But on to my reason for this post...
When Mia was born the ped who evaluated her noticed a "pit" on her ear (that's laymans terms. The technical term is Preauricular Sinus). We actually thought it was cute at first because my husband has the same exact thing on his ear. His NEVER caused him any issues growing up or into adulthood. Do you think that would be the case with Mia? Of course not. I try not to dwell on my childrens medical issues because in the grand scheme of life, they are so mild (and I read stories in "blogland" every day of how much worst it could be, so please understand I know I am blessed beyond measure that it's "only" this) but it's hard. You never want to see your children suffer. Through Manuel's early years of life he had febrile seizures. Prior to being given that "diagnosis" he had to endure spinal taps, CT scans, etc. and it was horrible to watch. He was so young that we couldn't explain to him what was happening which broke my heart! And he didn't just have one or two seizures, no, he's had probably 20. Then it seems that he's grown out of them (KNOCK ON WOOD!) and now he has severe asthma. He spent 5 days in the PICU last year because of his breathing, etc. So needless to say, we were hoping with Mia, things would be a little easier in the medical dept. Back to my point...at the end of June Mia had an unexplained fever. After a late night trip to the ER it was determined that the pit on her ear was infected. It was suggested that at some point we have a kidney ultrasound done because children with these pits run a higher risk of having renal anomalies. We had a follow-up appt with her Ped and she suggested we go see an ENT just to get her opinion on what to do. We saw the Assistant Professor with the Department of Otolaryngology at Johns Hopkins. She suggested we consider surgery to remove the pit because typically once it gets infected it is prone to infections. Being apprehensive about Mia being sedated at such a young age my husband and I decided that we wouldn't choose surgery at this point, but if it were to get infected again then we'd schedule surgery.
Okay, so fast forward to last week...Mia wakes up at 2:30am with a 103.something fever and no other symptoms. I rush her to the ER. Her ear looks fine, she looks fine, but the ER dr wants to rule out a UTI. They have to cath her (UGHHHHHHHHHH! :( and as her urine is coming out, before they even test it, they can tell she has a UTI because her it is so cloudy. We are given antibiotics, paperwork that suggests we get a kidney u/s and VCUG because UTI's in baby girls can be more then JUST a UTI. She has her post ER follow-up this evening with her ped (should have been yesterday but wasn't because of the holiday). I will then find out about scheduling these tests and take it from there. I know that the kidney u/s is non-invasive so that I'm not worried about. I just hate the thought of the VCUG. My poor little girl! :( She's going to have NO clue what is going on, and it's not like I can explain it to her. The thought that I hate the most is that she's going to have to be strapped down or confined in order to do the procedure. I HATE that! I am severely claustrophobic and just the thought of Mia having to go through that breaks my heart. When Manuel was first in the hospital and they had to rule out meningitis for his seizures they had to do a spinal tap. He had just eaten so they couldn't sedate him. My husband had just left to run home to get a change of clothes when they came in to tell me they were doing it. I had to sit there and watch them as three nurses struggled to hold down my son, his face "smushed" in the arm of one of the nurses, him screaming his head and all I could do is sit there and cry. I hope the VCUG for Mia is a lot less traumatic. Some people have suggested they I suggest they sedate her for it. It's worth thinking about, but then again, sedation at such a young age scares me to death. I know the end result will be that it's nothing, and it was JUST a UTI, but everything leading up to the results scares me!!!!! :(
And again, if you are a parent out there reading this who has lost a child, or your child has had cancer, and been through SOOOOO much more, please know that I know this is NOTHING compared to what your children have been through. I should feel blessed that this is ALL it is. But still, it's scary. You never want to see your child suffer on any level.
I'll keep everyone posted on the results. Thank you for your prayers! :)
And for good measure....
Manuel relaxing outside of the bouncy house at his cousins 1st birthday on Saturday
Mia with her Daddy and Poppy!
