April 11, 2015 was our sweet Charlottes 3rd birthday. I wanted her to feel like the most special little girl in the world. Tyler and I filled her room with flowers and balloons so as she awoke, she would be surprised. Sure enough, that surprise came bright and early at 5 am!! We continued the day as her day, with a party planned later that afternoon. After her nap, she was a little grumpy, I thought it would pass, it didn’t. She was excited to see her party, friends, family, and cake but definitely not herself.
Sunday, April 12th came and so did a fever, runny nose, and cough. Naturally I assumed it was a cold. We started using our oils to fight it and occasional meds to soothe her symptoms, nothing worked. Her little sister Eleanor began having the same symptoms. Eleanor’s progressed much quicker and by the time I took her to the doctor, Charlottes’ had gone away, with a lingering cough. They diagnosed Eleanor with walking pneumonia and prescribed Zythromax. Instantly, her symptoms went away with a little cough.
April 20th Charlotte woke with completely swollen eye lids, a low fever, and all of her cold symptoms tenfold. I immediately called our pediatrician and learned he was out of town. I ended up going to the oncall doctor for ours and saw his nurse practitioner. She diagnosed Charlotte with a sinus infection. I was absolutely sure it was NOT that and decided to hold off on the antibiotics.
April 27, 2015, we went in to our pediatrician first thing that morning and he diagnosed walking pneumonia, gave her zythromax and we were on our way. Within one dose, Charlotte was Charlotte and her cold symptoms began going away! As we got to the last dose and no more pneumonia symptoms, she started vomiting in the mornings and continued to have a low grade fever, with bruising around her still swollen eyelids. I called our doctor and he said it could be a side affect to the zythromax and we would hold off until it was out of her system. I impatiently waited for Wednesday May 6th to come around and there was no more vomiting!!
May 8th she woke vomiting anything that went down. I called our doctor and because it looked like spit and mucus he said it was possible her body was getting rid of what she had from her sickness. We agreed to hold off coming in to see how the weekend went. After her nap that day she woke up happy and wanting pancakes! Of course, that’s what I made! She had 4, I was shocked!
Sunday May 9th she woke up wanting eggs and bacon, she had 2 eggs and 3 pieces of bacon, they came right up and the bruising became worse. Naturally my family and I did a lot of googling. We found that with heavy coughing and vomiting, black eyes sometimes happen. I had a little relief in that.
May 10th I took her back in to the doctor about the vomiting and her eyes. He sent a referral to an opthomologist and told me to watch her closely. The opthomologist couldn’t see us until the following Thursday May 21st at 7:30.
May 11-15th were great times! We were able to resume swim lessons and gymnastics, which Charlotte loves. We played outside, planted flowers and her great grandparents came to visit from Texas.
May 16th Charlotte had a fever of 100.4 and couldn’t keep anything down. Her right eye was dark purple/black and her left eye was purple. She asked to nap (which never happens) and when she woke she was her sweet chipper self!
May 17th her fever had gone down to 99.4 with no vomiting but I was convinced to try to see the opthomologist sooner than Thursday.
May 18th couldn’t come fast enough. I called the opthomologist and explained my situation as urgent, they got us in shortly and Tyler rushed to meet us there. They tested and looked at her eyes and said they were clear and to consider blood work. Our pediatrician had already said that would be the next step. So Tyler scheduled an immediate appointment, came home to Eleanor and I took Charlotte in. One look at Charlotte and our doctor was baffled. He wanted a second opinion and referred us to another pediatrician. The soonest we could see her was the next day at 2:00.
May 19th we go into our appointment and they take a urine sample to test her kidneys, nothing comes up. They then drew blood with a stat order on it. About two hours later, I was RELIEVED that they found nothing. The doctor called and said she was sending us to get a cat scan of Charlottes head the following day.
May 20th we went in at 11, Charlotte did great and held very still. We were told our doctor would let us know the results. 2:20 pm I got the call that she saw something in the scan and we needed to come in. We learned there was some abnormal bone growth in her skull and eye socket and that she had contacted oncology at Doernbechers and we would need to make an appointment as soon as possible. They were able to get us in the next day at 9:30.
May 21st we arrived for our appointment and spoke with a pediatric oncologist. He talked about the scan, what it could possibly be, and the actions that would be taken. That afternoon they did a body scan to see if there were any other growths. They found 4 in her abdomen, the biggest being above her adrenal gland and one being close to her spine.
