Thursday, February 25, 2010

A month long struggle...


Since the 1st sick visit we've had sick visit 2, 3, and 4. We have a follow up visit in 2 weeks. Olivia had taken her Amoxicillin like a champ when all of the sudden on day 8 she got a rash. Little dots all over her body. Well I thought maybe it was just a viral rash because she had one of those before. So I went on to work and Jacob called me around 6 the next morning and said her rash looked worse and he wanted to give her some Benadryl. So I told him where it was and how much to give him and he took her on to daycare. I came home and went to sleep and got a call from daycare around noon that said Olivia's rash looked awful and she was itchy so did I want to come get her or just have them give her some more Benadry. I went and got her and when I did it made me so sad! Her little face was beat red!!! She looked so pitiful. Little did I know how much worse it would get... So I called the doctor and they said she should be seen. So I took her in and Dr. Cochran said he thought it was a reaction to having antibodies from trying to fight her illness mixing with the amoxicillin since it wasn't a true immune response. He said it would go away in 3 days or so and to just giver her tylenol and benadryl to keep her comfortable. He also said her ears were still red but didn't look yukcy so he didn't want to give her another antibiotic so her system could rest. So she went and stayed the night with my parents and I went to the Rascal Flatts concert as planned. When I went to get her the next morning I cried!


I gave her oatmeal baths to try and help with the itching. I'm not sure how much it helped with itching but baths generally make her happy.



My poor little baby's whole body was covered in red hives! Her lips, eyes, nose and ears were swollen! She looked awful. It was so sad. So we came home and just relaxed the next few days. That Monday she was not acting like herself at all. All she did all day was sit on my lap on the couch. She got down a few times and got a toy or a book to bring to me but mostly just sat there. We went back to the dr tuesday morning for a scheduled visit which at this time her rash had gotten some what better but she had peticiae (little bitty dots caused by blood vessels breaking) on her shoulders and purpura (purplish looking bruise like spots from blood vessels leaking) all over her legs. She had a temp and now both ears were infected :( So he put her on a new antibiotic and sent us to get lab work due to the peticiae and purpura. They put some numbing cream on her arms before we went to the lab so the actual sticks (2 :() didn't bother her but being held down sure didn't make her happy. Dr. Cochran called us late that night to say that her labs looked ok and there was no organ involvement and such. He also called that Thursday to see how she was feeling. (I Love him!!! If you are looking for a pediatrician I would defintely look into him!!!)
So she started getting better and acted kinda like herself for about a week but then last weekend she started acting really puny again so Monday we went back to the doctors office for another follow-up visit where he said BOTH ears where still infected and looked awful so yet another antibiotic and more lab results had come back and more poor little baby has MONO. Yes, that's right. My little 15 month old has the "kissing disease". Who knows where she caught it. He said she probably was exposed around new years eve. So by now she's probably no longer contagious. He also said that little kids don't have the some symptoms as older adolescants. But it still made me feel terrible that little Liv had mono. I had mono when I was a freshman in college and I thought I was dieing. I wouldn't wish that on my worse enemy! So the rash from before was a reaction with the amoxicillin and her having mono. 40-50% of kids with mono who take amoxicillin get this rash! So now Olivia has been on Omnicef for 4 days and she is doing so much better!!! She has been running around all morning talking and acting so happy. I am so glad she is doing better!!!