Our Christmas Scare

The morning of December 27th, Sophia whipped us out of bed at 3 in the morning with her screams of pain. I met her half way down the hall. She was a bundle of tears and shrieks. Her stomach was in pain, she gasped. As a mother of six, I have learned that most ailments can be cured with a teaspoon of Motrin and a trip to the bathroom. And if that doesn't work, a hot bath will. I calmed her down and snuggled her close, waiting for the Motrin to set in. With Christmas and a birthday back to back, any child's stomach would be churning, right? If it weren't cake, cookies and candy, the Motrin would cover any other culprit, I was sure.

Sophia moaned and whimpered for the next hour or so, to no avail. Something was not right, I concluded. In front of my eyes she began spiraling downward. She soon was pale with obvious dark rings under her eyes. Her fever was rising and she asked why the ceiling was spinning. It wasn't long before she wondered out loud why she was a pecking bird, and other delirious questions, which really got my attention! I called the doctor on call. Bring her right in, she said. By this time, Sophia could hardly be moved into the car without severe pain. I arrived at the doctor's office and after several unpleasant screenings and a spiking temperature, she came to the conclusion that Sophia should go to the hospital for X-rays. When we walked in we were whisked into a back room. They knew we were coming, we were told. The nurse began hooking Sophia up to an IV. Just to be safe, they wanted to be ready to fill her little body full of fluids and medicines. Sophia was dehydrated, so bags of clear fluids began dripping into her veins. The pediatric doctors soon appeared. Her X-ray indicated that there was pneumonia in Sophia's lungs. In fact it was right on top of the diaphragm, causing the sharp pain. But the mystery was that her white blood cell count was much higher than what would be the case with pneumonia. The crew of pediatric doctors soon arrived. They looked at her from all angles, circling around the room with their chins in the palms of their hands. Should they transfer her upstairs to stay the night, they wondered aloud? I think that the Motrin had just kicked in, because suddenly Sophia began to smile. For just a few moments she could climb out of her bed and walk. She demonstrated this for the doctors. This was enough consolation to be released, but not until they filled her intravenously with mega doses of antibiotics. (Of course, as soon as the doctors left, Sophia returned back to her very unpleasant state. I was instructed that I should bring her back if her symptoms persisted.) The next morning we received a call from our pediatrician. "We need you right back in the office," he said. They had received disturbing blood work. When we arrived Dr. McKenzie took a look at Sophia. He told us that he was fully anticipating immediately admitting her into the hospital based on Sophia's test results. However, she looked much better than expected. He threw out the word blood infection, which got my attention quickly. It wasn't until this point that I realized the dangerous situation Sophia was in. Sophia had had the Swine flu a couple of weeks before. Possibly the blood infection and pneumonia were complications. Had I realized the gravity of Sophia's situation and how quickly she was spiraling downward, we would have dialed up the grandmas and aunts, requesting their prayers. Sophia received shots in her thighs, injecting antibiotics into her muscles and we were sent for more blood tests. I told the doctor that I wanted to go to a hospital where the phlebotomists were used to finding veins in premature babies. Simply put, the woman searching for Sophia's veins the day before would have had no success with a preemie and I refused to hand Sophia back over to her. The doctor sent us to Children's Hospital in Boston. After a few more tests and with a very upset Sophia, we drove home. It took weeks for Sophia to return to her jovial, fun seeking self. She preferred playing alone in her room and was not her usual self. However, in the mean time, we felt very blessed to have Sophia home with us. We were told that had Sophia not felt the intense pain from her pneumonia being located on her diaphragm, there wouldn't have been an obvious reason to get her to the hospital and full of antibiotics. Blood infections can spread throughout the body, infecting every organ within two hours to two days, I learned. In fact I recently read of a friend's friend who became ill due to complications with the swine flu. He was put on life support only 48 hours after his symptoms were felt, and sadly eventually passed away. His lungs became infected and the infection was carried throughout his body by his blood. My heart goes out to the family of this 13 year old boy. I am so grateful for my little Sophia and that she is once again leaping from the couches and shrieking with joy as she runs through the house.