In early May, both Lexie and Liam had ear infections. Lexie had a very bad one. Liam had a double. Both had experienced ear infections before but neither have had the chronic problems that warrant tubes. The doctor put them on Augmentin. The medication seemed to work rapidly and we increased their yogurt intake to help balance the bacteria in the gut. Both kids took the prescribed meds for 10 days. Seemed to do the trick and all was well. For a few days.
Three days after stopping the meds, Lexie developed diarrhea. It wasn't that alarming at first. Just a couple more trips to the bathroom and a few noticeable abdominal cramps. We figured it was just something she ate and tried to keep her hydrated, rested, and fed her foods that were easy on the tummy. She had no fever, vomiting, or lack of energy. 3 days of it and it started to increase. Lexie wasn't able to handle much without it coming out. Still we were not that concerned until day 4 of diarrhea when she suddenly passed bloody stools. That is when we headed straight for the ER (it was 10pm at night on a Saturday.)Travis took Lexie down to Good Sam ER. They seemed concerned about food borne illness and the possibility of her small intestine sucked into her colon. Both they took very seriously and told Travis that she would need to be transferred to Tacoma Mary Bridge via ambulance.
My mother-in-law graciously offered to drive me and Norah down, as I was too upset to drive myself. Trav's sister and aunt stayed with Liam.
Lexie was stable and had fallen asleep (thank God) for the ambulance ride. She also slept through the ultrasound and x-rays once we arrived at Mary Bridge. This was a huge blessing, as I am sure she would of been scared and upset. The doctor's were surprised that nothing out of the ordinary showed up on either the ultra-sound or x-rays. It is then that I mentioned she had recently finished the antibiotics for the ear infection. That is when the light bulb went off. They wanted to test her stool for C-Diff which is a shortened name for Clostridium difficile.Clostridium that causes severe intestinal disease when competing bacteria in the gut have been wiped out, usually by antibiotics. Only problem being that the test could not be run for another day or so because there was no lab worker and it was Memorial Day Weekend. So we were told Lexie was to be admitted.
At this point, Lexie had woken up. She had an IV in. Had no food in her and was asking every nurse that walked in the room to send her back to Buckley. She still seemed strangely perky considering she had blood in her stool and her white blood cell count was elevated to show some infection.Thankfull, we had the IPAD and we were able to watch church online. Our pastor had called and prayed with us over the phone around 4am and prayed during the service as well. Lex loved to hear this! We are so humbled to have such a loving, faithful pastors and church family.
They slowly introduced clear liquids and crackers back into her diet. She was able to handle these alright. Her appetite was good. We kind of felt like as serious as C-Diff sounded it was a bit extreme to be admitted in the hospital. Norah was a peach, didn't make a peep and was so chill the whole time. I wish I could say the same for myself.
Later that day, they ended up discharging us with strict dietary instructions and we were told we should get the lab results the following day. Needless, to say we were never so happy to be headed home to Buckley.
The following day the results came in positive for C-Diff. Ironically, they treat it with more antibiotics, only this time she was also prescribed a pro biotic, and a strict diet.
We were concerned Liam also might have had C-Diff, since he was on the same antibiotic originally and had a few diapers of diarrhea. Got him tested as a precaution and he was negative.
We spent a good 10 days together in the house, taking it easy and letting Lexie recover. As I write this, a little over 2 weeks later, she appears to be completely recovered. So thankful that God healed and protected her. Such a sickening feeling seeing a 4 year old on a stretcher, getting an IV, begging to go home, being put in a hospital bed and being told of all the worst case scenarios. I will forever have a heart for other parents who have sick kids. It is one of those experiences that changes you forever.
Love that I-PAD, thank you Pops!
1 Thessalonians 5:18
