It wasn't strep.
Looking back, I really, really wish it would have been.
I was 99% sure William had strep throat. He had all of the signs. Really high fever, headache, and a very, very sore throat....
I got to experience the joy of taking 3 kids ages 5 and under to the pediatrician's office. I would never have done that, but I honestly thought it would be a quick throat swab, prescription pick up, and back home.
William's strep test came back negative, and I was so confused. He looked so, so sick! The doctor then listened to his lungs, which were full, so they decided to do a breathing treatment in the office.
The was fun.
William was so sick, and whimpering, Luke was starving and bawling, and Molly was begging for suckers and stickers. It was nap time and lunch time. Basically, it was a disaster.
15 LOOONG minutes later, William's treatment was done. The treatment cleared his lungs, which was great news. I thought we would finally be on our way, but then the doctor decided to get a second opinion, because William was looking worse by the minute.
She came back with the decision that we needed to drive William over to the lab in the hospital to get swabbed for the Influenza test.
She wrote up a prescription for that and finally sent us on our way.
I honestly didn't think he had the flu, and the kids and I were well beyond done with the whole outing, so I just drove us all home.
William continued to get worse and worse as the day wore on.
That night, we were both up the entire night trying in vain to bring his fever of 103 down, and I was worried to death about my boy. He was lethargic, hallucinating, weak, burning up, and looked terrible! Ben gave him a blessing that night.
The next day I kept Mary and Sam home from school to help with Luke and Molly, and I took William in for the lab test.
He didn't like it, but was too sick to care much. He just laid on me while they did the swab. My heart was hurting for him.
It came back positive for Influenza A. Two children in Heber have died from this in the past month, and another is in the ICU at the moment.
The doctor called me and informed me to take William to the ER and then have him admitted to the hospital.
I was already extremely worried about William, but this pushed me over the edge. I admit, I felt completely panicked.
I called my neighbor and friend Karli, who is an ER nurse, and had her come look at William.
She suggested we head over to the ER as well.
So, off we went, in the middle of a March snow storm. Blah.
William was confirmed to be a very, very sick boy.
They started an IV, which he hated, but was too weak to really fight. This is the child who is the only one in the family to not get the flu shot, because he was flipping out so badly. For him to just lie there and whimper during an IV, that really says something about how sick he really was. Oh, my heart. :(
Then they did some chest X-rays.
And then we just waited.
The chest x-ray came back clear, which was great news. Pneumonia was ruled out as a secondary infection, which is what is making this so terrible.
The other major concern is that the virus will enter his blood stream. This is what took the lives of the other children here, and it can happen very suddenly.
After the IV fluids were all in William, they checked his vitals again. They still were not good. Fever was still high, heart rate was still high, and blood pressure was bad too.
They told me that William could go either way, at any time.
All they could do in the hospital was sit and wait and watch.
The same thing we could do at home....but for much less $$.
They let us go home, under strict orders to watch William like a hawk, and to come back at any sign of him getting worse.
Talk about pressure. William already looked terrible to me, how was I supposed to know if he was worse or not???
I did not sleep at all last night. Every little cough or whimper from William had me at his side checking him over completely. It was horrible. How was I supposed to sleep, when my little boy could go septic in a moments notice.
I have prayed so much the last few days, and others have been praying too.
This morning, William seemed slightly better, much to our relief.
Ben stayed home to help, and I got in a little nap as well.
This afternoon, William is actually walking around a little, and he even ate a little bit!!!
He is still a very, very sick little boy, but at least the panic meter in my mommy alert system has stopped buzzing.
Next year....flu shots for EVERYONE!
ugh, ugh, ugh
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