A Hard Road to Seven Months

It wasn't until day four that it hit me.

I knew Henrik was sick, but I didn't really know how sick. When the doctor mentioned possible damage to kidneys and liver, my heart skipped a beat. How could I have let this go on? Why didn't I have him seen earlier? I'm sure I asked myself that dozens of times, and I always had an answer: he was already on antibiotics; everything looked good; he was healing well; there was a three-day virus going around with his same symptoms.... But it didn't help me feel any better.

A week and a half earlier, Henrik underwent a three-hour corrective surgery. He didn't fuss in the morning like I thought he would when he hadn't eaten for four hours. He did great with the anesthesia and woke up happy. He was calm and pacified for several hours after.

But he also woke up later in a lot of pain and needed lots of extra attention, cuddling, and pain meds for several days after. He was seen again a week later and had his bandages taken off. He seemed to be healing well and getting back to normal again.

The next evening, a Saturday, he woke up from his nap with a fever. Eric and I were going out on a date and took Henri with us. He just wanted to sleep, and he seemed to be getting hotter. When we got home, we gave him some medicine and put him back to bed. He wouldn't nurse. When he woke up, he seemed to be just as hot as he was before the medicine. He started whimpering and moaning. That's all he did all day for almost a week. He hardly slept without being held, and we had to double dose him with Ibuprofen and Tylenol just to sleep at all during the night.

We called the doctor Monday and were told that there was a virus going around with high fever and vomiting that was lasting about three days. I hoped he would be better by the next day.

The next day he was not better. I called the doctor again and brought him in that afternoon. After having a catheter in for a week post-surgery, the doctor ordered a urine sample thinking there might be something there. He was positive for a UTI.

He received an antibiotic injection that day, and the next day. Once the culture was grown and they received the list of susceptibilities they were able to prescribe a medication.

The pharmacy called a little while later saying that they didn't have that medicine in stock. They called 11 other pharmacies in the city and no one had it, so it had to be specially ordered. Finally on day six of his fevers, we were able to start his oral treatment.

A concerned friend commented to me that when you see your child this sick you wonder if they'll ever get back to normal again. I felt this way exactly. Henrik, such a smiley, happy baby didn't crack a smile for almost a week. Even a few days after his surgery a friend asked if Henrik was always this happy. Yes, yes he is. Usually. It was so gratifying when he actually grinned for the first time again, and was back to normal after a few more days.

Henri, we're so glad you came back to us!