First E.R. visit last night.

[ZoesMom]

We had our first ER visit last night with Zoe. I thought "oh god shes having her first shunt malfunction". My sister-in-law neglected to call me when she woke up at 1 or so in the morning night before last with a 103.4 fever and crabby. So when the husband and I woke up from a night of partying celebrating my 23rd birthday we called to see what time we needed to go get the girls. This was at around noon. She told us that Zoe had been crabby all morning and still had a fever. I was running around the house cursing her out tryin to hurry and go get my child. I decided after I got her to see how one more shot of tylonol and some rest did her. She ended up screaming all afternoon and keept a fever. So needless to say I ate a quick dinner and took her to the ER. They got us all checked in and then back to the Peds ER. The doc only had to check both her ers. Zoe has a Double Ear Infection. She is on anti-biotics for 7 days and motrin to keep her comfy. The doc also told me that the anti-biotics will make her almost gone yeast rash worse. But other than all that we are back to normal and Zoe's feeling better.

[angel]

OMG i know how you feel. When my son was a baby he was at daycare and one day i went to pick him up, and he was just laying on the floor, not playing, just laying there with this blank look on his face! I went over to him and you could feel the heat coming off him. I got him up and raced home to take his temp. 104 degrees i was PISSED!!!!!! Rushed him to the ER by which time he reached 105. He had a problem with his tonsels. I just couldn't believe that he layed there on the floor with something obviously wrong and no one did anything!
He has been to the ER many many times for high fevers the worst it ever got was 106. He was fine but wanted to lay down on the couch. He was 3 years old and this was not like him at all. I checked on him a half hour later and OMG it was horrible. I took his temp it was 106 so i poured some tylenol down him and by this time his eyes were rolling and he was in and out. I flew to the ER i swear i had the gas pedel all the way to the floor. He had phneumonia and spent a few days in the hospital. Nothing like an emergancy with the little ones to scare the crap out of you!

Angel

[LisaJoy]

ZoesMom--So glad it wasn't the shunt!

[Dodger67]

When a kid runs a very high temp, DON'T pour meds down their throat!!! A lot of the meds that are meant for mild fevers, aches etc. such as tylenol also have a CNS depressing effect and that is not a good idea!

Just put the kid in a cool bath or wrap in cool wet towels for the trip to the ER. The idea is to cool down as fast as possible but don't use too cold water - just cool to the touch - otherwise you just end up shutting off the peripheral circulation and that will trap the heat in the core anyway.

Watch Zoe carefully over the next few days - I don't want to scare you but if the antibiotics don't work ear infections can possibly spread to the brain and encephalitis or meningitis is very bad news!

[Gymp]

Wise advice Dodger!

I'm not trying to be a fear mongerer but here's a link to an interesting artical...

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/09/19/asthma-child.html

Gymp

[angel]

Good advice dodger. I had no idea at the time what to do when that happened to my son. I just reacted and i am glad that nothing bad happened. After a few visits to the ER for fevers that were very high they finally told me not to bring him back unless i couldn't get the fever down and gave me a list of things to try first. i guess he was just prone to high fevers. He has since grown out of that hasn't had a high fever like that in about 6 years.

Angel

[Barb]

Carter was cursed with ear infections as a baby/toddler. It is awful because it does mimic a shunt infection. What I learned to do after a while was get him right into the pediatrician or urgent care. It just takes minutes for them to look into their ears. If there was no ear infection (and their usually was) then I was already at the doctor and they could pave the way at the ER by calling ahead.

[jefwan]

I'm so glad it wasn't shunt malfunction! Everything from an ear infection to the flu mimics a malfunction, and it can be so frustrating. Unfortunately for us, it usually IS shunt malfunction. Our daughter does not hang on to shunts long. Our clue is she doesn't get a fever when her shunts go.
I don't know how old Zoe is, but my daughter is 11. We go to the ER so often they know us by name (BEFORE we register). We went in one night because she had an infected lesion over her shunt site. The nurse opened the window in the triage room, and just had Evie roll on in before we even got on the waiting list! I guess it's not all bad being a "frequent flier"... Everything turned out OK that time, but it took two weeks in the hospital with neurosurgery and infectious disease working together to get all the infection out. AND BTW, the shunt site was several months old and well healed before it got infected. Keep an eye on those old scars!
Jefwan