Update Number One

Hello All - It is Allie. Thank you so very much for your well wishes and prayers. It is pretty incredible how supportive the blogging community is and how comforting it is knowing that you have people to lean on.

Things are going well. Masyn will be in the hospital for a minimum of another two days. Her little body is finally starting to react to the antibiotics that are being supplemented via an IV. Her fevers are now about 6 hours apart with thankfully no seizures accompanying the spikes in temperature. Until she can go a full 48 hours without a fever, she will continue to make camp in our fabulous little private room. Yes .... we were given a private room this morning. Paul and I thought that it was due to her excessive screeching and screaming performance for four and a half hours last night, however it is due to the nice congested cough and sneezing of snot streams that have landed her into an isolated private room. It is reassuring that we do not have the added stress of trying to settle Masyn down in fears that we are pissing the neighbours off. The mom of the other child complained last night about Masyn in a nice manner about how Masyn should have had a private room from the get go seeing as she is "so young and unpredictable in temperament".

The cultures have come back and it has been confirmed that Masyn does indeed have a Urinary Tract Infection (aka Bladder Infection) as well as a Kidney infection. She had an ultrasound done this afternoon to look for any abnormalities that may be present, such as one kidney instead of two and other things. We will find out the results from that ultrasound tomorrow morning with our daily morning consultation with the pediatrician. I do know though that Masyn does indeed possess two kidneys as this ultrasound not so guru could clearly see that. (Jenn - oh how I wish that you were our tech in hopes that you could share a little info that I know that you aren't technically allowed to do).

Today she has had cultures taken on her diarrhea (oh what a fun job that is to be a nurse to do that collection) and all of the snot that we have been extracting out via a nice little suction ball. These collections have been taken to ensure that all of the bases are being covered to determine how exactly her kidney infection developed. She will have to undergo another test a couple of weeks down the road that will involve a dye being injected via a catheter into her urinary tract then x-rays get taken to watch the dye travel up to her kidneys. The doctors will be specifically looking to see if there are any leaks present or blockage that may cause the urine to travel back into the kidneys, hence infecting them. That test can only be done once the doctors are certain that all traces of the infection is done, and to help ensure that she will continue to be on antibiotics up until we get those test results done.

So ... it seems like a bit of a long road ahead of us to get Masyn healthy but I am so thankful that we were able to catch the illness before is got too serious. We are so truly blessed to live in a city that has such an incredible facility dedicated to children and focusing on getting our loved ones better. The Alberta Children's Hospital is a world class facility and we have had nothing short of fabulous care here. Aside from the hospital, the most important thing that has happened to Masyn is the fact that I listened to my mommy instincts. If I had ignored that nagging, persistent doubt and passed it off as being neurotic, things could be a lot worse for Masyn. It is so important as a Mommy that we trust our inner voice for it truly does know best. We know our children inside and out and our Mommy instincts will rarely ever steer us down the wrong path.

I must sign off now but not before saying a couple more things. Stephanie: You truly don't know how many times I thought of you and your family over the past couple of days. I thought about how incredibly strong and resilient your family is with what you guys have experienced with your son's seizures. When it was confirmed that Masyn was indeed experiencing seizures - ferebral convulsions, I wanted to email you right away to tap into any knowledge that you may have. I still plan on doing so as I have been informed that Masyn will likely experience this again should she have spiking fevers. Thank you for sharing your story with all of us and it gives strength to others. Jenn: Can you do Masyn's next test? Okay, I am joking but today, I was wishing that you were the one that was doing her ultrasound. Your passion for your job is a gift because there are so many people out there that either don't have the courage to pursue their passion or won't take the risk of pursing their passion and settle for just a job.

And most importantly, thanks, love and so much more go to you Christie. Having you drop everything and fly over to be with my family is beyond words. I have sat here for over 10 minutes now trying to put into words how I feel and nothing seems to do justice to how I am feeling. Knowing that Kaelen is being well loved and having adventures with you every day, cuddles every night and giggles all day long while Mommy and Daddy focus on getting Masyn better is comforting, humbling, inspiring and so much more. Thank you, thank you and thank you.