Bella's fever

I decided to start using the weblog again, because I want to remember some things.
First, I need to say that life with Isabella is delightful. She's a charming little girl who loves kitties. We are so blessed to have her.

We had a scary incident this past Sunday night, June 2. We had been up in Luck, WI, at Angie's relatives' house Saturday and Sunday. Bella had a temperature, but nothing too bad, and she was mostly in good spirits. When we got home from the trip home about 5:30 pm and Angie took Bella's temperature, she was at about 103°. Angie called the nurse line and they said to try alternating Tylenol with Motrin every few hours. Since Isabella was due for something, we gave her some Motrin. The nurse said we should bring her to Emergency if she reached 105°. I think her temperature remained stable for a bit, but then at 7:30 she registered 105.4°. Angie took the temperature two or three times in each ear and it was the same each time. I put it in my own ear, and it registered 98.3°, so if anything, it seemed Bella's temp might even be a bit higher than 105.4°! The worst part was the way she was acting: listless and lethargic, very unusual for her.

While trying not to freak out, we got ready and piled in the minivan to go to Children's. All sorts of terrible thoughts raced through my head, and we made good time to the hospital only breaking a few traffic laws. They weren't busy and we got right in with a nurse who measured her at about 104°. That was a relief. We were told that the Motrin dosage we were giving was not enough, so they put some more in her. Then we went to wait to the waiting room. We were lucky we got there when we did, because it got much busier after that. Soon we were in an exam room to first see a nurse and then a nice doctor from Chilé. He was great with her, and after a thorough checkup, he said they would run a blood test and urine test. The lab would know in under an hour if her white blood cell count was elevated (I guess indicative of something bacterial), and if it wasn't, he was suspecting it was a virus due to the odd rash Isabella had on her upper body. The nurses came in got blood and urine samples (which upset Isabella very much), and then one of them pushed a cart with TV/VCR and some "Baby Einstein" tapes, which she loved. When the results came an hour later, it was as expected: normal white counts. Her fever had also fallen dramatically by that point, and though tired, she was getting back to the Bella we know and love.

Two days later, we still don't know what she has, but it isn't getting much better. The staggered Tylenol and Motrin doses help stave off the fever, but she is still obviously not feeling well.

That's all for now-- good to be back to the keyboard writing about Isabella!

T