Long December continued....

Whew...what a time we have had last month (December). We had one good day after Luke's illness, when Ella began the same symptoms. Hers lasted a little longer...an entire week.

She would "writhe" in intense pain along with vomiting due to the pain. It was so horrible. Unlike Luke, she would eat and drink some, but she had diarrhea where he did not. We called MD and figured it was Mesenteric Adenitis...same as Luke.

Then after a week, she began to throw up one day. Then the next day her urine became dark...like amber color...dark tea color. Shawn did a "dip" test on it and it showed lots of blood, some other abnormalities. We call MD and both agree that it must be nephritis which the Pediatrician at Children's warned us about with Luke. Her eyes were puffy and she was pale, all which we attributed to being so sick. A couple days before Christmas I call MD again and he said this should resolve, just watch her close. All the while, poor Ella was very tired :(

Her urine becomes pink, then slightly yellow so we think she is getting better. Then on Monday after Christmas, she begans to throw up again. The next day again. So Shawn and I decide we have to bring her in...enough is enough! Two weeks of sickness.
(Sure, I could skip all these details, but this is therapeutic for me to journal :)

So I take her in and the MD decides to do blood tests. Just what we wanted. She is stuck 6 times and finally we get the blood as well as urine test. That afternoon, the MD calls, she is anemic too much. Her kidney ratios are off some. He calls Children's Hospital, talks to docs. They say bring her in that night.

So off we go. They admit...and stick her a couple of more times with IVs. Her H & H is so low now, that she is having a heart murmur, heart rate increase, and increase in BP. They decide she must have a blood transfusion. So about 5 am, we get to the room and they transfuse. For several days, they try to decide what is going on. Her blood cells are being destroyed...what is the cause. They rule out kidney issues. Although apparently with the amount of blood in her urine, she narrowly escaped acute kidney failure.

They do more tests and decide that she has hemolytic anemia. They still don't know the cause. They know it isn't autoimmune. They think she might have a genetic blood disorder in which the cells become misshapen in an event of stress...hers being the viral bowel infection.

She was discharged last night. Her hemoglobin is still low, but reasonable. We will recheck on Friday. Then follow up with Hematologist in two months (now that she has someone else's blood circulating, they are unable to do more blood test to determine etiology for several months).

Shawn was there the whole time. He had taken off...we were to leave for Texas the morning after she was admitted. Who would have thought we would be there twice. Our children are healthy. They have not been very sick other than the general colds and virus here and there.

This time I was not alone in my experience. Shawn saw and felt the same intensity of Children's that I did when I was there a couple of weeks prior. He has been humbled by the experience like I was.

Today we have sat around and marveled at our children. Sat around and taken in the blessing of health and healing.

Today on 2011 we count our blessings.