May 22nd was a better day for Charlotte. She was in some pain so they started giving her morphine. She got to explore the playroom and got a good hour of fun. Around noon, they put her under to do a bone marrow biopsy, inserted a PICC line, and an ultrasound of the heart. They later did a full body MRI.
Sunday, April 12th came and so did a fever, runny nose, and cough. Naturally I assumed it was a cold. We started using our oils to fight it and occasional meds to soothe her symptoms, nothing worked. Her little sister Eleanor began having the same symptoms. Eleanor’s progressed much quicker and by the time I took her to the doctor, Charlottes’ had gone away, with a lingering cough. They diagnosed Eleanor with walking pneumonia and prescribed Zythromax. Instantly, her symptoms went away with a little cough.
April 20th Charlotte woke with completely swollen eye lids, a low fever, and all of her cold symptoms tenfold. I immediately called our pediatrician and learned he was out of town. I ended up going to the oncall doctor for ours and saw his nurse practitioner. She diagnosed Charlotte with a sinus infection. I was absolutely sure it was NOT that and decided to hold off on the antibiotics.
April 27, 2015, we went in to our pediatrician first thing that morning and he diagnosed walking pneumonia, gave her zythromax and we were on our way. Within one dose, Charlotte was Charlotte and her cold symptoms began going away! As we got to the last dose and no more pneumonia symptoms, she started vomiting in the mornings and continued to have a low grade fever, with bruising around her still swollen eyelids. I called our doctor and he said it could be a side affect to the zythromax and we would hold off until it was out of her system. I impatiently waited for Wednesday May 6th to come around and there was no more vomiting!!
May 8th she woke vomiting anything that went down. I called our doctor and because it looked like spit and mucus he said it was possible her body was getting rid of what she had from her sickness. We agreed to hold off coming in to see how the weekend went. After her nap that day she woke up happy and wanting pancakes! Of course, that’s what I made! She had 4, I was shocked!
Sunday May 9th she woke up wanting eggs and bacon, she had 2 eggs and 3 pieces of bacon, they came right up and the bruising became worse. Naturally my family and I did a lot of googling. We found that with heavy coughing and vomiting, black eyes sometimes happen. I had a little relief in that.
May 10th I took her back in to the doctor about the vomiting and her eyes. He sent a referral to an opthomologist and told me to watch her closely. The opthomologist couldn’t see us until the following Thursday May 21st at 7:30.
May 11-15th were great times! We were able to resume swim lessons and gymnastics, which Charlotte loves. We played outside, planted flowers and her great grandparents came to visit from Texas.
May 16th Charlotte had a fever of 100.4 and couldn’t keep anything down. Her right eye was dark purple/black and her left eye was purple. She asked to nap (which never happens) and when she woke she was her sweet chipper self!
May 17th her fever had gone down to 99.4 with no vomiting but I was convinced to try to see the opthomologist sooner than Thursday.
May 18th couldn’t come fast enough. I called the opthomologist and explained my situation as urgent, they got us in shortly and Tyler rushed to meet us there. They tested and looked at her eyes and said they were clear and to consider blood work. Our pediatrician had already said that would be the next step. So Tyler scheduled an immediate appointment, came home to Eleanor and I took Charlotte in. One look at Charlotte and our doctor was baffled. He wanted a second opinion and referred us to another pediatrician. The soonest we could see her was the next day at 2:00.
May 19th we go into our appointment and they take a urine sample to test her kidneys, nothing comes up. They then drew blood with a stat order on it. About two hours later, I was RELIEVED that they found nothing. The doctor called and said she was sending us to get a cat scan of Charlottes head the following day.
May 20th we went in at 11, Charlotte did great and held very still. We were told our doctor would let us know the results. 2:20 pm I got the call that she saw something in the scan and we needed to come in. We learned there was some abnormal bone growth in her skull and eye socket and that she had contacted oncology at Doernbechers and we would need to make an appointment as soon as possible. They were able to get us in the next day at 9:30.
May 21st we arrived for our appointment and spoke with a pediatric oncologist. He talked about the scan, what it could possibly be, and the actions that would be taken. That afternoon they did a body scan to see if there were any other growths. They found 4 in her abdomen, the biggest being above her adrenal gland and one being close to her spine.
May 22nd was a better day for Charlotte. She was in some pain so they started giving her morphine. She got to explore the playroom and got a good hour of fun. Around noon, they put her under to do a bone marrow biopsy, inserted a PICC line, and an ultrasound of the heart. They later did a full body MRI.
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