Oh man

Claire has another infection in her blood. It's so crazy how it can happen so fast. She was doing great for the first 2 1/2 hours of her dialysis Monday. And then the Rodeo Queens came in. They come around to visit every year and Claire did not like it one bit. I think it brought back bad memories of her Santa experience. Was it the hat, the sequined shirt, the bright red lipstick, the puffy hair, or an infection? I was leaning toward the hat...but after they left, she was still not acting normal. She quickly changed from her happy, waving, and chatting/YELLING self to cranky, tired, and miserable.

Still not knowing what was causing this sudden change, the docs took blood cultures and started treating her with antibiotics, just in case. I actually didn't think it was an infection; and to be quite honest, was frustrated they were making us stay longer to do those things. Call me crazy, but I just wanted to go home and let the girl sleep. I just figured the "queen" thing set her off and she got tired and cranky. I know, I know....I was quickly humbled. In retrospect, I'm so grateful the docs did what they did and acted quickly on it. They ran the antibiotics directly through her catheter line and it takes about an hour for them to go through. She was miserable during MOST of that hour and I knew then, by the way she was breathing and her heart rate, that she had an infection.

Up to that point, the docs said we would need to be admitted to the hospital and stay at least one night so they could keep an eye on her. Again, selfish me was disappointed at the news and longed for a good nights rest at home. And then there was some good news for all of us. As the antibiotics were just about nearing completion, she almost instantaneously started feeling better. She wanted to drink, play, wave, and yell. Good signs that our little girl is "back." When she turned around so quickly, after getting the antibiotics, they agreed to let us go home, trusting we would monitor her closely and come back if anything changed. YEAH!

So today we got results from the blood cultures and they were indeed positive. The infection is right there in her catheter and will be treated with this same antibiotic for 2 weeks. Luckily, our trip to the Mayo won't have to be put on hold...as we have exactly 2 weeks before we will be out there. That's a blessing.

So the average of kids getting infections in their catheaters is about 1 a year. This is Claire's second....and we've been doing this now for 6 months. I hope that means we're all clear for the next 18 months!!