Miri's procedure, Part IV

This post isn't actually another step in the procedure. In fact, it would probably be more accurate to call it another update of Part III. But a four-hour trip to the ER deserves its own Roman numeral, don't you agree?

Remember Miri's temperature of 104.6? I thought we had reached the upper limit of her fever at that point. However, the following early morning (Saturday at 3 a.m.), she woke up again with a high fever. Our thermometer read 105. We called the ophthalmologist who asked if she showed any signs of seizing. We told him she wasn't. We gave her more ibuprofen, a sponge bath and finally a full-body lukewarm bath. That brought her temp down to somewhere around 101. We put her back to bed.

The next morning, she acted better and felt less fevered. She had her usual morning nap, and when she woke up, Seth retrieved her from the crib. She felt horrendously warm again, so we checked her temp and immediately packed up the kids, dropped the big girls off at Grandma Susan's house and rushed to the ER. Miri's temperature was 106.

Considering our last ER experience, I figured we were in for a long wait. But after we told the receptionist what Miri's temperature was, we went almost straight to triage and then back to see a nurse and the doctor. The Motrin they gave her brought her temperature down, but the doctor was (rightly) concerned with the height of her fever and number of times it had spiked in the last couple of days. He ordered a chest x-ray, a blood test and a blood culture.

The nurse and I hold Miri still on the bed while another nurse takes an x-ray.

When the results came back, the doctor was confident that Miriam did not have meningitis, which was the worst-case scenario. He and our ophthalmologist agreed that the fever had probably been caused by an infection that had been already present and "stirred up" during the surgery. (Which makes sense since we had to postpone the surgery in the first place due to Miri's sickness.)

The doctor ordered IV antibiotics, and 45 minutes later, we finally left the hospital.

Seth holding Miriam while she checks out her IV.

Gratefully, we all slept through the night last night. And although Miriam still had a fever of 100.5 this morning, the acetaminophen brought it down and and she started acting like her cute self. We'll keep praying for her, but we really think (and hope) that the worst of this is behind us.