Finally an End in Sight!

Mattie was a very sick little girl last week. After throwing up and running a fever for over 24 hours, she got really bad diarrhea. I thought that it was because she was getting the last little bit to of the "bug" out of her system, until she started throwing up again. That was Wednesday, and she continued to be sick on Thursday and Friday. I called the Dr on Friday to find out how long this should be lasting, and because I couldn't get her to drink that much. They had me bring her back in. The Dr wanted to send her to the Infusion Lab to get fluids, but they didn't take children. Instead we got a prescription for an anti-nausea medicine and were told to take her to the ER if she was showing signs of dehydration. I dropped the script off, and took her home to lay down. She was very restless in her sleep and woke up a couple of times kind of delirious. The pharmacy did not have the medicine and they were suppose to be calling around to find another one that did. When Mattie finally woke up from her nap, she was screaming and we couldn't get her to calm down. Then she threw up bile, and we couldn't get her to drink anything. She was very weak and we started to get a little worried, so we decided to take her to the ER. I called Tim (the Dr that I nanny for, who happens to be a Nephrologist), and he told me to meet him at the ER. He was very nice to talk to the triage nurse and let her know that we were on our way. Then he continued to check on Mattie, in between taking care of his own patients. The ER Dr decided to give her some anti-nausea meds first to see if she would hold those down and start drinking. If not, then they would start an IV and take blood to run tests. Well, she took the meds and then started drinking and even ate 2 crackers. After a little while longer, she was released with instructions to get more anti-nausea meds. I called the pharmacy while I was there and spoke with the pharm. manager, since it had been hours and I had not heard anything from them, about the status of locating the meds that she needed.

Tim invited us to dinner at his house, since they were ordering Thai Thai, and Mattie was doing a little better. They were very kind to us and let us order whatever we wanted! I got my fav. Spicy Crab Roll, and Matt got Pad Thai! After being at their house for awhile, Mattie started complaining of hurting again and not feeling good. We left and went to pick up her medicine.

The next day was not very different from the other days. She cried a lot and slept a lot. I just felt so bad for her and couldn't figure out why she wasn't getting better. That night she started doing a little better, so we worked on Matt's Father's Day gift. She had a good time making a hand print picture for him and a coupon book. She slept pretty good that night.

She was doing much better yesterday during the day and even went to church and nursery. It was a good Father's Day, and we thought that she was finally over her stomach bug (the ER Dr had told us that it could last 5-7 days). But then last night she again started whinning and complaining of not feeling good. She was very restless in her sleep and crying a lot.

This morning she said that she felt ok and wanted to go to swim lessons, but she was very clingy and whining a lot again. I just knew something else was wrong, but I couldn't figure out what was going on. It had been over 24 hours since she had thrown up or had an episode of diarrhea. Well, it wasn't long before we finally found out what the problem was. I got a call from her Dr and they told me that Mattie did indeed have a UTI! That was the first thing that got tested last Wed. morning and her urine dip was clean, but the only way to find out for definite in a child, if there is an infection, is to have the urine cultured. It takes a couple of days to culture the urine, and then I guess with the weekend, they just didn't get the results back in time. It all made sense! She most likely had a stomach bug on top of the UTI, but it explained why she was still in so much pain and crying and just not feeling 100 % better. She started antibiotics today and will hopefully be feeling better for us to leave to go to UT this Friday.

I am extremely grateful for the promptings of the Spirit last Wednesday morning, that let me know that I needed to take her to the Dr to get her urine tested. I'm also very grateful that I listened to those promptings. Mattie has not had a problem with her hydronephrosis since she was 6 weeks old, so I never really think about it, until her yearly check up rolls around. That's why I know it wasn't me that thought of having her tested. If she hadn't been tested, her stomach flu would have just masked her infection, and we wouldn't have known about it. That could have lead to kidney damage. I'm grateful for a Heavenly Father who cares for each of His children and for the power of the priesthood. I'm so blessed to have a wonderful husband who honors that priesthood and is able to give our daughter a blessing whenever she needs it. It was a crazy week, but hopefully it has come to an end.

As a little tribute to Matt for Father's Day, here's a picture of Mattie Mo with her Daddy. I love this photo of them!


PS. Since Mattie has been feeling so lousy lately, she wouldn't stay in the Preschool class today at swim lessons. I knew that was going to happen though. She has been so clingy to me, because of feeling sick. So, for now we'll stay with the Parent and Tot group, and then maybe she'll try again in a little while!