Cheers for Health

At Capital Health Pediatric Emergency Room in Trenton

So this year has been full of challenges health wise for us. Ever since Leah started daycare, it seems that the poor kid has been sick. We are actually just finishing up our 4th run with the nebulizer.
On April 20th, she had a minor episode...that's what the doctor called it...But to me, there was nothing minor about it. It started out a normal Monday morning. Leah had woken up, I got her ready for daycare, she had some breakfast and were on the road. Now, for those of you that know her...Leah is a chatterbox. She was in her carseat jib-jabbering away, when all of a sudden she became quiet. I looked in my rear view mirror, she was blue around the mouth and had a glassy stare about her. I pulled over, turned around and jostled her while saying her name. Of course she responded almost immediately and returned to her normal self in no time...I on the other hand was trying to remain calm, while really I was FREAKING OUT on the inside.The whole thing maybe lasted 30 seconds.

We went straight to the pediatricians, they evaluated her and found everything to be okay, but sent us on to the pediatric cardiologist to be checked out. The pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Khan was great. She took Leah's blood pressure, blood oxygen level, did an EKG and a cardiac ultrasound. She said that Leah's heart was in absolute perfect condition. She went on to explain some possible causes for the "episode". Then we were referred to CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) to see a pediatric neurologist. We had that appointment this past Monday, and again it went great. They did an EEG on Leah, she looked really funny with all those patches stuck to her head and wires going everywhere and then we met with the doctor. Again, they said that everything looked good, perfectly normal brain activity and nothing to suggests that she had any type of seizure. Thank GOD!!! Dr. Venkat, the neurologist did talk about sometimes babies having fevers or viruses that can cause these types of episodes, and about babies that hold their breathe when they are angry, triggering this type of episode. She told us not to worry about it too much, and that if it should ever happen again to bring her back for some much more detailed test that would involve sedating Leah and taking a much longer, in-depth look. NO thank you to that...Here's to Leah staying happy and healthy.

But then last week we started getting a cough, a low grade fever, a runny nose. It's SWINE FLU?!?!? No, but she was not a happy camper. We talked to our pediatrician and since she was eating and sleeping just fine they weren't too concerned. But on Thursday afternoon (5/7) that started to change. Her fever hit 102.9 and tylenol/motrin wasn't helping. We were doing the lukewarm baths, but that was only giving us an hour or two of relief. By 7 pm her fever had jumped to 103.8, we put her in the car and headed for Captial Health in Trenton. By the time we got there and they saw her, her temp was up to 104.5, her breathing was rapid and she hadn't taken any fluids in a couple of hours. The doctor was thinking that it might be pneumonia. After chest x-rays, blood work, urine analysis, IV fluids and IV antibiotics her temp was dropping and they sent us home..."it's probably just a virus." Thankfully after the fluids and antibiotics the fever didn't return.

So that has been our health-scapades for the last month...Here's to hoping for a much healthier summer!