Lolo is one sick girl

Lolo is really sick. Her fever was over 105 F last night. She fought taking her antibiotics that are supposed to fight her urinary tract infection. She absolutely refused to take them in a little cup or out of a syringe. We had to hold her down and force her to take it with a syringe. When we did she just spit it out all over us. She was screaming as I tried to shoot the nasty tasting thick antibiotic liquid into her mouth with the wife holding her down.

She was so upset that she was screaming for her grandmother. We finally got her to take the antibiotic by mixing it in her juice and threatening her to "get the syringe" again if she didn't drink all of the juice.

Her fever came down to about 101 F after some acetaminophen. At about midnight last night I went into her room and took her temperature again and it was back up to 105 F. It is so scary! I prepared some ibuprofen in her juice and took it to her. With Lolo lying flat in bed she leaned forward to drink her ibuprofen-laden juice. After the first sip she vomited a large amount all over herself and, her bed, pillow and blanket. She was shaking and quivering uncontrollably.

I took Lolo out of her bed and laid her on the floor. She felt so bad that she just laid on the floor with her eyes closed. After I got the sheets on the bed and a new pillowcase and put Lolo back into bed she willingly drank the rest of her ibuprofen juice and her fever eventually came back down again.

I went to bed and the wife took over. Lolo's fever shot back up again in the morning and she vomited again. She just was not able to hold down food. We called Lolo's pediatrician who was on call. He asked a few questions and told us to meet him at the emergency room.

We loaded up the car and took Lolo to the emergency room. She was just burning up! Lolo is used to having her temperature taken with an ear thermometer. They did not have one in the emergency room so it was either orally or rectally. She refused to do it orally so we had to hold her down and get her temperature rectally. The result was at least 103.8 F. She was 90 cm tall. They immediately gave her two acetaminophen suppositories to help bring down her temperature.

The doctor arrived and discussed with us what he thought might be going on. Lolo was showing all the signs of a kidney infection. The doctor ordered a slew of blood test, urinalysis and antibiotics requiring an IV. Once again we had to hold Lolo down as the nurse put in the IV. Lolo was screaming "Get it ayout, get it ayout" referring to the IV. The nurse did a good job of collecting the three vials of blood out of the screaming toddler. Fortunately the tears didn't last that long and the nurses brought her a popsicle and along with her lower fever she felt good enough to play "name that color" with me.

The doctor noted that he had never heard anyone say "out" the way Lolo did. He obviously enjoyed her "Belwood" dialect of the English language. Belwood is the little town in North Carolina from where the wife hails and was reared. Lolo spends a lot of time with her grandparents in Belwood where she has picked up this dialect.

We did not expect that we would be staying at the Hospital. The doctor admitted Lolo to the hospital and told us to expect a 2 to 3 night stay. He condition can be very serious and can lead to kidney damage and failure. The wife and I are very concerned.

The doctor also told us to expect that her fever would continue to rise and decline repeatedly for a couple of days even with the powerful antibiotics that she will be taking. After she was admitted to her own room on the pediatric floor her fever spiked again at 105 F. This time she willingly took ibuprofen. Her IV was pinching at the top so the Nurse had to retape it. Anytime we touched or messed with her "boo boo" as she called her IV, she would cry. The nurse retaped it and put a splint on her arm so she wouldn't bend her arm and aggravate the IV.

It is difficult to explain the horrible feeling and emotion I feel when I see my daughter sick to this degree. I'm not normally a very emotional person. I have been accused of being the opposite, but when it comes to my children I can easily get overwhelmed with emotion. If I were a firm believer I would pray but at this point I will simply think positive and hope that further painful tests are not needed.