Mysterious Infection

It all started on Sunday night. We were at my parents house, watching the the big game while the kids ran around and played. At one point, as Trent was walking down the stairs, he tripped on the second to last step and took a small tumble. He cried for a couple minutes and had a small scrap on his knee. Nothing to worry about.

About an hour or so later, Brian noticed that Trent was acting really stiff - shoulders lifted and not turning his head. Brian called Trent over and, while holding onto his shoulders, asked Trent to turn his head from one side to the other. This caused him obvious pain and he could not turn his head more than an inch each way. Brian then told me that when Trent had fallen earlier, he noticed that he had caught himself with one hand. So, we thought that maybe he had pulled a muscle. Once we got home, we gave him some medicine, hoping that he would feel better in the morning.

The next morning Trent complained that his neck hurt, but his movements seemed much better than they had been the night before. As the day wore on, Trent became more and more stiff and said he wanted more medicine. Unfortunately, we had used the last of what we had the night before. I had Trent lie down and rest for awhile and then after picking Ashlyn up from school, we headed to the grocery store. By the time we left the store, Trent was walking extremely slow with his shoulders pulled up and he wouldn't move his head at all. Once the medicine took effect, he seemed better again. Brian and I talked about taking him to get checked, but decided to wait one more day.

I gave Trent another dose of medicine first thing Tuesday morning and he seemed to be his normal, energy-filled self. I sent him off to preschool and when I went to pick him up, he looked miserable! He was taking very slow baby steps and again looked very, very stiff. His teacher was concerned about him and said that he wouldn't turn his head at all during class. When I told her what had happened, she said that one of her sons had once broken his collar bone and had had similar symptoms.

I had to carry Trent to the car and when I put him in his car seat, I noticed that he had a fever. I called Brian right away and told him what Miss Amy had said and that we needed to take him to the doctor right away. I called our pediatrician's office to ask if they had an x-ray machine, but they said no, so we decided to take him to urgent care. I picked Ashlyn up from school, got her dressed for dance, dropped her off at Mindy's, and then met up with Brian at urgent care.

Well, our theory of a pulled muscle or broken collar bone was quickly dismissed by the nurse practitioner. Trent had a temperature of 103.4 and he said Trent's glands were enlarged and that his tonsils were red and swollen. They did a strep test which came back negative. I thought that was a good thing, but the nurse practitioner said that it was bad news, that because of his symptoms it possibly meant an infection in his spinal column or meningitis. He told us we needed to go to the hospital where they could do blood work and a lumbar puncture.

As soon as I heard the word 'meningitis' my heart sank. I didn't know exactly what that meant, but remembered hearing stories of kids dying from meningitis. I called my parents to see if they could watch Luke while we went to Jordan Valley ER. Before going to the hospital, my Dad and Brian gave Trent a blessing. I had to carry Trent to and from the car because he was in such pain.

We were put in an isolation room at the hospital and waited for the doctor. When the doctor came in, he told us what the spinal tap would involve - Trent would have to be put under a fast-acting, temporary sedative with an amnestic effect so that they wouldn't have to hold him down and then he wouldn't remember a thing. The only problem with the sedative was that there was a slight chance he could stop breathing during the procedure and they would have to bag him.

The doctor suggested that they first do another strep test, just in case the urgent care test hadn't been accurate. We were really hoping that it would come back positive, but it didn't, so we had no choice but to proceed with the spinal tap. After one blown vein, the nurse took blood samples and got Trent hooked up to an IV. This was the worst part of the entire day for Trent. He cried and cried and didn't want any part of it! After the IV was in, we noticed a large wet spot under Trent's back from him sweating so much. He really had hated that part.

After Trent was hooked up, the doctor, nurse, and a medical assistant all came in. They also had to have a respiratory therapist come in to monitor his breathing. Trent was given the sedative and it was crazy how fast it took affect. He wasn't completely knocked out, and he maintained a tight grip on my hand during the procedure. I hated seeing him that way - he was there, but he wasn't and his eyes kept shifting. He also let out a loud moan when they put the needle in his back. So, so sad.

The doctor worked really fast and it was all done in less than 20 minutes. While we waited for the results to come back, we watched Trent come out of the meds. The respiratory therapist stayed in the room the longest, just to make sure his breathing was normal. While he watched Trent, he proceeded to tell us how his nephew had gotten meningitis and had lost his hearing. Great, thanks. The doctor also came back in at one point and told us a little more about meningitis, the possible side effects, and what steps would be taken next if the test came back positive. I really started worrying at this point, thinking that I was going to have to learn sign language because Trent was going to be deaf, or worse.

Luckily, and to our great relief, the tests came back negative and all the blood work was fine, except for a slightly heightened glucose level. Trent was given a popsicle and we were given the okay to leave. Before we left, they had Trent give a urinary sample and told us to follow up with our pediatrician in a couple of days.

The doctor said that he has a viral infection, they just don't know where. We are just suppose to continue giving him medicine to treat the fever and watch to make sure he doesn't get worse. Trent was all smiles as he walked out of the hospital. He'd had a popsicle and was given three sheets of stickers, and he proudly declared that he loved hospitals. Quite the change from when we had arrived.

We are extremely grateful that everything turned out okay. I still wish I knew exactly where the infection is and why Trent was in such pain, but we'll take the unknown over a meningitis diagnosis any day.

Today Trent is acting completely normal and has full mobility of his head and neck. Other than a slight fever, he is back to himself again. And now I am stuck wondering just how much that four-hour ER visit is going to cost us.