103 degrees in the shade....

Lily bugged me all yesterday morning about making her "punkin patch". In our house they are no longer pumpkins, they are "punkin patches". She wanted to carve her punkin, but I convinced her we could do arts and crafts punkins instead. I figured that homework time would be the best time- you know keep them all busy at the same time.  Lily stuck features on hers and while I was helping Bella, she fell asleep on the couch. I was worried because earlier she had complained that her neck and head and legs were hurting.  I was hoping it was a growth spurt.

In adrenal sufficiency land, illness is tricky. A simple cold could knock her out if we don't get the cues and up her meds accordingly. She woke up screaming and when I felt her, she was burning hot. The mommy thermometer guessed 102. It was 103.7. I stripped her down and called the clinic. It was 4:06pm. No one was there.  I gave her a triple dose of hydrocortisone and called the on-call doc.  I knew what he was going to say- take her into the ER. UM, yeah . H1N1 anyone? No thanks.  But he says he will call ahead and that should expedite the process.  Any of the other kids, I'd throw them in a tub and ply them with tylenol and wait an see.  Lily is the great unknown. It could be an infection in her port, it could be an adrenal crisis, it could just be a virus.  So just on the tail of a great big talk with the kids about how I will be proactive at treating Lily no differently than them....there you have it.

I call Phil, he is on his way home, he offers to take Lily. Um Ok. I suck at ERs. Plus he always gets out of there in 1/3 of the time I do. He gets home grabs her and they are off.  I begin the disinfection process which keeps my hands and mind busy from the negative worrying I would be achieving in the waiting room.  I have also decided that all I need to do when someone spikes a fever is walk around them saying emergency room, doctor's office, emergency room, doctor's office  and the fever will  immediately disappear- or fade within 42 minutes which is how long it takes to get to the hospital with moderate traffic flow.  Phil calls from the hospital- her fever was officially 103. I don't know if officially means "done by medical staff" or "in a place we prefer to not have things stuck"  but obviously Phil was not chanting on the way to the ER. That is probably why he gets out quicker- they think I'm mental and have to observe me for awhile to determine if I am safe to send poor recovering cancer patient home with.  So in cases like this we are still under the oncology umbrella. Until she is at least a year out, we call the onc docs first, act later. 

I was nodding off as they returned almost 6 hours later with 103 degree fever, tylenol, and the handy ER print out that tells you how to care for your child with "URI (upper respiratory illness) also referred to as THE COMMON COLD". Really? Are the bold letters necessary?We didn't take her in with a flipping runny nose- she had almost a 104 degree temperature- and that was "officially" . She did get antibiotics though. Last time we took her in they didn't give her any and her onc doc about had a coronary. I guess it's protocol with these patients to antibiote now, ask questions later. That lets you know how quickly things could go south if she gets an infection. Fortunately she's not immunosupressed at all and other than her lack o adrenal hormones she has been pretty healthy. You know other than that and that pesky cancer.  

WE tuck her in and I try to sleep since I had a meeting this morning at Tripler at 0dark00. Bella is coughing non stop and since they sleep together I check on them every so often.  I finally fall asleep and hear Lily yelling for me.  She's thirsty. And wants to watch spiderman.  By the time I get water and Spiderman, she is back alseep.  I feel her and she is on fire again so I wake her up to take tylenol and get ready for my meeting.  Of course by the time I am out of the shower- all 3 girls are up, requiring breakfast and liquids.  I get a later than planned start out the door and am rewarded with 2 accidents and a stalled vehicle on the commute. It is just one of those days.  The meeting went well- it was an informal session with residents about parental expectations and professionalism. Although I felt like I really didn't have a leg to stand on with the whole- be on time advice, so I let that slide. All the while I am glad that I have an amazing husband who is at home with the sickie and offers to go to the ER even if the house looks like a hurricane hit by the time I get home.  I also was reminded what an amazing surgeon Lily has, she coordinated and led the meeting. I was thrilled to see she is mentoring? guiding? I don't know the right word there these young medical professionals. She is the perfect mix of brains and personality and I couldn't think of a better doc to be teaching about professionalism. 

I get back home and there is a random call from our auto insurance company. Apparently the girl who bought Phil's beater piece o metal back in April crashed the bad boy and thought it would be a good idea to claim it on our insurance. Like I said, one of those days. It does not bode well that it is only noon.  In about an hour, Lily and I will head back to the clinic to see if she's going to live. I suspect she will, for now. For now. Plus I the 2 hours I spent in the car this morning gave me lots of time to debate whether it was the changing of the blog or overusage of the word normal that landed us in this little predicament because for us there is no longer such thing as "just a virus".