Poor little Amelia had a rough few weeks, where the bumps, bonks, bruises & sickness seemed never ending:(
January-February 2010
It all started with this crazy, rare, FREAK outbreak of a disease called HSP (Henoch-Schonlein purpura)... google it!
*PHOTO @ the dr's- This picture does not even show how bad, sad & scary it really looked, but can you see how swollen her little knees are & the awful bruises? I have to describe how fast her legs went from normal to THIS...
One night while we were swimming at a hotel close by our home, we began to notice these red, welting, hive areas on her legs, like a really bad rash. I was concerned a little, until after only about 5 minutes, her knees began to swell & the red welted areas began to turn into into bruises! Right before my eyes the bruises were getting bigger and more swollen. It looked as though she was just bleeding under the skin, more every second!? Like some flesh eating disease? THAT's when I panicked... Steven gave her a priesthood blessing & we began to rush her to the nearest ER. At this point, Milly was not acting like she was in any pain at all, and she was calm & breathing just fine, which really confused me. Well, we must have been led by the spirit, because we decided to take her to Wee Care instead. Once we got inside Milly began Screaming because her legs had gotten so swollen and bruised and red painful. We walked right back to the only doctor that night & he knew exactly what it was! Crazy enough, he said most dr's will never see this in their practice because less than 1% of children will ever get it, but he had seen 6 in the last few mos. It was HSP- a type of vasculitis (inflamation of blood vessels), which occurs about 14 days after a cold virus. She fit every symptom. It is like getting instant arthritis. Poor Mimi's couldn't even walk, and all they could do for her is give her Motrin:( She was SUCH a trooper. Big sister was so nice & helpful- I think just mainly glad it wasn't her, she doesn't like "bleed".
NEXT DAY- still so bruised but the redness & swelling have gone down: The poor little things legs looked like they could be straight out of a medical journal.
Day 3- bruises are starting to fade... but took about a week to completely go away.
BONKS ON THE HEAD:We thought those bruises on her legs were bad, well the owey's went from bad to worse the week we got the new trundle beds! They were just TOO TEMPTING to jump on! We tried to warn her, but once she has her mind set on something, there 'aint much stoppin' her... The first bonk was a HUGE goose egg on the fourhead:( We had some friends over, and one of them about threw up when they saw it happen. I was surprised it did not split. (no photo of that one... yet ) Well, just as the first began to heal, a SECOND disaster from a heavy metal door on her fourhead right next to the first- but this one DID split. (then the camera had to come out!) OUCH!!!
Oh man... then to top it all off, just as her battle wounds begin to heal, (you can see the 2nd split bonk disappearing) the little monkey and her sister were jumping on the bed & Mills landed face first on the floor off the bed! Can you see the bruise on her cheek? OUCH!!!
THEN... one last sad story to end our drama-
our 911 call:
One night when Steve was out of town Milly woke up with a croupy cough. Usually when she wakes up with this, I can calm the cough & get her back to sleep. Well, on this particular night, she began crying, which made her croupy cough get worse & worse. Her little airway got more restricted the more she cried. Well, this is not the first time this has happened, but in the past Steve has been there to help me & we give her a blessing & we rush her to Wee Care for a breathing treatment (which they won't let me do at home). So, within a matter of seconds, her breathing is so restricted that Milly is grabbing onto me, panicking, & trying to gasp for air. I felt I had no other choice than to call 911, because there was no way I could take her, AND Rylee to the hospital under these conditions. 911 was on there way, and sweet Rylee Jo woke up & was such a good big sister- she grabbed shoes, blanky's and anything else she thought her sister might need. I think Rylee was told by the spirit to say this, because she immediately told me "I think you should take her outside". Which was exactly what I needed to do, so I waited for the ambulance to get there outside. By the time they got there Milly was at least getting enough air to cry, which was a big improvement. She was scared to death of all the firemen, medics & police officers in our house, and Rylee kept trying to distract her & hug her, it was so sweet. Well they gave her some oxygen & saline mist & her breathing had calmed down tons & she had stopped crying finally (with the help of big sister). So, at this point I had to make the decision to go by ambulance & take her to the ER, which in my head I'm thinking of the HUGE bill this would all rack up as well as the hours we would spend at the ER doing every horrible test on her, when all she needs is the steroid nebulizer treatment at Wee Care they always do. Well, I felt so stupid as I went against medical advice & turned down the help, & I knew I'd feel even worse if something went wrong. So the whole parade of emergency vehicles left, and Ry & I packed up scared little Mills in the car, rolled down the window & drove her ourselves. Which I was so glad I did, because by the time we got there her croup was completely gone & we were able to get one little pill and head right back home 15 minutes later & go back to bed!
SHEESH! It was a rough few weeks for this little sweetheart of ours, but we learned lots, & now Amelia is "TOUGH AS NAILS"!!!
