The day started off as an Christmas day with to eager young children. A very excited son , shaking me awake and begging to wake up his baby sister. Off Dave and I go , putting the kettle on, letting out our four legged fur babies and calling mom and dad to let them know the kids were up and waiting for them to tread the 50 ft to our back door. ( For those who don't know , my parents live on the the same property)
Parker and Annika were content to fish through their stockings until Gramma and pappa arrived, with presents in tow. Annika had been up from 1am to 4 am coughing, and I along side of her with nebulizer in hand, and clapping palms to do physio therapy. I had already been up because my nasty, useless gallbladder has been reeking havoc on my system. ( I have a scheduled surgery to remove it Jan 21st) For a little girl who didn't have much sleep, she had a fair amount of energy. Ahhh to be young again.
So we giggled and laughed, and savoured the ripping of present wrapping, and the sound of the logs crackling in the fireplace. The animals were chewing their rawhide treats from their stocking , and the kids were content to gaze upon their new treasures. My mom and I were preparing brunch, and dad and Dave where relaxing( well if you call relaxing trying to free all the new toys from their packaged prisons..lol)
After brunch, mom and dad went home and I put the bird in the oven. I went and laid down and Dave in the kids were watching some new Christmas movies.
I got up around 4 pm, a nice hour snooze and noticed Annika asleep on the couch. I just figured she was tired from the sleepless night. But Dave told me she had complained she wasn't feeling well. When she got up , she was on fire! Burning up. We took her temp and it was 39.....so Tylenol in and gravol in , because she was complaining she was nauseated.
Then the fun began. So in between getting dinner ready, I was putting cold rags on her brow, giving her more fever control, hooking up Gatorade in her feeding tube. Did I mention we had dinner for my family.....argh. So my mom came up early and help with the dinner, in this time I got Annie comfortable. My dad wasn't feeling good with a cold, so we sent a plate home for him, and mom , Dave, Parker and I tried to enjoy dinner......did I mention my gallbladder sucks...lol. Annika started crying during dinner from my bed, so off I went to comfort her while Dave and mom cleaned up. I had made a vanilla birthday cake on request from my kids for dessert. They wanted to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. SO once Annika was calmed again, Parker was pleading to have cake. Why should he always suffer because of cystic fibrosis. So him and I held hands. Said a prayer of thanks and then my mom joined in with us singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS.
Parker got his cake, and I got to see a sparkle in his eye.
Annika started really complaining at this point, so after another dose of ibuprofen ( we have been alternating Tylenol and ibuprofen every 2 hours) her fever had not broke, so we gave her a bath in tepid water. She screamed like a banshee, but in a short while the combination of the meds, the bath , and g-tube hydration broke the fever.
Around 8:30 she was pleading to watch a movie with me and her brother in my bed. So we put on The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Annika was happy, Parker was camped out on the floor, and I was in my new pj's. Life seemed good. Annika even asked for some cauliflower and dip and some plain mashed potatoes. Easy, peasy, no problem.
So kids have both had a snack, Daddy is snoring on the couch, and we are about 3/4 way through the movie. Annika states she is feeling dizzy and tired, so I tell her close your eyes and fall asleep. She does.
So Parker and I are trying to finish this movie, which by the way is pretty decent. And we both jump out of our skins when Annika wakes up screaming in pain. She is clutching her lower right side, screaming it hurts. Shaking uncontrollably and yelling it hurts, and i can't stop shaking, mommy why am I shaking. Her eyes are dilated, and she is convulsing. I scream at Dave to call 911. Parker is holding Annika's hand, the whole time rubbing his sisters hand while she tells him through tears it hurts Parker, it hurts Parker. Parker is crying, but not leaving his sisters side. I am holding her tight, because she won't let me put her down. Dave is calling my parents to come get Parker. And I now notice that Annika's fever has spiked back.
Her heart is racing, she is shaking, screaming in pain, and on fire.
The ambulance was there in 5 minutes. The EMT's stated her right side abdomen is rock hard, she has a fever of 39 and her heart rate is over 200. We are rushed to Leamington hospital. They see us right away, get her hooked up to IV and take blood.
Her white blood count is really elevated and they hook her up to zofran and rochephin. More Tylenol.
Leamington calls Met, and we transfer care. We managed to get the pain to stop, and break the fever and here we lay for the night. More blood in moments, and a ct scan or MRI tomorrow.
So there we are. That's our Christmas in a nutshell.
I will post more as I know more.
Hugs to all my friend and family.
We are in room 3228 on the 3rd floor at Met hospital in Windsor. Merry HO HO HO!
