a little bit of a scare...

About 10 days ago Alivia showed me some bumps on the back of her neck that were itching.  I could see that she had a little rash.  By the next morning it has spread onto her back and stomach.  I gave her an antihistamine and it seemed to help her.  The next two days the rash started looking like hives so I put some anti itch cream on her and continued to give her the anitihistamine.  I figured she must have eaten something that she was allergic to.  I was trying to go through the last week and figure out if there was anything out of the norm that she had eaten.  I couldn't come up with anything.  By Sunday she was really itchy so I took her to the Dr. and he told me what I already thought...she was having an allergic reaction. So home we went with some more itch cream and antihistamine.

{i will explain more, but before I move on...the pic above is in the ER and they were putting ice cold clothes on her head to try and bring her fever down.)

The Dr told me to keep her home a few days from school so on Monday she vegged and took it easy. Later that day she started complaining that her wrist hurt.  I look at it and it was starting to swell and she would scream if I touched it or moved it at all.  From there she started feeling sick to her stomach and had a headache and she was burning up.  I ran her to the Dr and while I was waiting in the waiting room she started rolling her eyes into the back of her head and acting like she was going to pass out.  I stood up, told the nurse I needed a Dr. now and that she couldn't wait.  They got her in right away, the Dr. took her temperature and told me she had a screaming fever and  in the 30 years he had been practicing, he had never seen a pattern of rash like hers before.  GREAT!!  That is every mothers worst nightmare right there. Her joints were swelling and he told me to get her to the Emergency Room right away.  I took Jack with me & my great friend Natalie took Rex & Lucy for me until Jared could get home.  

I took a lot of pictures but I feel like they don't quite capture just had splotchy and red her skin was. 

So..

we went to the same private hospital where I had Jack and where Jack spent a few nights with respiratory problems a few months back.  The nurses and Dr. recognized us and were so kind and helpful.  The put a drip line in and took some blood.  I was so proud of Alivia.  She was a champion.  She was so nervous, but she did it.  I put my face next to hers and we talked and I tried to get her mind off of what was going on. To be honest I think I was the one that needed the distracting more than she did.  After about 7 hours at the hospital the blood work came back normal so they let her go home.  They said that she had a allergic reaction and that she would hopefully get over it quickly.

I didn't sleep well that night because I was worried about her and this crazy rash.  The next morning Jared worked from home and Alivia took it easy.  She was playing with Lucy and got up to get something and fell down.  She cried that her foot hurt and when I looked at it her joints around her ankle and toes were swollen and standing on it really hurt.  I looked at the rash and by then it had turned from red to purple and looked like huge bruises on her body.  Her face was purple and swollen and her fever was back and rising.

I ran her back down to the Emergency room and they took one look at her and put her into a bed straight away and started an IV. Poor girl has my veins.  The first attempt to start the IV didn't work so they had to try the other hand. More blood tests were done.  The Doctors spent a lot of time trying to figure out what it might be.  After the second set of blood test came back normal they started talking to me about testing her for Collective Tissue Disease and Childhood Arthritis.  (Umm, I was sitting there trying to act calm and collected...I was dying inside!)

 I called Jared who was home with the kids and I had him look up Collective Tissue Disease.  He read to me what he could find on it.  It involved diseases that are connected to the collagen production in her body.  The Dr asked me for any family history of any other disease that may be related.  I mentioned that my sister had died from Scleroderma which is when your body produces too much collagen.  He told me that she was pretty young for that but because of the swelling and other symptoms it would be smart to test her for the Collective tissue disease.  I think in that moment I said about 5 million little prayers to Heavenly Father asking him to help me stay calm and to please help Alivia.  I couldn't even let my mind go there, to the idea of her having something seriously wrong with her, especially not a disease as terrible as Scleroderma or anything related to it.
Jared left the kids with the Prepchuk's and came down to the hospital.  He stayed with Alivia while I went home to get some things to stay the night with her.  As soon as I was no longer in Alivia's sight I broke down and cried.  I felt worried and anxious and scared.  Just not knowing exactly what was wrong with her and seeing her get worse was really hard.  I wanted to make it all go away.  Deep down I felt like it was going to be OK, but I didn't know what OK meant.  I drove back to the hospital and put my brave face back on.

By then she was in her room.  She had fun making the bed go as high as it could.  We played paper dolls, watched a movie and snuggled on her bed. 

Jack stayed with us since I am his main food source. :)  He was no problem at all, he is such a good baby.

Alivia missed a whole week of school and her class made her get well cards.  She was thrilled and read them over and over again. Some of her friends from church also came by and brought cards. They meant a lot to her.

Her class also made her this mask.  They had a cultural day and made them.

 We had a large room with a pull out bed for me and a big cot for Jack.  I had to take a picture of the cot because I think it is freaky looking.  The metal bars make me feel like I am in the 1920's.  Jack loved it and liked sticking his feet through the bars.

These next couple of photos are from my phone.

The rash was really weird.  It would change all the time and some and go in intensity.  They watched her all night and kept her on some medications.  By morning all the swelling was gone and she was doing much, much better.  The pediatrician came to see her and told me that because the swelling was gone he didn't believe it was any of the scary disease we had discussed.  Her fever was down and he believed the reaction was caused by some sort of viral infection in her body. I was so happy to hear that she wouldn't need further testing.

Poor Liv kept calling herself a monster.  She was scared the rash would never go away.  She still looked so cute even with the rash.

Her poor face was so red and swollen. They let her go home later that day and sent her with a few medications.  I was still a little worried since they never really figured it all out.  The rash stayed a few more days, but as of today she doesn't have any more redness, itchiness or fever. 

Rex gave these "flowers" to Liv one day.  I picked him up from school and he had a big clump of flowers for Alivia.  He was pretty excited about them and I was so touched that he would do that for her.  He has such a tender heart.

So, a bit of a scary week, but I feel incredibly grateful that she is OK and doing better.  I am grateful for a lot of prayers offered by so many family and friends. Really, you have no idea how much it meant.  I am also grateful for priesthood blessings.  Alivia told me time and time again, usually at times when I am sure she could sense that I was worried, that she believed that the blessing from Heavenly Father would help her. It did!

I feel grateful for good health.