Hannah had her April appointment yesterday. I was eager to talk to her doctors and anxious about this appointment. Hannah had been running a low-grade fever every day for a month and had a nasty cough for twice that long. During this month I had called Egleston to ask about it and the ER doctor couldn't find what was wrong. That's a long time to run a fever and of course, my mind couldn't help but to worry about the worst case scenario. Her doctors ruled out the worst things it could be (which set my mind at ease) but couldn't pinpoint what could cause fever for that long. They sent us home with several ideas of things to try thinking it might be allergies, asthma or a sinus infection. We got home from Atlanta late in the afternoon and about an hour later Hannah started running a fever of 103.4. We got back in the car, headed to the ER and spent most of the night there. This doctor decided to test for RSV. She tested positive. A normal child's body should be able to fight RSV in about a week. They think that she's had the fever and cough for so long because her immune system stays weakened due to the chemo. She just can't fight it off. We are so glad to finally know what is going on. Since Hannah has been sick I always empathize with people when they have to wait for test results or are unsure what the diagnosis is. The not-knowing seems so much harder.
This was a hard day for Hannah. She dreads her appointments in Atlanta. On the way up there this time she told us, "I'm telling you, I'm NOT going in that hospital!!" We have to hold her down for them to access her port. She hates getting her finger pricked. After doing all of that yesterday morning, we had to turn around and do it all again that night. It took both Eric and me to hold her down for her port access then it took two of us to hold her down for them to stick a tube up her nose to test for the RSV. Nothing breaks my heart more than this. I think about if it were me - how panicked I would be if big people were holding me down to do scary things that hurt while I was screaming "NO"! She tries to crawl behind me on the hospital bed when nurses walk in the room to hide from them so they can't get her. To make it worse, her parents, who are supposed to protect her and keep people from hurting her are the ones who are holding her down.
We took this picture a few hours later, after she had calmed down. This was about 1:00 a.m. My parents went to get us supper because we hadn't eaten yet. Hannah was very excited about her Huddle House (the only thing that's open at that time of night) pancakes and bacon!
