Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Roller Coaster #2

Katie and I were both tired today after our Dora binge. (There is something nocturnal about Katie these days, and I don't care for it!) We had a pleasant but low key day. I should have known something was wrong when Katie took a long afternoon nap. Rick returned from work to find her sleeping on the couch and decided to wake her. One night of Katie' sleepless shenanigans would be enough, we thought. Unfortunately, he discovered that Katie had a fever, so our day changed, again, in the blink of an eye. Rick's parents popped in for a visit just as Rick was confirming that Katie's temperature was actually rising, and they took Joshua to Nana's house for a sleepover. Rick and I took Katie to North Country Hospital for blood counts, blood cultures, Tylenol and some antibiotics.

The odd thing about this trip is that we made the same trip just six weeks ago, and we ended up in the same room (Emergency Room #2) that we occupied then. This is the second Tuesday night we have spent in the ER at North Country, and the same staff was on duty. Weird. This is algo good news, however, as these are truly wonderful people. They have been following Katie's adventures. I hope they will read this entry. I hope they know how grateful we are for their help. I hope other folks who have not ventured into the ER at North Country will take my word for it: We are so lucky to have such kind and capable people working for us. I think they may have been as happy as we were to learn that Katie's counts were good, that her fever was responding to the Tylenol and that we could go home. (Of course, Katie was pretty fussy, so...)

Actually, despite the drama, we weathered this little storm pretty well. We are better prepared to accept that there will be bumps in the road. Katie is surprisingly good at submitting to routine medical procedures even when they are unpleasant. (She received two shots in the muscles of her thighs...blahhhh.) Joshua was amazing. He didn't panic or whine. He packed some toys, I packed his clothes for school and a lunchbox, and off he went. What a kid!

As I write, Katie is asleep in her own bed. She has a fever, and we don't know the exact cause, but she is fine and very happy to be home. We'll know more tomorrow. We're still waiting for results from the Minimal Residual Disease test, too, and we have to start planning for a trip to Burlington in which doctors will access and use Katie's port for the first time. Big doings. We'll keep you posted. Good night.

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