun pictures of holiday activities. Love to you all.

Well

Penny's fever continued to go up over 104 even on Sunday, but by Monday morning she was fine. She's had no fever since and the rash is gone. I am so glad. As of right now (knock wood) all three of us are healthy.

Parvovirus

Penny has human parvovirus which is otherwise known as Fifth disease (because it was the fifth childhood disease described). It's also known as "slapped cheek" disease since their cheeks get super red. She's got the characteristic rash, but one problem -- a fever much too high. Normally fifth disease has low temps of 101 or below. Tonight her's was 104.6. She was also having side pain so I called the on-call physician who happened to be Penny's regular doctor. After talking with her for awhile we went on in to the clinic to meet her there. She checked her over again and everything appears normal. The pain is probably in her spleen but it is not enlarged. So here's hoping the fever breaks in the next couple days.

Same song, second verse

Sorry to not post a follow up. The Wednesday after I posted that (which may even have been the very next day), Tray called me at work to say that Penny had woken up from her nap with a 103 fever. Since she'd been on the antibiotics for a couple days, we didn't think that should be happening. I called the nurse and they said to bring her on in. The doctor who was there was not Penny's normal doctor, but he was very cool; Penny was the last patient of the day and he and his nurse stayed way after 5 treating her. They upped the dose of the antibiotic and started her on some nasal treatments for a sinus infection. After that her fever came on down and was gone by Friday. We were able to go to the pumpkin patch on Saturday and the library Halloween program that night. She's been back at school this week and the lymph node has come on down. However, another started up in her armpit. She had a follow up appointment on Tuesday of this week, and her regular doctor was very encouraged at her progress. We went trick-or-treating Wednesday with her friend Ally and had a lot of fun. But then last night she started having an all-over rash and another fever (101). So, back to the doctor we go today.  It's probably viral since she's still on the antibiotics, but with everything else I feel like she needs to be checked out.

This is the song that never ends...

I don't normally write about every time Penny or either of us gets sick, but this recent round of illness is just ridiculous. The week before last Penny started running a low temperature. On Wednesday and Thursday of that week I'd think she felt hot, take her temp and it would be 100 or so, but then I'd go to check it a little while later and it'd be normal again. Friday morning of Tray's birthday (the 12th) we were supposed to go to his family's to celebrate and Penny had a 101 temp. Gave her some tylenol and hung out until after lunch. She seemed fine, so we went on. That night it went above 103. I had trouble keeping it under control throughout the day on Saturday and that night it even spiked to 105.1. The thing is, she had no other symptoms. Nothing. Which had us freaked that she was having a relapse of KD, although I knew we'd need to wait another day or so to reach the 5 days or more of fever criteria -- and watching her mouth like a hawk to see if it started turning red.

We called the doctor on-call at her pediatrician's here in town, and also spoke to a nurse practitioner who is a good friend of my sister-in-law and both said it was probably just a virus and that she'd probably be okay until Monday. By Monday her temp had come down to 101 or so on average and I took her in to see her regular pediatrician. She checked her out and couldn't find anything amiss. Her ears looked fine, her throat did not look red, her lungs were clear, she seemed happy as a lark. I was told it was just a virus and especially since the fever was coming on down from what it had been that it was probably on it's way out.

Tuesday morning she woke up with a fever, the sniffles (Tray's dad had a cold while we were there), and an enlarged lymph node on one side of her neck. The lymph node on one side is another characteristic of KD, but seeing as I'd just taken her in the day before (and also that I work all day on Tuesday) I called the nurse to ask if we should be concerned. They set us up an appointment within 30 minutes of my call. Tray had to take her since I was at work. Tray said her doctor seemed not that concerned by the lymph node. She said it was likely caused by a "viral sore throat" and took a swab for strep and another to culture for bacteria or whatever else showed up. The strep was negative. Penny continued to run a low temperature through Thursday, but it was pretty much almost gone. Meanwhile her cold got worse and we were up both Tuesday and Wednesday nights with a very congested and restless child.

I figured we were in the clear with the virus though, until the phone rang on Thursday. The throat culture had shown bacteria, but they wouldn't know what bacteria until the culture had time to grow out some more. In the meantime they were going to start Penny on Keflex and if they needed to change the medicine once the full results were in, they would. However, when I went by the pharmacy that evening the prescription had not been called in, and it was after 5 so the doctor's office was closed. The next morning, I called and was informed that there had been a computer error and the nurse would call it in right away. So, I picked up Penny's Keflex Friday morning and gave her a dose. Mid-day Friday the phone rang and the nurse said that the throat culture showed staph and that Keflex would not work on that so we'd need to switch to Clyndamiacin. I went back to the pharmacy and got that and gave it to her before her bath that evening. After her bath, I was getting her into her pj's when I noticed she was getting hives on her legs.

I called the on-call pediatrician who said (of course) not to give her any more Clyndamiacin and to give her Benadryl. She also then told me that she and Penny's regular doctor thought the lab results probably just indicated that Penny is "colonized" by staph and that it wasn't the cause of the fever. In fact, Penny was not having a fever any more at that point and was doing fine except for the fact that she'd had a raging head cold since Tuesday and now had a junky cough. That doctor said there probably wasn't any need for antibiotics after all. I could see her point, but I was also upset because we'd canceled plans to go to the fair with friends b/c she needed to be on the antibiotics for 24 hours, she'd had an adverse reaction to one of them, I was out $25 or more on the two wasted bottles of medicine, and she didn't even need antibiotics.

