It’s been a very long few days.
Two weeks ago we noticed that Hailee had a few little blisters on her tongue (not hard to notice since the sweet little thing loves to peek her tongue out of her mouth). The following day she had a slight fever and when I brushed her teeth, a huge amount of blood was in her mouth. I thought she may have an abscessed tooth, so I immediately took her to the dentist to have her checked out.
The dentist took one look inside Hailee’s mouth and told me that she had a form of the herpes virus. Looking inside Hailee’s mouth is not an easy thing. She hates it! She freaks out if anything comes close to her mouth. But once the dentist managed to get a good view of her gums and teeth we could see tons of blisters and mouth ulcers. Poor baby got the virus really badly. I felt so bad for her.
I was told that nothing could be done for it, to just keep her fever under control with pain meds and wait out the two weeks it could take to clear up completely. Her fever persisted for the next few days, but it wasn’t too bad–just a low grade fever. Then for a while she seemed to be doing so much better. We figured the virus was history.
Just a few days later, which was at the end of last week, Hailee’s fever was back. I called my doctor’s office and was told that it was the same herpes virus still in her system and to just give her ibuprofen to control the symptoms. By the weekend the little girl was SO tired. I mean tired to the point of wanting to sleep most of the time. That is so very unusual for Hailee, who never sits still. She is a girl on the move all the time. Her appetite was gone (which is not a good thing for Hailee’s tiny body) and we were doing everything we could to keep her hydrated. Something just didn’t seem right. We felt sure that it was something other than the herpes virus–that her little body was fighting something else.
Yesterday morning we could hardly wake her up and I took her to the ER. She was immediately given IV fluids and blood work was done. They were so efficient and wanted to check for everything that could possibly have been causing Hailee to feel so nasty. Sweet girl pretty much slept through it all. Poor lovie. My heart broke for her.
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| Sleeping beauty. She is such a little angel. |
Blood work came back showing a bacterial infection. That, together with the herpes virus, had wiped her out completely. Her tiny little body just had no reserves or ability to cope with all the sickness, and she was physically exhausted, which was why she had been so very tired. She was completely depleted. Wiped out! When they weighed her, I was heartbroken to see that she has lost three pounds. Ugh! Our little six year old is back down to 22 pounds.
We debated on the best way to clear the infection in the ER. Ten days of antibiotics would be a challenge, since getting her to swallow meds is a nightmare. So the doctor opted for a shot of penicillin. Apparently the healing process is super fast and she should even start feeling better in the next day or two.
And so our sleepy little angel is now home, still snoozing, and hopefully on the mend. We’re praying that she feels so much better even today and that she can start regaining some of the weight she has lost and her energy will be restored. Hopefully she will be back to her happy little self really soon. We miss hearing her sweet little giggle, the “squeaky door” as we call it.
We had good intentions of starting school again today, but that’s just not going to happen. I am so not ready or organized. Oh well. Getting Hailee feeling so much better is what matters the most today–everything else can just wait another day. Not that my kids are complaining.
And just to make sure that life is never dull nor boring, the hard drive on my computer (which is only one year old) completely crashed. All my stuff–gone! Oh, the joys of modern technology.
I hope you all have a blessed day.
May the One who was and is and is to come be more than enough in your life this week.
