Shiga Toxin aka: our weekend at the hospital

This post is long. I am more recording it for myself than I am trying to over-share. Read and view as much or as little as you wish. 

Shiga Toxin. I had never heard of this until my sweet girl was diagnosed with it. I had first though (and two doctors agreed with me) that she had rotavirus. Rotavirus is common in babies and causes the exact symptoms our baby was having. But, the lab test was negative for that. The test was also negative for any bacteria. 

Since her diagnosis, I have done some reading. There isn't much info about shiga toxin that is in layman terms. The best I can figure, it is a strain of some sort that is related to or produces E. Coli. Bottom line: YUCK! 

Let's rewind to last Tuesday. That was the day the symptoms began. I thought it was weird that I changed 7 dirty diapers in one day. I was watching her closely for other symptoms. There were never any others, but by Thursday, when it hadn't subsided, I took her in to be seen by our family doctor. I even packed a bag for fear that he would say she was dehydrated and needed to be admitted to the hospital. He said she had good saliva, probably had a virus, and to monitor her and put her on a liquid diet to give her bowels a rest. He also said to call back on Monday if things didn't get better. That was a bit overwhelming to me. By that point, I had already changed more diapers than I ever care to talk about. Ever. And her rash....was AWFUL. She may have scars from that rash. It was what I imagine leprosy looked like. 

So I tried the liquid diet. Then, she lost interest in anything I was trying to give her. On Friday morning I called the doctor's office again. I expressed my concern about her appetite and lethargy. Through the nurse, he again, told me to keep an eye on her till Monday. 

THIS is what I was dealing with. I can barely look at this photo to post it. I am embarrassed that she got this bad...

Usually she loves her bath time. This was when I should have had the idea to take her in no matter what the doctor said.

So, Friday night Jonathan lost his car key. When I went to help with that a neighbor came to sit at the house while the kids slept. When I got home, she had talked to a nurse friend of hers. That nurse said I should not even wait until morning if Elizabeth couldn't hold up her head. That was all the prodding it took. I scooped her out of bed (remember, my bag was packed) and we headed to the E.R. 

They took her to a bed right away and said they planned to start an I.V. before a doctor had even seen her. The doctor came by before they got started and told me the plans of running an I.V., then collecting a stool sample for tests. 

 This was before they tried to start an I.V. 

It took them 10 sticks to get it going. It was 45 minutes of continual poking and trying to get a viable vein. Most of that time I had my head down by Elizabeth's...encouraging her, comforting her, and praying they would get it in! The poor girl is tiny to start with, but then the dehydration caused the veins to collapse each time. Finally, they got one in her foot! Praise the Lord!! Then, she was able to rest a few minutes while we waited to be admitted to the pediatric floor. 

By 3:30am we were up in a room and by 4am the lights were out and both she and I were lying down. She slept. I did not. I was listening for bowel movements and hearing hospital sounds. 

While we were there we had a day nurse and a night nurse. Gene and Shane were both wonderful and kind and really good with my baby. 

Saturday, much to my surprise, my mom walked through the door to our room! She got to hold the sweet little patient and help guide her back to good health! 

Some friends from church stopped by as well. It was so nice to see friendly faces! They brought a whole bag of goodies, including a set of frogs...one of which you can see in Elizabeth's hand in the photo below. She loved it. She also loved the balloon Jonah gave her. 

While we were cooped up, Auntie Em came to the rescue and took Jonah to an event Saturday morning. Jonah played on bounce houses, got to catch a fish, and met Ronzo the Clown (a Branson favorite). Ronzo made a balloon fishing pole for Jonah and that flower for him to give his sister!

Jonah with the fish he caught. 

And by Sunday morning she was able to have the I.V. removed. 

This gave her the freedom to walk around and play!! 

We are so happy to have a happy healthy girl again. 

 Here is a little snippet to showcase the puppy room on the pediatric wing....

Once the doctor-on-call made rounds Sunday we were released. It was right before we left that the lab came back with the confirmed diagnosis. 

Thankfully our girl seems to be all-better. She has been her normal self all week. We have been cautious with her diet, but have added back most everything now. I haven't given her veggies or very much fruit yet. Her diapers are steadily getting back to normal too, for which I am very very thankful!