We're back and have never been happier to be home. I think this can go down in the books as the worst vacation we've ever had or will ever have (God willing). Things started off well, we landed in Orlando on Thursday night and Maria and her cousins ran around like wild children and even managed to hop in the pool for a bit. The next morning we ate some ice cream for breakfast (yeah, great parenting, I know!) and we were off to Clearwater. We got there and Maria had explosive diarhea. It took us a bit of time to get her cleaned up and bathed and then we all got in our suits and met my sister and her family on the beach. Again, Maria and the boys tore it up, slashing in the ocean, playing in the sand. All was well. That night we went to see the White Sox play at Tropicana Field. After the 2nd inning we noticed Maria had a fever so we left to get her home for some Tylenol. We stopped and got a thermometer on our way back to the hotel. Her fever was low grade, 100.3, and we decided to just take it easy for the rest of the night, we ordered room service and watched tv. The next morning Soter left while Maria was still sleeping to visit a friend of the family who has a place in Clearwater. When Maria woke up I checked her temp, and since she was in good spirits I gave her some Tylenol and we got dressed and met my sister's family in their room and headed down to the beach. This time Maria played, but with noticibly less enthusiasm. She spent most of her time on my sister's lap eating some chips. When Soter met us on the beach about 2 hours later we decided to take her up to have some lunch planning to meet my sister's family back down there in a little while so my brother in law and I could parasail.
When we got to the room Soter plopped Maria in the bath and she started shivering uncontrollably. She was crying and asking to see our dog, Yiayia, to go home. We figured something was up so we got her dressed and took her to an Urgent Care nearby. While we were waiting to see the doctor Maria had a seizure in Soter's arms. We called for a nurse who brought us back immediately and a doctor came in seconds after that. It was a febrile seizure due to her temp of 103.1. It was a full body seizure and lasted 4 minutes. After the seizure the doctor and nurse gave her Tylenol and her temp was checked again 30 minutes later, no change. A few minutes after that she was given Mortin and her temp was checked 30 minutes later. This time it had gome up to 104.2. Soter and I were freaking out thinking we would be taking an ambulence to the nearest ER. Maria kept saying "Help, please Momma help" "Daddy help me!" She was tearing our hearts out. The doc came in and asked if he could give Maria a shot of Rocephin, an antibiotic, to get control of the fever and a jump on the infection. We, of course, said do whatever the hell you need to! As it turned out Maria had a double ear infection. When her fever was down to 101.8 we were allowed to leave with a prescription for Amoxicillan and instructions on where to go that night if her fever spiked again.
We got back to the hotel with the medicine and Maria slept and we cried. I felt, and still do, horrible guilt for not knowing something was wrong, for taking her out in the sun on the beach, for not bringing her to see her own doctor at home before we left since I had an infection. We were told to alternate between Tylenol and Motrin ever 3 hours and to take her temp every 2 throughout the night. At 2:07am I checked her temp and it was 103.2. We got ourselved dressed, gave Maria a dose of Motrin, and ran down to the concierge and got directions to the nearest ER and off we went. While we waited to see the triage nurse we did the paperwork and incurance questions. We were both nervous wrecks, Maria was exhausted from the seizure and from being sick, Soter's stomach had taken a turn for the worst due to the stress.
When we did get in to see the triage nurse he was the nicest man ever. He asked if Maria liked Blue's Clues (and she does!) and he sang her little songs. When it was time to take a rectal temp her asked if she watches Wonderpets (we said yes) and he told her 'Hang on Maria, This is serious!" just like Ming Ming says. He finished up and Maria's temp was down to 101.5 and we waited for a room to be opened for us to see a doctor. The wait was about 20 minutes during which Soter was back and forth from the bathroom, poor guy.
Once we got back to the ER we again had a fantastic nurse, Nate. (I thought of Nathan, Kelli!) He was sweet and talked slowly and softly to Maria. She didn't seem to be too afriad. He took down all the info and then we waited some more. A Physician's Assistant came in to talk with us and ordered blood work and a urine sample to be sure the infection wasn't spreading. Another sweet nurse, Ashley, came in to assist with that. Upon thier suggestion we left while they took blood and inserted the catheter...they had to hold her down and not only would we not be able to hold her, all we could do is watch her cry. We went to the waiting room for 10 minutes and when Nate came to get us he assured us she did well and that she has beautiful veins. Ashley was holding Maria when we got back, she wasn't crying she was just quiet. Ashley told us she cried when tehy put in the catheter, but she really got upset when she couldn't use Fee (her little blankie) to wipe away her tears. We felt so horrible for her! After some more waiting and some juice we got all the paper work back, it was only the ear infections, everything else looked good. And Maria wasn't dehydrated. Another good thing. At about 6:15 am we left the ER and went back to the hotel. We thought Maria would sleep again, but at about 8 it became apparent that wouldn't happen so we packed everything up and decided to leave early to drive to Marco Island.
We wanted to cut the trip short and go home, but we couldn't take her home til the fever broke, that wouldn't be safe, and for her to fly with 2 ear infections would be really painful. So, without a choice really, we packed it up for Marco. We had to stop periodically to check her temp and give her medicine, but Maria slept pretty much the whole way. After we'd been in Marco for a few hours, her fever finally broke. For the 1st time in 3 days her temp was under 100.3. Soter and I were so happy! And for the 1st time Maria was walking around and not in our arms. She even smiled a little which melted our hearts.
Over the next 6 days Maria got better. She wasn't interested in going to the beach or pool, we managed to get her there a few times, but they were 10 minutes jaunts and they ended in tears, but she played in the condo. She got tired easily and took 3 hour long naps on the couch with us. We basically stayed in and watched dvds with her. We ordered in take out, and we watched her like a hawk to make sure she was ok and that there were no more fevers.
I'm happy to say we're home and she seems to be doing well. She's napping right now, we got home late last night, and she seems happy to be home wiht her toys and her own crib. And Soter and I are happy to be home, too. Maria has an appointment with her doctor tomorrow afternoon to make sure her ears are all better and to talk about the seizure. Once I hear from him that she's all better I'll be able to breathe easy.
hospital
ready for the weekend