A couple of days ago Caitlyn had a high temperature. This whole week she's been fussy, doesn't have the greatest appetite and have moments where she is not 100% herself (of course that could just be an early onset of the Terrible Twos...). And when she woke up from her nap she was very unhappy.
This morning we noticed a rash all over her chest, neck and spreading to her tummy. Uggh! Just what we need! I have to say the one thing I cannot wait for is to reach the end of treatment and get levels back up to normal and not have to worry about rashes and things. So I rang the GPs office and what do you know, the words "baby", "rash" and "immunocompromised older daughter" in the same sentence really does open doors for you. We got a slot within 30 minutes, so off we went.
The doctor did the usual, took her temperature which was normal, looked inside her ears which looked fine, looked inside her mouth to see her throat which was a little red, listened to her chest which sounded clear and of course the rash - he described it as a "mac-pap rash over trunk" and at one point wanted to know if these spots had a "halo" around it (hmm, a what?). So he basically said it doesn't seem to be an allergic reaction because it was too wide-spread and was more likely a viral illness (possibly roseola, but not likely to be chickenpox). But he wasn't too sure and so ordered some blood tests to rule out some of the really serious viral infections, because of course with Bianca being an immunocompromised patient we have to be really careful of infectious viral infections and things like measles, chickenpox and so on could become really really serious for kids like Bianca.
So Jody and I then went to the lab to get a blood test done on Caitlyn. (Now where is Terence when you need him?), she was pretty happy at the GPs office and confidently walked in, sat on my lap and allowed him to do all his checks (even the swabs that he took from her throat), but when we walked into the lab for bloods, she started freaking out and so it really wasn't the most pleasant experience with Caitlyn screaming, me holding her tightly against me to prevent her from moving, a nurse holding her arm still and another one getting the sample of blood.
And now we wait until we get the results. In the meantime I have called the hospital to find out what they want us to do with regards to Bianca and whether we need to worry or not. The problem is that Bianca would have already been exposed to whatever this may be and we can now only sit and wait to see if Bianca develops a fever which would usually be a sign for us that Bianca's picked up an infection. Tonight Bianca has been complaining of a sore tummy. Not too sure what that is about as she isn't on the steroids this week (but will be again next week) and this can sometimes cause a tummy ache. So we'll just keep an eye on that too.
If Caitlyn was participating in the Beads of Courage initiative, then for today she would have probably earned a blue one for the doctor's visit, a green one for the throat swab and a black one for the blood test (and I would have probably taken a special bead because it was such a difficult experience for her and she was pretty good even though she cried).
This morning we noticed a rash all over her chest, neck and spreading to her tummy. Uggh! Just what we need! I have to say the one thing I cannot wait for is to reach the end of treatment and get levels back up to normal and not have to worry about rashes and things. So I rang the GPs office and what do you know, the words "baby", "rash" and "immunocompromised older daughter" in the same sentence really does open doors for you. We got a slot within 30 minutes, so off we went.
The doctor did the usual, took her temperature which was normal, looked inside her ears which looked fine, looked inside her mouth to see her throat which was a little red, listened to her chest which sounded clear and of course the rash - he described it as a "mac-pap rash over trunk" and at one point wanted to know if these spots had a "halo" around it (hmm, a what?). So he basically said it doesn't seem to be an allergic reaction because it was too wide-spread and was more likely a viral illness (possibly roseola, but not likely to be chickenpox). But he wasn't too sure and so ordered some blood tests to rule out some of the really serious viral infections, because of course with Bianca being an immunocompromised patient we have to be really careful of infectious viral infections and things like measles, chickenpox and so on could become really really serious for kids like Bianca.
So Jody and I then went to the lab to get a blood test done on Caitlyn. (Now where is Terence when you need him?), she was pretty happy at the GPs office and confidently walked in, sat on my lap and allowed him to do all his checks (even the swabs that he took from her throat), but when we walked into the lab for bloods, she started freaking out and so it really wasn't the most pleasant experience with Caitlyn screaming, me holding her tightly against me to prevent her from moving, a nurse holding her arm still and another one getting the sample of blood.
And now we wait until we get the results. In the meantime I have called the hospital to find out what they want us to do with regards to Bianca and whether we need to worry or not. The problem is that Bianca would have already been exposed to whatever this may be and we can now only sit and wait to see if Bianca develops a fever which would usually be a sign for us that Bianca's picked up an infection. Tonight Bianca has been complaining of a sore tummy. Not too sure what that is about as she isn't on the steroids this week (but will be again next week) and this can sometimes cause a tummy ache. So we'll just keep an eye on that too.
If Caitlyn was participating in the Beads of Courage initiative, then for today she would have probably earned a blue one for the doctor's visit, a green one for the throat swab and a black one for the blood test (and I would have probably taken a special bead because it was such a difficult experience for her and she was pretty good even though she cried).
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