Two days later however, another story.
I came home from work and found Annabelle laying on the couch. Still wearing my heels and purse on my shoulder, I leaned over the couch and my stomach sank, "Something's wrong". I started shouting questions "Annabelle, hunny, are you ok? Do you feel ok? What's going on?" Everyone just stood there staring at me like a crazy person, but my mommy gut was screaming in fear and panic that something bad had happened. I felt all over her body and she was blazing hot to the touch.
106.2. Yes, 106!!!!!!!!!! I kicked off my heels and dropped my purse in the floor as I scooped her into my arms and ran upstairs to put her in the tub. She was limp and hardly speaking. I just knew she would start seizing any second so I knew I didn't have much time to get her temperature down.. I also didn't want her to start seizing in the bathtub, but I didn't have a lot of choice. While she sat in the tub, I gave her Motrin and 30min later gave her Tylenol. She shivered and cried as I poured the lukewarm water over her hair. Once the bath was over, I laid her exhausted little body in my bed on a towel where I watched her temp start to drop.. it got down to 103.4, what a relief.
Once it was down a bit, I exhaled and evaluated the rest of the house. What the heck had happened?? How did this happen so fast? And HOW in the world did no one see this but me?! The nurse said she was fine at school all day, Annabelle said she had a great day. Just suddenly, the fever came on. For Annabelle, this isn't unusual, but it sure is nerve wracking. She had no other symptoms, nothing. The only complaint was that her eyebrows and head hurt, likely from the fever.. For dinner I made her some chicken broth and tiny noodles but she didn't eat much. It wasn't until about an hour after dinner that she started crying in pain again, she was pleading to help her tummy.. she started demanding to make bubbles NOW! I hooked her g-tube to an extension and 60cc syringe, and voila, she poured more air from her stomach than I have ever, ever seen before in my life. It was awful and I know must had been excruciatingly painful :( The air just kept pouring out. It's never done this before.. I was baffled.
We gave Belle some more meds and tucked her into bed to prepare for a long night... and a long night it was. I couldn't sleep bc I was worried her fever would spike again and I wouldn't be there, she needed meds around the clock, we didn't want to give her any night feeds bc of her stomach. It was just a mess. That night, daddy also started getting sick.. and then aunt Sarah, one by one the house started falling apart with only a few stranglers left standing. Keeping everyone in their own quarantine was a nightmare, sending the healthy ones to school, isolating the oddballs and rotating meds was a chore. Unfortunately, I had to leave town for work so I had to balance the house before I could even leave them on their own....
this sickness has lasted all week.
It's now been a week and while most the house is well, myself and Mady have gotten sick and Annabelle still has not recovered. I am starting to become quite worried about her health and and the upcoming surgery. Her fever will spontaneously spike, she occasionally can't make it thru a meal without having to pull a good amount back off her stomach, and she's coughing terribly. Last week she spent a few days having to lay down in the school clinic after nausea waves and taking over 50 cc of formula off her stomach.
Her stoma has started to bleed and drain, which is typically an indication that her body is trying to fight something. We've been cleaning her belly/stoma around the clock but the drainage just isn't slowing... it has though, stopped bleeding so that's a good thing.
For now, we wait. I have contacted Cincinnati Children's and we are on standby in case her health begins to take another downward plunge. We just can't let her temperatures continue to spike and drop the way they have and heavens knows we can't continue to expose her to whatever germs are already spiraling around the school and in our house. The protocol in the home right now is that any time you walk into the house, you immediately shower and the dirty clothes go into the washing machine, that includes when you come home from school/work/shopping etc. We are spraying everything with Lysol but I don't know it's working... gosh I pray it is.
Surgery is scheduled for Monday, October 17th, we have to leave the Thursday prior for several appointments that Friday the 14th. I will post an update on our travel plans soon.. we are drowning ourselves in scheduling and exhausting ourselves with prayers of mercy that Belle will be healthy enough for surgery. Please pray for the same.
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