No More Doctors Please

Doctor #1
The past few days have been pretty hectic and tiring to say the least... and NOT because of having a newborn at home...

On Monday night, Brad and Tate were playing basketball around 8:00 when all of a sudden, Tate complained that his head was hurting behind his right ear. Within seconds, he was screaming in pain, not able to move his head. We tried to get him to calm down, but he was hysterical. These were screams that were not typical of him at all and Brad and I both were very concerned. I put a call in to the pediatrician to see what could be wrong, but the screaming escalated and then Tate told us he was "really tired." The first thing I thought of there was something wrong in his brain. I looked at Brad and within ten minutes my parents were at our door so they could watch Knox and we were pulling up to the ER at the Children's Hospital in Plano.

I know that most parents maybe wouldn't have taken their child to the ER at this point, but Brad and I can't help but jump to the worst possible scenario when things like this happen to our family. So we got checked into the hospital around 8:30 and waited about an hour before we saw anyone. By this point, Tate had calmed down a bit as long as we didn't move him from laying his head on Brad's shoulder. If we did, he would begin screaming again.

After about an hour, we saw a nurse who took his vitals, gave Tate a big dose of Motrin, and told us to go back out and wait. She told us she didn't know what was causing the pain, but that there is a type of "infection" that can occur that we may need to do testing for. We sat in the waiting room again for about an hour and then went back to a room. We had a really great nurse named Adam who was so good with Tate. Around 11 or so, a doctor came in and examined Tate and asked us a bunch of questions. The Motrin had kicked in by then and Tate was much more comfortable, although he still couldn't move his head without pain. After a quick look, she told us he had a virus in his throat and an ear infection. HUH? He never once acted sick or told us he didn't feel well until his head began to hurt. She said his lymph nodes were swollen too. All of this could combine to explain the pain in his head. She gave Tate a purple popsicle and some ear drops and said that if they seem to help him be able to move his head, she would be confident that this was all we were dealing with.

She came back a little after midnight and assessed Tate's head movement. He was still in pain, which seemed to surprise her. She said she was debating whether or not he should have a CAT scan because sometimes with bad ear infections there can be an infection in some bones behind the ear or also abscesses that can form. At this point, Brad explained to her our family's history and that if there was something that needed to be done so that we would know 100% that he was okay, then we would like to do it. She agreed with us and ordered the CAT scan.

In order to do the CAT scan, however, Tate needed to have an IV put in so that he could get the "contrast" into his system. For adults, this is typically something we drink, but for kids they do it in an IV. Great. But Tate was absolutely perfect and sat there like a champ as they put the IV in his hand. Around 1:30, Tate finally had his CAT scan. And again, he laid there perfectly still, all wrapped in blankets with an elastic band around his head to keep it still. He looked so little lying there. His eyes were huge, as the machine rotated around him.

It was at this point that I kept thinking about how our children trust us so much. They just do what we tell them, regardless of what it is. They look to us for reassurance and protection and encouragement and it's our job to give that to them every single day. Even in times like these, when we, ourselves, are scared out of our minds. I stood there, watching my little boy, praying that there wasn't something that would come back on the CAT scan that would rock our world once again. I was praying that whatever the scan told us, that I would be able to protect him and be there for him every step of the way.

We went back to our room and by about 2:15, Tate finally fell asleep. We sat in the dark, quiet hospital room, waiting for the doctor to give us the results. As the minutes crept by, my worry escalated. Why was it taking so long? What would they tell us? My heart was pounding as I laid next to my sleeping three year old.

Finally at 2:45, a doctor came in to tell us everything looked normal and it was just a bad ear infection. I can't even tell you the relief that poured through me. We left with a prescription for an antibiotic and some numbing ear drops. We finally got home by about 3:30.

Doctor #2
Tuesday afternoon I had to take Knox into the doctor for his two week check-up. His pediatrician said he's doing very well. He now weighs 8 pounds 1 ounce - so he's gained over a pound since we left the hospital. I went ahead and brought Tate with us to the doctor so she could look at him again just to make sure he was really on the mend. The first thing she did was look in his ears and tell me that he did NOT have an ear infection! HUH?! She swabbed his throat and minutes later we found out that it tested positive for strep!

She explained that sometimes the pain from a bad case of strep can actually be felt in the back of the head because of swollen lymph nodes, etc. And this must have been what he was feeling the night before. She was pretty annoyed that the ER doctors even mentioned the words "infection" and "CAT scan." She thought that was way too invasive and all it did was scare us. So Tate got put on a higher dose of antibiotics and she sent us on our way.

Doctor #3
You may remember that at my last sonogram with Knox, the doctors noticed that his left kidney wasn't draining fluid as quickly as his right one. In the hospital after he was born, they did a test with him where they gave him a catheter (poor baby!) and shot some dye through his system to see how it was draining. They needed to make sure there was no reflux (the fluid going the wrong way through the tubes). Thankfully, everything came back normal. But today, I had to take Knox in to a Pediatric Imaging place to do one final test with his kidney. He had an ultrasound done on his kidneys and bladder just to double check to see if there was any reflux. At least this time it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable for him (besides the cool jelly that they put on his belly). We don't have those results yet, but I'm not too worried about them since the dye test came back okay.

To top it all off, when we got home, I called my doctor to see if she could put me on something because my head has been pounding for the last few days and over-the-counter stuff hasn't helped at all. Thankfully, she called in some antibiotics for me for a sinus infection.

So... between head pain, false ear infections, strep throat, sinus infections, and kidney ultrasounds, our family is trying to be back on the mend! What a crazy few days!!!

Love to y'all,
Tracy