Tough couple of weeks

[GoldenRivet]

So there I am in my Hotel in Whippany, New Jersey getting dressed to start my commute into the pit-of-dispair that is Jersey City when the phone rings. I answer it, it's my wife. She calmly informs me that she took my step daughter to the ER late last night because the dear child was doubled over in back pain so severe that she had to be carried to the car and susbeqently into said ER. Did she fall out of bed? Was she injured somehow? No. She's passing two large kidney stones and will be here at home passing them for a couple of days.

Time passes, as do the kidney stones. The second of which was like a jagged grain of rice. The pain, other than minor inflammation, should have stopped at this point.

The doctor advised that if the child is not pain free in 48 hours to come back to the ER.

I work through the weekend. Sunday night my wife calls again. The doctor recommended ER visit just occurred and the conclusion is that the ureter was blocked for long enough a period of time that urine backed up into the right side kidney causing a rather nasty infection. She was admitted to the hospital to undergo 2-3 days of antibiotic therapy.

Results were mixed. Fever spikes into the 104 range were frequent. But when not feverish she felt well enough to sit up and play games and watch TV. I called home for updates periodically.

Wednesday I'm pulling up to my second job of the day when my wife calls me. This time she's notably upset. The antibiotics aren't working, it's an antibiotic resistant infection, they have to move the child to a children's hospital about two hours away from our home town. Surgery is a real possibility.

There begins the logistics of finding a replacement to deploy to New Jersey to take my place, get him mobilized, and my own work schedule escalating to a frenzied pace so I can tie up the loose ends over the next day and a half. I work all day Thursday well into the early hours Friday. Get a few winks of sleep. Report to the office in Philadelphia where I turn in all my equipment and last minute paperwork before hitting the road for the long haul home.

finally I make it home to an 11 year old little girl and her mother both of whom are exhausted and filled with worry. The surgery, a rather simple, minimally invasive procedure called a Nephrostomy is on the books for this afternoon. Why surgery? The kidney infection caused the kidney to Become abscessed. A simple procedure... Meant to clean the abscess and accelerate the healing process. But when a mother is standing by her child's bedside with a looming surgical procedure on the schedule, there's no such thing as a simple procedure. the kid may as well be having a heart transplant.

We wait. Eventually we receive news that the surgeon and head radiologist have reviewed the images and rule out surgery stating that the images appear to show fluid build up but do not appear to be abscessed. Contributing to this off the cuff last minute determination is the fact that she is pain free, has been Fever free for 24 hours and her white cell count is dropping rapidly, nearly having returned to normal levels. If her kidney was abscessed, she would likely be in pain, feverish, with a high white cell count.

Much to everyone's relief the procedure is cancelled. The IV drip of antibiotics continues to do its job, having it checked hourly reduces the down time for rest, and interrupts her sleep. Adding to the experience of rest deprivation... The 6:30 am residency visits mean her hospital room is filled to capacity with fresh young doctors who eagerly follow the lead of the attending physician. Fortunately their visit is generally brief and to the point.

Tomorrow brings more blood work, more imaging, and hopefully a consensus between medical professionals as to whether or not surgery has been ruled out. Hopefully blood work reveals a normal white cell count and she makes it through tonight without a fever.

We continue to wait.

[August]

Sending positive vibes for your little girl GR.

[Sailor Steve]

Hoping for the best.

[HW3]

Sending prayers for your daughter and the family too.

[Torvald Von Mansee]

Good luck.

[Eichhörnchen]

Good God, what an ordeal... I'll be watching and waiting now. All the very best to you all, GR.

[mako88sb]

Sounds like she's made a turn for the better. Thoughts and prayers that she'll be home soon.

I was talking to my brother-in-law's twin today and he went through the kidney stone agony just recently. Thankfully with no complications. First time for him and he had no idea what was going on. Ended up being transported by ambulance to the hospital. He said the damn thing looked like a fleck of dry paint. Hard to believe how much pain it caused.

[Reece]

What a horrible experience to go through!!
I pray that all goes well and your step daughter gets better soon.
All the best.

[Catfish]

Oh man! All the best, i hope she has no more pain and gets through this fast. I take it they have already broke those stones into little pieces, but even then this is always an ordeal with complications.

I heard (though i'm not a doctor or specialist) that drinking "hard" water leads to the build up of those stones, so if you or she is living in a region where the water comes from a carbonate-rich source, it might be a good idea to not use that in the future, but instead buy and use softer water.

Whatever, i hope she recovers, and fast.

[Von Due]

Speedy recovery to her and all the best to all of you.

[u crank]

Hoping for a good outcome and speedy recovery GR.

[Oberon]

Yowch, poor love, keeping you all in my thoughts and hoping for the best. Very unlucky for her to wind up with an antibiotic resistant infection, it's a real problem of our times, probably one of the bigger problems we're going to face in healthcare this century.
At least it seems that her body has managed to defeat the infection on its own but it's a major ordeal to go through, for someone of any age, let alone an eleven year old.

[Rhodes]

All the best and a speedy recovery!

[Onkel Neal]

Man, John, that's tough. Your job really makes that kind of emergency difficult, too. Hoping for the best.

[Jimbuna]

As I said on FB last week John, she'll be fine