Saturday was my family reunion and Penny was feeling much better and really wanted to go. On the way, the doctor running the Saturday clinic at their office called to check on her and he reiterated what the other doctor had told me. He didn't think she needed antibiotics, but to keep an eye on her cough and if she didn't get better to come in on Monday. We had a good time at the reunion and headed home after lunch. That afternoon we took her to the fair (whereupon my own cold hit me like a ton of bricks). I came home and went to bed. Tray stayed up with Penny for a bit, and unbeknownst to me got up with her several times during the night as she had an "upset stomach" (and yes that is a euphemism). We didn't know if she'd eaten something bad at the reunion or if it was from the cold or the antibiotics or what (she didn't eat anything at the fair). Sunday rolls around, she has no fever, the lymph node is still there and maybe even larger, she has one more episode of upset stomach and then has symptoms of what I was pretty sure was a UTI.

Cut to today (Monday again). I called and got her an appointment for this afternoon. In the meantime she had another episode of upset stomach and her fever went back up to 101. I thought for sure a UTI. Nope. Urine was clean. She's just irritated (no pun intended). So what's causing the fever!!?! No idea. Ears fine, throat fine, lungs clear (despite the cough). Best guess is the lymph node is itself infected with the staph. So she is on a third (!) antibiotic, but one that is some heavy duty stuff to knock out staph. Here's hoping it will do what it is supposed to do and that her little tummy can settle down (which is not likely given that that is the main side effect of this drug). Little-bit's already lost almost a pound and a half since last Monday, which is not the normal state of affairs for a week featuring one of my family's reunions I tell you.

In other news, I have coughed so hard in the last few days that I have given myself six-pack abs from the workout. Tray has been passed out in his recliner since early this evening in cold related misery. The Earnest household looks, sounds, and feels like an infirmary.  So that's what has been going on. I really, really hope to update this blog tomorrow with better health-related news. Much love to you all.

50 months update

Penny turned 50 months old as of the 21st. Ha! She's adjusting well to school. It took until this week for her to go willingly. She has cried everyday at drop-off, but this week no tears so far (*fingers crossed*).  She had a lot of behavioral problems associated with the adjustment period, but those have tapered off as well. She was mostly just being very disagreeable, wanting to do or say the exact opposite of what we told her to do. We've definitely been working on "listening" for the last few weeks, but she's thankfully settled down quite a bit.

Her best friend at school is named Heidi and they play together everyday. On the second or third day of school the teacher moved their seats so they'd be next to each other (wise? her call.). Penny loves to report to me when other kids get in trouble. She doesn't like it. She takes it as a personal affront when they get in trouble. She is very much still bossy. The other day at pick-up I heard her reprimanding a classmate about tearing up a book he had. Penny was scolding him like she was his mother.

She is generous too though. They race in the gym sometimes and she's fast so she usually wins the races with the other girls, but sometimes she hangs back and lets Heidi win, yelling for Heidi to "Go! Go!" the whole time. Yesterday, she brought me a fist-full of coins from her piggy-bank and told me I could have some of her money since "things are so expensive at the store." Lol! I'm always telling her this or that is too expensive when she picks something up I don't want her to have. She tried to give Tray some of her money too.

She doesn't like the boys in her class. Her opinion of them is a scowly nose-wrinkle. But, yesterday, she played "going to football practice" with Trent and then they played one of her favorite games together: pretend to take a nap and then wake up. Boring activity? Perhaps, but she and another friend of her's, Alice, can play pretend-sleepover over and over for an entire playdate. Regardless, nice to know she can play with a boy too.

We have been taking a break from gymnastics this semester, but she's still into dance class on Monday afternoons. Both Heidi and Alice are in her dance class so they have fun. One last anecdote: before dance class this past Monday I asked her if she wanted me to put her hair in a ponytail. She said, "Ok. because today is make Mommy happy day!" I laughed and said, "Penny, it's okay. If you don't want to have a ponytail, you don't have to." She said, "ok, I don't want one." Ha! She still won't wear her hair in a ponytail or put barrettes or bows in it. Honestly, I'm lucky if she lets me comb it!

Dinosaur Train (dinosaur train)

So, we don't let Penny watch much television as a general rule - one 30 min show per day if possible though she begs for more most days. Much to many peoples' general annoyance, I really stuck to my guns when it came to the whole no-tv-before-age-two recommendations. But once she started watching tv, she was hooked. She went through a big Blue's Clues phase. We've seen all 100-odd episodes available on netflix. Some of them numerous times. She's seen a few Dora's, but never really asks for it; same with SuperWhy. She has had a long time love affair with the Cars movie, though there was a brief Nemo period there. She enjoys both Thomas and Chuggington. But all of it pales in comparison to her current obsession with Dinosaur Train. Bear with me, because we are talking some high-concept preschool programming -- Snakes on Plane high-concept y'all. It's a show about dinosaurs. Who ride a train.
And it is awesome.
As someone who wished (and wished and wished) until the age of 18 to be a paleontologist, I have perhaps pushed the dinosaur theme on my one and only child. But, she looooves this show. At the end of each segment, there is a paleontologist who comes on and talks about some of the science behind the episode. She has learned so much. She talks about things like the Cretaceous time period and Icthyosaurs and now understands the concept of a hypothesis (and goes around making -- and testing!--hypotheses of her own), and it just makes my heart sing!
Also, the theme song. Youtube it.