Never a Dull Moment

Reece loves to keep things exciting around here! So, we wake up yesterday morning only to discover that the reason Reece slept an hour later than usual is because he was running 103 degrees of fever. He felt and looked terrible. Nick and I took him to the pediatrician yesterday morning and because Dr. Denney was out, we saw Dr. Thompson. He checked his ears, swabbed him for strep throat, and examined him all over. He couldn't find anything wrong, so he decided to test him for an urinary tract infection. We had to go home with a lovely bag that I had to empty into a cup and carry back up to the clinic. Test results were negative. The little guy ran a high fever all day with it even getting up to 104.5 at one point. Nick and I were scared out of our minds, especially when Reece did this jerking thing with his whole body. I just knew he was about to have a febrile seizure. It scared the daylights out of me. We continued alternating Motrin and Tylenol every 3 hours and did a lot of cuddling. Reece did not want to do anything other than cuddle and watch cartoons, so that's what we did most of the day. At bathtime, Nick noticed that the top part of his knee incision was weeping a little, and we decided that was the culprit of our baby's woes. So, we called the after hours clinic only to be told that we needed to call Shriners. The nurse at Shriners told us to take him to the nearest ER and let them check it. So, I called the after hours clinic back, and the nurse told me that Dr. Denney just happened to be walking out of the clinic. She caught him, and he instructed us not to go to the ER but just come to him this morning. Nick and I were both much more comfortable with that, so we waited. By bedtime his temp was down to 102. I continued to monitor him all night and religiously stuck to the Motrin/Tylenol routine. I checked his temperature twice in the middle of the night and was so relieved to see it at 99.2. He woke up early this morning like nothing had ever happened and was completely fever-free. I still took him in to Dr. Denney this morning where he ruled that the incision was not bad enough to have caused 104.5 degrees of fever. He thinks it was just a coincidence. However, he did take all of Reece's stitches out of both legs, cleaned the open spot of the incision, and gave us a prescription for antibiotic cream and an antibiotic by mouth just to be safe. Here we were thinking these stitches would just dissolve like all of the other stitches he's ever had, but not this time. Someone at Shriners forgot to mention that they would need to be removed. Dr. Denney said that they can get infected if left in too long, and they've been there a month and a half. He also thinks that the stitch in the open area was irritating that part of the incision causing it to weep and bleed. Thank goodness for our awesome pediatrician! Reece should be feeling much better now and even has a green light for a tub bath! First one in a month and a half! He's going to be so excited!

So, things should remain calm around here for another day. Thursday is Ridley's arrival day, and I'm sure things will go topsy-turvy once again! Like I said, never a dull moment!

With love,

Beth