This visit was eye-opening because all we have had so far were check-ups to monitor Kaitlin's progress. This happened when she was six-months old. At the time, Kaitlin's brother Kaleb just started Pre-K and he'd been in school for a couple of weeks.
It was a Friday night and we all were watching tv when Kaitlin started coughing, sneezing and spiked her first fever. We were told by the staff at St. Jude at all of her checkups that anytime she has a fever, to contact them. At this time, it was considered a fever if it was anything 100.4 or higher and what do you know, she had a fever of 100.5 under her arm. I called St. Jude and the nurse in the Medicine Room Clinic asked all the triage questions over the phone such as Kaitlin's symptoms, her temperature, how long had she had her fever, if she had any fever reducing medication, and if we were local. I gave her all of that information and was asked if we could bring her in. The reason that they ask us about whether we gave Kaitlin any fever reducing medicine is because it can mask the cause of the fever before they do the blood draw. I can't praise our village enough because once again, we had to drop Kaleb off at my parents' house that night and go to St. Jude.
We got to the gate and the security guard instructed us where to park. They had someone at the security desk inside to tell us where to go. We were directed to the Medicine Room which is the after hours clinic and put in an exam room. When we walked in, the room was overwhelming. It was so scary to see all of these different bottles, tubes, and needles on the table. Nic and I looked at each other like what the hell is all of this! The nurses came in and one of them ask us if we wanted to stay in the room or step out while they put the IV in. We opted to step out because we didn't want Kaitlin to sense our fear. We went to the waiting area thinking this will be something quick and easy. We literally heard our daughter screaming down the hall and it was like a knife constantly stabbing us in the heart repeatedly. It felt like her screams were on repeat in my head. It was right there in the waiting area that we vowed that we would never leave her alone to fight this battle ever again. The nurse came to the waiting area to escort us back to her room shortly after our pact. When we walked back into her room, this is when we realized that Kaitlin needed us there for support and a sense of security because she instantly relaxed when she saw us. I held her in the bed for the rest of the night.
They gave Kaitlin IV fluids, some fever reducing meds, and antibiotics. A couple of hours later, the doctor came in and gave us another tad bit of information. She stated that if Kaitlin had to come in for a sick visit about three weeks earlier, she would've had to have been admitted. She told us that we dodged hospitalization because all Sickle Cell children are admitted if they are under six month old. Nic and I were stunned. Just like the checkup visits, the sick visits take a while for all of the tests results to come back. Kaitlin was diagnosed with a virus and given amoxicillin. Amoxicillin is part of their regimen whenever they get sick with a fever just as a precaution. The virus never affected the rest of us as it was a common type of virus that our bodies can easily fight off since our immune systems are not compromised like hers. She was discharged early Saturday morning.
