We had to take Gavin to the ER again late Monday night because he woke up with a fever of 102 and throwing up and then dry heaving. By the time we made it to the hospital 30 minutes later, it was up to 105! It was a little scary this time, he was shaking and so hot. They gave him Tylenol and antibiotics right away, and within a few hours his fever had broke and they admitted him.
Its another bacterial infection...they drew blood cultures that night, and over the next few days they grew out "gram positive rods" and "gram positive clusters" which are just different classifications for bacteria. The next step is determining exactly what strains of bacteria they are and then figuring out which antibiotics to give. The process usually takes about a week.
Basically the way they have explained it to us is that we all have bacteria in our bodies normally. But our bodies just fight them off and we never know the difference. But since Gavin's immune system is lower, the bacteria can get out of control, and since bacteria loves plastic, it clumps up by his line, and then can spread to his blood system, which then causes him to go septic and within an hour his temperature shoots through the roof. As long as he has the line in, its not a question of "if" but "when" he will get an infection. It is just part of the process. Its not abnormal for kids with lines to bounce in and out of the hospital.
His tummy started to swell again, too (not as bad as last time though) so they gave him a dose of Lasix to make him more comfortable. Its probably just from all the extra fluids from the IV and antibiotics.
Today he is feeling better overall, but is still sleeping a lot, and hasn't eaten very much. The worst part of all this, is that horrible diaper rash is back. :( Yesterday it was getting slightly red, this morning it was full blown and bleeding! The antibiotics make him poop so much, so we have to constantly change him and he just screams and cries. It pains me so much. :(
We are getting so much help from our friends and family though...my cousin's wife spent the night with Gavin last night, and women from our church have been staying with him in the afternoons so I can have a break. And our freezer has two weeks worth of frozen dinners in it thanks to our church and my cousins! Our support system is the best...we are so grateful and lucky to have them! We know that no matter how hard the storm rages and fights against us, we will ALWAYS have their love and support and at the end of the day, thats all that truly matters.
{ This is my family }
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Gavin admitted for 105 fever
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3 comments:
We love you guys and we are keeping Gavin in our prayers. Let us know if we can help in any way!
Bethany, I'm so sorry to hear Gavin is back in the hospital. Please let me know if I can help with your kids at all (or anything else). I have a small idea of what you mean about the diaper rash thing. Sadie is prone to them and has had a few like the one you mention, where every (frequent) diaper change is agony. She was on an antibiotic a couple of months back that I ended up taking her off because it was getting so awful. That is NOT what you need on top of everything else! I hope his infection clears up soon.
Aiden had really bad diaper rash when he was younger. I am sure nothing compared to Gavin, but Have you heard of "Aquaphor" it's a skin protectant for hands and other skin, but it works GREAT on baby's bums. We used it as a preventative measure every time we changed his diaper and as a treatment. Nothing worked better and believe me I tried it.
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