Fever, Bad luck and Holidays!

So if you know my family very well you would know that Holidays in the Smith household are not usually a good time for us. Recap- Webb's first father's day- find man breaking into our car at the mall, webb's birthday 2010- Carter Diagnosed with Syrinx and non working shunt. The next week our car gets blown up in our drive way., Mine and Carter's birthday- Carter diagnosed with Grade 5 kidney reflux and has emergency vesicostomy the next day to prevent kidney and bladder damage. Our anniversary this year Carter has a Shunt Malfunction/Revision. Webb's birthday this year- Another Shunt Malfunction/Revison. Then a week later back in the hospital with a UTI. So with it being Christmas week, it did not surprise me when C started running fever on Saturday afternoon!

I decided to call the Neurosurgeon on call and they told me since he didn't have any other symptoms to wait it out and give him some Tyleonol/Motrin and wait and that if he had any other symptoms to bring him in. Well that night he did fine, his temp came down and hovered around 99.5 and he was symptom free(well except for some fussiness). So the next morning Webb left for the river with his dad to work on the cabin. So I was planning some shopping with Mom and Allyson that Afternoon. C was acting fine that morning so I laid him down for a nap and M&A came over. After he woke up and ate lunch he felt a little warm to me, so I took his temp- 102.6!!!!!!!!

So that landed us a trip to the dreaded Lebonheur ER. Usually we get VIP treatment with Carter having a VP shunt. But not this time. They were booked and there were probably 50 sick kids in the ER!!!! We waited 3 hours before being seen. I was NOT a happy Camper!! Thankfully we have uploaded some videos on my iphone so Carter watched movies, read books and was so good for the waiting. Carter's recent favorite movies are Mickey Mouse Club House and Backyardigans- the Pirates Episode, which is what he is watching here :)


During this time, webb was able to get home, pack our things, and get up there before we were ever seen. So after SEVERAL attempts to get an IV started and drawing some labs, Shunt Tap and having a CT and x-ray. We had no answers. Shunt seemed to be working fine(thankfully). They decided to keep us for observation. We didn't get into a room until 4am and Carter maybe slept 1 hour of the whole night, so when they let us come home the next afternoon we were beyond THRILLED!!

That night Carter threw up, and the next day started having a green runny nose and congestion. so it seems that it was all a Virus. This is your life if you have a child with a shunt. A simple virus with a fever lands you in the hospital with several Testing and long days/nights. This is why it is so important for us to be so diligent on washing hands and keeping away from sick people/kids.
This is one thing that I am nervous about Carter starting his Play, do Learn program. Which should start in the next week or two, EEK! Anyways we had a wonderful Christmas. and have a long post with Many Pics that I will have to do later. Too late right now. Here are some pics taken with my IPHONE, and the bottom is a video of how tired and miserable he is in the hospital. Poor Baby!!



Courtney