The Worst June Ever.
Starts out with us finding out we have to move at the end of the month. Starts out with our son trying to get his asthma under control. We did have a really nice weekend in Duluth with my Father-in-Laws family and I am sooo thankful for that because it was a little rest before the other shoe would drop. My son had his golden birthday on the 11th. He was at the cabin and so we planned to celebrate when he got back. Well...that hasn't happened yet because on June 12, Mackenzie came down with the worst sore throat ever. She was in so much pain that she was crying on the phone and begging me to take her to the doctor. Dave ended up taking her to the Minute Clinic (per my request to save us some money) to have a quick strep test taken. Said minute clinic took one look in her mouth and said "we will not swab her throat because her tonsils are so enlarged we're worried we'll cause them to swell more and close her airway". WHAT? Off to the doctors office I take her. They did swab her throat and it was not the news I was expecting.
The Worst Case of Mono Ever.
The doctor walks in and says "strep test is negative". I'm shocked. Then he took a look and agreed that those were one set of huge tonsils and "he's pretty sure she has mono". A quick test confirms this. He says that since she just started having symptoms, she'll likely get worse over the next few days. He wasn't kidding. Thursday she is in so much pain she's sobbing. I call the doctor to ask for steroids. By the time the nurse calls back she's having trouble breathing. Off to the ER we go. Everyone who looks at her tonsils is shocked at how terrible they look. Kenzie is admitted. They give her IV steroids and pain meds and some much needed fluids as she was dehydrated.
Friday evening she is feeling better. She meets the requirements of what is needed for her to go home. We are discharged at about 8:30 p.m. We get home at about 9 p.m. Within 2 hours the pain is 10 times worse and she spits up some blood. Back to the ER we go. Her fever is 102 and she is one sick girl. They run some tests to check for evidence of an abscess on her tonsils. The tests are negative and while that is good...we are re-admitted and back to the same room. While sleeping her O2 levels drop. She is put on oxygen.
Saturday she is seen by an ENT dr who orders a CT Scan to look for an abscess. She also starts her on antibiotics. She continues to be very ill. The CT Scan didn't show an abscess. The ENT is concerned about the tonsils but is hoping for improvement after another dose of steroids. She doesn't want to take her tonsils out when they are so acute and she is so sick. We wait to see how she does.
Sunday morning there is no change and so the ENT decides it's best to take the tonsils out. When she goes in we're not sure how she will do and we're told she may need to go to the ICU after surgery. Thankfully, that did not happen and she did great! It turns out, there was an abscess on her tonsils. The ENT says those were some of the Worst Tonsils Ever. It's a good thing we took them out.
Monday is a day of recovering and she improves. Tuesday we go home. Wednesday she gets a fever, takes a few steps back, and ends the day with a rash all over her arms, hands, and back. We head back to the dr. She's not sure exactly which med is causing the rash and decides to try the pain meds first. The dr says "Wow" about 10 times while we are there. It's a rough night. Thursday isn't much better. Mackenzie sleeps non-stop and I struggle to get her to drink. She gets another fever that night. Friday her rash is worse and now covering almost her entire body. Her hands are burning and feel like she is being cut when touched. The only place the rash is not is her face and chest. She does drink a little more. We head to the dr to see her regular pediatrician. She is in awe of how sick Mackenzie is. She concludes that it must be the antibiotic she is allergic to and prescribes a different one. This one may cause a rash as well. We're out of options for antibiotics due to her mono and the infection they're trying to treat her for. We pray this one doesn't affect her. We also find out that now her spleen is a little enlarged. (This is new as it wasn't while in the hospital) The doctor said this is one of the Worse Cases of Mono she has Ever seen! She says "I will never forget this" that is how bad it is. Neither will we!
The Worst Summer Ever
I'm quite certain if you asked my daughter what she would call this summer she would say "The Worst Summer Ever!". She had just started cheer and was looking forward to a great year on the Varsity Team as a flyer. She got a season pass to Valley Fair as an early birthday present and was looking forward to using it...LOTS. She will not be allowed to do either of these until her spleen is back to the normal size and she's feeling better. That could be several weeks. We pray it's not!
2 weeks into her summer, 2 weeks into her illness, she's 2 weak to do anything, and she's pretty bummed.
I must not forget to mention the fact that while I was at the doctor's office with Mackenzie on Wednesday, Hailey was riding her bike and had an accident in which she flipped over her handle bars and landed on her chin. Poor thing! What you can't see in this picture is the underside of her chin which was completely black and blue. I was considering asking for a 2-for-1 discount at the ER if I ended up bringing her in for an x-ray...which I didn't and it appears to be healing fine.
What I will say about the Worst...Ever is that it has also been one of the Best times spent with Mackenzie Ever. When you are in a small room with someone for 6 days straight, it does give a chance to have some quality time together. While she hasn't been the most talkative, I have enjoyed just being with her. I've enjoyed watching her sleep. I've enjoyed praying for her. I've enjoyed laughing with her. I've enjoyed brushing her hair. I've just enjoyed the time spent with her. I'm thankful that this is "only" mono and not something much worse.
I don't think we've ever had more people praying for us than we do right now. The breakthroughs during heavy intercession have been powerful! I'm so thankful! Times of need also causes us to draw closer to God. It also causes us to lean on our friends and family. While I can't say it's comfortable doing that...it does show us that we are loved. We are blessed beyond measure! And I can't really say that it's been the worst June ever because my husband did just perform his first wedding. He married a couple that found each other and found love in the midst of a terrible time of homelessness. They now have a home and are married. So among all the things that have come up against us...there is beauty.
While we don't know why all these things have been happening to us, we trust our Heavenly Father. We continue to press on. We continue to pack and prepare for our move. We are looking forward to putting JUNE behind us and moving on to July and all that God has in store for our family! My FIL sent us an email and he said that he's praying this scripture over our family. So I leave you with this.
Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please Leave a Comment