Evelyn - Meningitis

Hey guys,

Today was a pretty rough day for Evee.  Early in the morning, we were scheduled for a Lumbar Puncture (LP) that didn't succeed.  They stick a needle in your spine to extract out the liquid in your spinal column; although local anesthetic is administered, they have to pin Evee down on her side in fetal position in order to try.  Since this failed, they gave Evee a break then they had to try again at noon. 

With the second LP not only were they unsuccessful at it again, they scheduled the PICC IV just before.  The PICC IV is where they stick you with a needle in your vien and feed a tube that will run all the way in close to your heart.  They are putting this in so that when we go home we can administer the anti-biotics intravienously for efficiency.  They stuck her in her upper right arm first and that one didn't work so they went up and poked her near her wrist.  After they put the IV in, they have to X-Ray her to make sure the IV is in the right place.

Just to add to the merryment, Evee also gets a rectal temperature taken every 4 hours.  Jessica thinks she now has a phobia of diaper changes because of this; she shrieks every time we change her diaper.  Finally, in the afternoon, Evee gets her third Lumbar Puncture.  The good news is they can get out a sample.  The bad news is just after the LP they find out the IV is too close to her heart so they have to pull it out a couple of centimeters.  So she's pinned down once again to adjust that.

We're now into the night and Evee's back is pretty sore from the LPs.  It's gonna be a long night but well, I think it was all worth it.  The results from the LP are now 3000 down from 12000 white blood cell count.  Which means have made a lot of progress on killing E coli in the meningis now.  Also, the PICC IV is a lot more comfortable than the shallow one she had on her left hand.

If all goes according to the books, it should be more down hill from here.  We've gotta get through tonight for Evee's back pain and hopefully a couple more days fever free.  We'll be here at least until Monday.

I will continue to send updates, but starting tomorrow, things should be a bit more mellow.  Feel free to give me a ring if you wanna say hello.

Love,

Quoc