A few days before our planned camping trip, John developed a fever. I had made him an appt with his pediatrician before we left. I was told he had a virus and it would run it's course. They did a quick in house strep test, told us it was negative, and sent us on our way. He had a low grade fever and we were giving him motrin to help keep it down. When he was on the meds he was fine, but you could definitely tell when they wore off. We headed out to the camp ground and the moment we had our tent set up and ready he wanted to lay down and take a nap. It broke my heart to see him feeling so crummy. When he was feeling good which was about 3 hours every few hours he would ride his bike, go on some rides, hang out by the campfire or play with the kids.
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| John napping in the tent |
Wednesday after going on some rides and getting soaked we had the boys wash up in the shower. I went in to dry John off and help him get dressed and I see this huge red mark on his upper leg. I knew right away I was looking at a Lymes Rash (Bullseye). I knew he needed to be treated, I just wasn't sure what the typical protocol was. I called our pediatrician and was told that there wasn't anyone that could speak to me at this time. I hung up, very angry. Brian told me that wasn't an acceptable answer and to call back. I called back and was told that they would try to find someone for me to discuss with. A nurse called me back 3 hours later and told me that if I think it's an emergency to take him to the ER. If not they can see me tomorrow at 3pm. Wow, looks like I will be looking for a new pediatrician.
John was feeling worse and worse. Now he was complaining of a headache and was throwing up any drink that he was attempting to take down. I decided it was off to the hospital we would go. I went down to the Campground Office and got directions to the hospital. They said the good hospital is about 10 miles away - Geisinger Medical Center. I packed John up in the truck, while Brian and Shane stayed at the site. I knew Shane would not handle being cooped up in an hospital room well- and I wanted him to enjoy his vacation. John moaned and cried the whole ride to the hospital. His head hurt him so bad he could not get comfortable. We walked into the ER and they took our information and we were in triage within 5 minutes. From triage they took us right back into fast track. We met with some amazing doctors. They took one look at his Lymes Rash and knew it was Lymes. They were concerned because of his symptoms. They said that headache and vomitting isn't typically a symptom of Lymes- and that they wanted to test him for Lymes Meningitis. They went back and forth discussing with the infectious disease doctor and the pediatricians. They decided to hold off, took blood, gave him IV fluids. After a few hours in the ER we were released and told to fill our prescription in the morning and come back if he gets worse or does not take the medicine. They decided to just treat him orally with Ammoxicillan for 20 days orally.
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| John not feeling so well in the ER |
We went back to the camp site and put him right to bed. Brian got up in the morning- found a pharmacy to fill his Rx. When he came back we gave him his medicine and he proceeded to throw it right up. John and I trekked back to the hospital. I wasn't going to wait around see him get too much worse. They took us right in again and got us an ER room. We met with more doctors (and got to see some of the same from the day before). Many residents came in asking to see his bullseye as it's a teaching hospital and some of the residents don't get to see a bullseye that often. Everyone there was so nice and were so great with John. They put another IV line in (John did AMAZING for all his bloodwork and IV lines. He really impressed me with his braveness- both Brian and I were so proud-- and rewarded him greatly!) They gave him IV antibiotics and fluid. They decided that they wanted to rule out Lymes Meningitis and Viral Meningitis by doing a spinal tap. That had to be one of the worst things I have ever had to experience in my life, so I am not going to go into any detail. They gave John anxiety meds before (which Mommy could of used!) and he was calm through the majority of it. The results of the spinal tap were all negative, so that was good. Brian and Shane joined us shortly after the spinal tap.
He was able to keep the meds down orally- they released us. They released us late that night and we got a hotel room so John would be close to the bathroom (incase he was going to get sick) and in the air conditioning. He woke up in the hotel feeling much better. Once the meds were in his system for a while he perked right up.
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| John waking up in the hotel- morning after second visit in ER. Feeling much better. |
I will be making calls this week to get him an appointment with a Internal Medicine Pediatrican. I just want to make sure we are dotting all our i's and crossing all our t's. Thanks to everyone who sent kind words and prayers our way during this time. It's very upsetting to see our happy go lucky boy so sick. And I am also so grateful to the amazing staff at Geisinger Medical Center. They went above and beyond to make us feel comfortable- even down to one of the Internal Medicine Doctors taking time out to walk me down to the cafeteria to get something to eat- while the other doctor waited with John.
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