Addi's Hospital Stay

Monday, May 16th, Addison woke up from her 4:00pm nap very hot! I decided to go ahead and feed her and wait to see if she cooled off or if I needed to try her temperature. She stayed hot, so at 4:30pm, I took her temp - 103.3. I immediately called her pediatrician and they sent us downtown to our Children's Hospital. Dave was at paramedic school and I hadn't a clue on how to navigate downtown. I called Dave and was so thankful he was able to pick up. We met at the mall, he hopped in the car, and all 4 of us high-tailed it to the hospital.

They saw us right away. Her fever had gone down to 101 by the time we were triage'd. After getting her vitals, the yucky testing begun :( With a fever so high in a little one so young they had to put in an IV, draw blood, get a urine sample, and do a spinal tap. The nurses had a heck of a time trying to find a vein in our sweet girl. They had to try several times in several places and it was just horrible. I was walking the halls with McKenna and let Dave handle the blood stuff, but I quickly decided I'd rather be in there with Addison rather than just hearing her screams from the hallways.

The doctor who performed her spinal tap, finally was able to draw blood from a vein in Addi's leg (yeesh!). My poor baby was exhausted and quickly settled once all the testing was finished. By 8:00pm we knew that her spinal fluid came back clear and she was administered antibiotics. We were admitted to the hospital. I spent the night while Dave and McKenna went home. Addi had a good night, her temperature stayed down, and she continued to eat well.

The next day, they took Addison for a Kidney and bladder ultrasound: A test that uses sound waves to examine the kidney and bladder. This test shows shadows of the kidney and bladder that may point out certain abnormalities. Her blood test came back fine and there was growth of a bacteria showing on her urine culture. They were thinking the fever was due to a U.T.I. They scheduled a VCUG test for the following day.

Voiding cystourethrogram (VCUG) is a test that examines the urethra and bladder while the bladder fills and empties. A liquid that can be seen on x rays is placed in the bladder through a catheter. Pictures are taken when the bladder is filled and when the child urinates. This test can reveal abnormalities of the inside of the urethra and bladder. The test can also determine whether the flow of urine is normal when the bladder empties. They test for "reflux" this way.

Urine normally flows in one direction—down from the kidneys, through tubes called ureters, to the bladder. Vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) is the abnormal flow of urine from the bladder back into the ureters.

VUR is most commonly diagnosed in infancy and childhood after the patient has a urinary tract infection (UTI). About one-third of children with a UTI are found to have VUR. VUR can lead to infection because urine that remains in the child’s urinary tract provides a place for bacteria to grow. But sometimes the infection itself is the cause of VUR.

Addi's VCUG came back to show she has a grade 3 (our of 5) reflux in both ureters. While we won't need surgery to correct it, Addison will be on antibiotics once a day until the reflux corrects itself as she grows. The doctors mentioned that by age 5-7, she has a 76% chance of growing out of it. She will have yearly urine cultures and VCUG test done also.

Although this was not the "diagnosis" we hoped for, we were so thankful to find out the cause of fever and to have a plan of action. I stayed at the hospital 2 nights and Dave stayed 1. We were so ready to come home! Wolfson's Children's Hospital took such good care of us though. They were really fantastic and we never felt "forgotten".

It was a looooong and stressful week, but one in which I could still see the Lord's hand moving and working. He showed us His new mercies every morning and we felt the love and prayers of all our friends and family. We are so blessed.