Still sick

Audra is still not feeling well.  It has been a long week of doctor appointments and tests trying to determine what is making her sick.  And so far...still no answer. 

On Wednesday, after two days of antibiotics for strep, she was still having fevers up to 104 every six hours.  So I took her back to the pediatrician who heard a heart murmur and was a little concerned about the chance of her having Rheumatic Fever.  On Thursday I took her down to CHOP to be seen by a cardiologist.  She had an EKG and and ECHO of her heart...both of which looked good!  So, most likely NOT Rheumatic Fever. 

Friday morning she was STILL having fevers up to 104 every 6-8 hours, so off to the pediatrician we went again.  (Luckily she has been seen by the same doctor for her 3 sick visits this week...and it happens to be the same doctor who saw her for her well visit last week.)  Thinking that maybe the strep bacteria was resistant to the antibiotic Audra is taking, they did another strep test...but it was negative.  This made the picture more concerning.  If the antibiotic had been effective in getting rid of the strep why was she still having such high fevers consistently?  And her lab work suggested there is an infection somewhere.  Because there are so many unknowns about her history...and because she is unable to communicate what is bothering her...it was recommended that we take her down to CHOP's ER, specifically so that she could be evaluated by the Infectious Disease team. 

Thankfully it was a quiet day there...there was absolutely no one in the waiting room when we arrived!  We were taken right back to a room and seen by a doctor right away...so wonderful.  More lab work was done which again indicated that she has an infection somewhere.  Also, some of her blood work that was drawn last week at the Adoption Clinic was back and those results may help them solve this puzzle.  She has a low immune globulin level and most of her vaccine titers are non-existent, even though it is documented that she received them.  The Infectious Disease team ordered a bunch of rare infection tests, most of which take a few days to get results.  So, because she is tolerating the fevers fairly well, meaning that she is able to drink and keep herself hydrated, we were allowed to go home.  We will return to the Infectious Disease clinic on Tuesday to get all the results.  In the meantime we will just treat her fevers with Motrin and call them if she gets any worse or develops any new symptoms.  Thankfully, in between fevers she has a few hours of feeling pretty good. 

Happy with her pink flamingo from my friends in the PICU who stopped by to say Hi