Oh boy- What a week and weekend!

Starting out this short work week we are pretty exhausted at our house. We had quite the end to our week last week and after a busy long weekend with not much sleep we are feeling anything but rested. Is it too early to say "Bring on the weekend?"

Last Wednesday began like any other - Up way too early in the morning to get ready for the work day, my husband and I dropped our little sunshine off to Nana's house and then we headed off to work. Later that morning I started to get text messages from Nana stating that Gabe didn't seem well and had quite the fever. When I picked Gabe up in the afternoon however, he seemed to be doing much better. I took him home and we went for a walk in the push chair/stroller around the neighborhood, went to a couple of stores and then Gabe played golf while I cooked dinner. He seemed much much better. Then like lightening the fever was back and my little man became limp and lifeless and oddly enough started to have difficulty walking. I gave him more medicine and tried giving him a bath to help reduce the fever but no such luck - he could barely sit up in the bath tub (now I'm getting scared). By this time it was 7:30pm ish and daddy was almost home from his late class at school. As soon as Daddy got home we headed to the kids Insta-care. The doctor examined Gabe and ordered a blood test and after getting the results sent us up to Primary Children’s Hospital with suspected Bacterial Synovitis or septic hip joint.

What is it? Transient synovitis of the hip joint is a condition that occurs in childhood causing hip pain. The cause of transient synovitis is not well understood, but it may be related to a viral illness of the child. Transient synovitis tends to occur in young children, between the ages of 2 and 9 years old. Transient synovitis causes inflammation and pain around the hip joint. The symptoms tend to begin quickly over 1 to 3 days, and usually resolve over the next several days. The following symptoms are common in children with transient synovitis of the hip:
Pain with movement of the hip
Hip and knee pain
Difficulty walking or a limp
Holding the hip flexed and rotated
Fever
The concerning aspect is that these symptoms are very similar to a septic, or infected, hip joint. Bacterial infections of the hip joint are more serious, and may require surgery to treat the infection.

We arrived at the hospital at 10:00 pm to a waiting room full of sick kids and were told there was a 3 hour wait. FABULOUS! Oh and don't let him eat or drink anything incase he needs surgery. WONDERFUL! Bed time was 7:30 pm so we were already way past that and how do you tell a 21 month old that they can't eat or drink anything till who knows when? 3 long hours later it was our turn. Gabe was given his second blood test for the night and then an IV was inserted in my little guy’s hand. Then it was off to be poked and prodded for the next 4 or so hours. An x-ray and a ultrasound revealed that there was fluid in Gabe's hip and he needed a procedure called an aspiration (insert needle into hip and draw out fluid for testing) in the morning to see if the fluid was bacterial or viral. Bacterial = surgery and 5 to 6 weeks of IV anti-biotics and viral = a few days with a fever and sore hip. The aspiration was performed that morning at about 8:30 am and thankfully Gabe was out for the next few hours due to the drugs he was given. Our poor little guy was worn out and hurting and we were strung out, worn out and worried.

Thankfully by late morning the fever had broken and after a few hours of drug induced sleep our little man woke up feeling much better and wanting to move. Though he was still sore and hobbling around, hobbling around was a great sign that the infection was indeed viral. They released us from the hospital at about 3:30 pm on Thursday and we were so relieved to be able to go home. When we got home Brad took Gabe into his room to put him down and Gabe just smiled and pointed to all the pictures on his wall and sighed when Brad put him into his own bed. He knew he was home and it was over.

We are so grateful that Gabe's condition was only viral and not bacterial and that we sought medical attention quickly. When I took Gabe to see his doctor on Friday to get the final result from the aspiration he told me that we were lucky we had acted so quickly. He told me that had we let it go, Gabe could have ended up permanently crippled or worse lost his leg. I am so thankful for the gift of mother’s intuition and for wonderful family who stayed with us at the hospital, brought dinners, gifts and visited us during this tough time. We couldn't have made it through without the love, support, prayers, Gabe's blankie (Thanks Aunty Cerena) and bunny. Most of all I am so grateful to be the mother of such a wonderful little boy who was such an incredible trooper the whole time he was in the hospital. He really is our sunshine.

In his room sleeping after a long night and the aspiration

My poor little man

He did not like having his hand all strapped up. Thankfully he left it alone for the most part. He poked at it a few times when he woke up and was groggy.

The red toe- He didn't like the nurses touching his feet either.

I love my Daddy! Notice what Brad is sitting on- That was our bed for the hour we slept that morning. Cozy!


Brad took this photo the night we got home from the hospital. Notice how happy he was to be home! Thanks Nana Sandy for the cute Jammies!