Mr. Happy Sick Boy

Mr. Happy Sick Boy

Mica Pretty Sick-Looking like the Incredible Hulk.

• I remember one day out of my life very clearly, I got a call at work from my parents telling me that they were taking Mica into the doctor because he was fussy, and his neck had a bump on the side that was getting bigger fast!
• I had to give the ok to have them treat him without me being there. He was almost 7 months at the time. His white blood cell count was sky rocketed, he had a fever, and a hurt cry. I went to meet them after Grandma Spiehs told me that I needed to be there. They couldn't find a bed for him in the leading hospital for children because RSV patients were taking over the beds.
• No one knew what was wrong. The first doctor was going to take him into surgery to remove the core in his neck, but he soon decided that he didn't want to do that. Most of the mass on his neck was from swelling.
• We had nothing to joke about, but the only thing we could say to make light of the situation was by calling Mica, "Mica the Incredible Hulk".
• It was a few days of waiting, and not knowing what was wrong. Antibiotics worked, then they took a turn and didn't work.
• He had his Pediatrician, an Ears Nose Throat doctor, a floor doctor, residents and an Infectious Disease doctor on his case. We got asked many questions.
• Mica had at CT scan when he went into the hospital, and another to withdrawal fluid to see what was causing him to get so sick.
• It was a Staph Infection.
• He went home on oral antibiotics. He had to go back to the hosptital after throwing up and not keeping his meds down. We found out he had Rhoda Virus, which they now have an a imunization for. Mica went home with a perifrial IV when they were unsuccessful getting a Pick Line IV in, and we gave him home IV antibiotics.
• Later he had a reaction to Penacilin, so we had to switch his antibiotics.
• Through time he got better, we had a lot of follow up appointments.
• The thought was that he got staph through his ear infection that were on the same side of each other.
• What to expect with a sick baby: Lots of counting with their diapers. They actually weigh the diapers in the hospital. Nursing was so hard! Remember his neck had the infection. Plus there were wires attacked to him everwhere it seemed. I had to get creative and nurse him sitting up. He had this sick cry that melted my heart, but then would turn around and play when it seemed like he was too sick to play.