Meningitis Scare

It's ironic.

As I read the comments from my last post, several of you wished us luck that no one else gets sick from Christian. Almost funny to me. Almost.

Saturday morning I'm at Morgan's soccer game when she begins complaining of a bad headache and nausea. She said her head was banging when she ran. I've had headaches like that - they hurt! So I pulled her out of her game and we walked down to where Olivia was playing and waited for her game to end. The noise was too much for Morgan, so she wandered away where it was a bit quieter.

We came home and I took her temp. It was high. Great. Just like Christian. So I gave her meds and we layed her down on the couch to rest. The remainder of the day was pretty uneventful... until 12:20am when she came downstairs trembling! Her teeth were chattering so badly and her body was shaking uncontrollably. Her fever was now up to 103.8!

The scary thing to me, though, was when she complained of her neck hurting partnered with her high temp. My immediate thought (thanks to an educated mother - Thanks MOM!) was meningitis. I immediately called our After Hours Clinic where they then transferred me to a nurse up at Emanuel. After relaying each of Morgan's symptoms, the nurse said to me, "You'll need to get her seen immediately." AAAAAACK! I kept saying to myself, "Don't panic. Don't let Morgan see you freaking."

So... because I'm the mom, I decided I'd be the one to take her. I just couldn't imagine Martin taking her and then heading to bed. NOT going to happen. I needed to be with my girl. So after Morgan received a wonderful Priesthood blessing from Martin, I pumped a bottle for the baby and she and I jumped in the car.

We checked into the ER at 1am. For the next 5 hours, they hooked Morgan up to an IV to administer fluids and proceeded to prepare her for a Lumbar Puncture - also known as a SPINAL TAP! When the dear doctor told me they'd have to perform this procedure, I'm sure my eyes widened as big as quarters. The thought of a needle inserted into my precious Morgan's back and sucking out spinal fluid didn't sit well in my mind. But it was necessary. OK.

The next decision to be made was how to calm Morgan down. She was VERY nervous about the needle as well. They offered up three things: Valium, Ketamine, and something else I can't remember, but it would've knocked her out for a good half hour and would've required a respiratory therapist present in the room monitoring her. Hmm... NO. Morgan and I talked it over. I let her be a major part of the decision process. We finally, after changing her mind a time or two, decided upon the ketamine. It works not just as an anesthetic, but as dissociative anesthesia. Not something you'd want to get your hands on, though. It was frightening for me, as a mother, to see my daughter in that trance-like state. Her eyes were wide open but she wasn't "there".

I couldn't watch the lumbar puncture, so I stood by her head and talked into her ear the whole time, promising her a shopping trip to Build-a-Bear and Claire's and told her how proud I was of her and that it was almost over... Those few minutes couldn't have felt longer. It was really hard.

Her time coming out of this was interesting. I couldn't help but giggle a few times. They warned me she'd be hallucinating a bit... A few of my favorite quotes from her were, "Hiiiiiiiiii Moooooooooooomyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!", "I can hear you but I can't see you.", "I can see you but I can't see MEEEEE!!!!"

I was just glad when that part was OVER!

Then the waiting game began. They had to run a bunch of tests on the fluid. By 5:30am, 4 1/2 hours after checking in, and after dosing off and on in the most UNcomfortable positions, they gave us the all clear and Morgan was discharged. Thank goodness!

I left with a newfound appreciation for Morgan's volume, energy and spunk. I absolutely, positively hated seeing her in pain and then "knocked out", as she refers to it.

I count my blessings for her health.

Her fever is gone (it's Monday night as I write this), but her back is extremely sore from the LP.
And now... Olivia has come down with a fever, headache and dizziness.

Needless to say, my two oldest have been, and still continue to be, quarantined to their bedroom. I will NOT take any chances Delaney getting this. I was told by both the ER doctor and my pediatrician (who so wonderfully called me today after hearing about this!) that if an infant Delaney's age developed a fever that high, they would have to perform an LP on her as well.

SO.. the girls wear masks if/when they come downstairs - otherwise they're in their room.

It's been a weekend.

I'm glad it's over.

I'll be even more glad when fevers are gone, rashes gone, pain is gone and the sun is back.