Sick week with Nana

[Written by Mommy]
Today was Taylor's first day back to daycare after 10 days. On Monday of last week we were called from Taylor's daycare to pick her up early due to a fever (101). I picked her up and when I got there she was laying on a comfy diaper changing pad with her blanket in the back office with one of the directors. She was not complaining, just laying there quietly. This is NOT my Taylor. she looked at me, smiled, and said "up" and "bye-bye" to the director. I took her home, took her temperature and it was actually 103. I called the doctor that night and she said to give her tylenol and motrin every 3 hours and then bring her in in the morning.

The next day the doctor told us she had the "hand, foot and mouth disease" virus. She had no symptoms except for a very high fever and blisters in her mouth (which I never saw). So, she was prescribed lots of sleep, TLC, and tylenol and motrin every 3 hours. The doctor said it could last up to 4 days and her temperature can even raise to 105. Well, it did just that, and got higher (105.5 when Taylor started to urinate so I had to take the thermometer out). Nana (previously known as "Grammy") came to visit on Wednesday night so she was able to watch Taylor and give her lots of TLC until the next Thursday (7 full days!). Taylor showed no signs of getting better after 4 days and we could not go without giving her the medication. The following Tuesday we made another appointment (8 days later) and the doctor was concerned about the fever lasting so long and not being able to fade the motrin and tylenol. We got blood work done, a catheter put in for a urine test (which did not even work because her bladder was so dry), and then a bag put in her diaper for a second urine test (which we had to do twice because the first bag didn't work). I had a tough day watching my little girl go through all of this but she was a trooper. She was very lethargic in the morning but after getting some motrin she had a little more energy to play and get through all the doctor visits. All tests came back clear the following day although we found that a shot of antibiotics helped bring her back to normal for a full 24 hours! She was eating again, playing again, and staying up late wanting to hang out and play (she was going to bed at 5:00 when she was sick). So, the doctor prescribed her some antibiotics for 5 days hoping that she would continue to react positively to them.

Nana went home today and Taylor went back to daycare. She, of course had a tough time being dropped off although we're keeping our fingers crossed that she improves throughout the day and enjoys all of her friends and play time. Let's hope the antibiotics work!

Oh, through the blood tests we also found out that she was anemic so she is going to be put on iron supplements. At least one piece of conclusive information came out of all these tests that she had to go through!