A Week At Valley Children's Hospital



Before we knew it, we'd been fully admitted to Valley Children's Hospital and were making plans to stay the night there with Kate (both Chad and myself -- I couldn't handle not having him there!).  Grandma and Grandpa were able to pick Tess up from school and keep her overnight, and next up on our agenda was a consultation from the Infectious Disease doctor.  More of the same multitude of questions... still no concrete answers or theories.  Kate was immediately started on a high-power antibiotic called Vancomyacin, which is most commonly used to treat bone infections.  Within a few hours, she developed a very common allergic reaction to the drug called "Red Man Syndrome," which resulted in redness and swelling and general discomfort.  She was switched to Clindamyacin -- more common, less potent, and potentially less effective. 

 

The odd thing was, little Kate still wasn't having any symptoms!  No fever, no pain, all labs normal and not ANY indication of infection from the blood work that had been done.  Thankfully, VCH is the best place ever to be "sick" if you're a kid.  My goodness, what a variety of things to see and do, in addition to all the staff who are constantly checking in and taking vitals and being genuinely kind and caring.  There is a play room with movies and crafts and toys, multiple playgrounds, toy carts and movie carts that come by your hospital room, wagons and tricycles to ride down the hospital hallways, and a cafeteria that will bring you whatever you'd like (including ice cream)... And for the adults?  STARBUCKS.  Right downstairs. 

 

Outside the hospital, life came grinding to a halt.  Chad was calling in substitute teachers to cover classes during the first week of school, I was missing time from work, Tess was staying with family.  Chad and I were sleeping on the tiniest little pull out couch in Kate's hospital room, which we didn't realize we weren't "pulling out" fully and correctly for the first 2 nights.  Kate's swelling was the resident medical intrigue/mystery, and she was seen by multiple doctors every day.  Thankfully we had plenty of family and friends coming to visit and keep us entertained!  We just kept hearing she needed "another day of antibiotics," while the swelling stayed just about the same.

 

At one point I suggested to a nurse that perhaps we should try to measure the circumference of the toe and foot, so we could have markers for any improvement (I'm still not sure why the doctor and/or nurse didn't think of this on their own... the Infectious Disease doc seemed to just be eyeballing it). 

 

Kate's lab work continued to be clear, and ultimately the ID doc must have perceived the slightest improvement in the swelling, or finally relented to our desperate requests to be released.  After 5 nights... we finally went home.  Kate was prescribed a 6-week course of oral antibiotics with regular follow ups at VCH.

 

And that began a series of daily medication (2x) for 6 weeks (more Clindamyacin) and monthly visits to Infectious Disease at VCH. And then a heartbreaking week in December where Kate stopped walking and would only crawl everywhere...

 

For our pics from the week at VCH, click here: Kate's Hospital Stay.

 

SKH