From Joy to Terror

Well Sunday afternoon Nov 16, 2008 we were enjoying a nice lunch and Olivia began to feed herself a slice of watermelon. We were overjoyed that she was able to do so, i took a short video and some pictures, the day was going too well maybe.

That same night we put Olivia to bed only for her to wake up a few hours later crying hysterically. In the dark we could not see what was wrong, therefore we brought her downstairs. Quickly we realized that she was burning up again with fever and non responsive, she was lying limp on the kitchen counter while my husband in a panic called for help from family. Within minutes that they arrived Olivia was still in and out of conciousness, so we decided to call 911. The ambulance was here within minutes we explained what had happened and withing seconds she was in the ambulance and off to the Children's. You figure we arrive by ambulance they will see us quickly, well we passed through triage quickly and saw a nurse and then waited 3 hours to see a doctor whom i had to ask to do blood tests. She told me "it is not in our protocol to run bloods for a febrile seizure". We insisted and they finally did it, by this time it is 4am and we still have no news, they come back tell us she may have a virus keep an eye on the fever and see her pediatrician in a few days. As for the febrile seizures, very common and explained what to do. Easy to explain when it is not happening to your child.

By 7am they released us and told us to keep giving here Tylenol, on the way home Olivia was burning up again and just as we reached the house she began to seize again. We took her out of the car and quickly did what we were told and it stopped quickly, gave her Tylenol and the fever went down.

At 1230pm we got the scare of our lives, she was in her highchair eating some soup when it began again, but this time was worse she turned blue in the face almost instantly. In a panic we dialed 911 again and they rushed her to Cite de la Sante. Within 20 minutes Olivia had an IV running, they had taken blood and urine sample and prepared to have her admitted. We could not believe how fast and how amazing there service and attention was. Within 3 hrs she was in her room and they were trying to control the fevers, she had another seizure like the one at home at 6pm on Monday night and that was the last one (THANK GOD).

They ran a battery of tests for everything that they could think of, meanwhile placed on another medication to stop the seizures seemed to be working. Her fevers were quite consistent every 4 to 6 hrs. By Wednesday Nov 19 the fevers had diminished and Olivia was starting to look like herself again.

We were happy that all of the tests returned negative and therefore all it was was a virus, she was able for the first time in her life to fight something off on her own without being on antibiotics for the next month.

She is finally home where she belongs and back to herself, she is still progressing despite the set back this week and we are very happy for that.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

Yeah Olivia had Fever.......

Most of you will think I am crazy for being happy that she had fever, but anyone who knows OLivia well enough know that she NEVER EVER got fever with her ear infections. She has been on antibiotics since October 9, 2008 for an ear infection and never once did she have a slight fever.

Olivia's treatments were done on Oct 26, 2008 and since then she has had a few series of slight fevers, we've taken her to the doctor and he informed us that the fever fought off the infection, so NO ANTIBIOTICS. We definately feel that this is no coincidence and that something good is coming from these treatments. Her immune system is rebuilding stronger, more capable of fighting off infections.

Will keep you posted!!!

We are back.....

Well we are happy to announce that Olivia received her treatments on October 26, 2008. We worked very hard to raise enough money for this and thank you all for giving Olivia this opportunity.

The treatment went really well and she handled it like any child would (kicking and screaming) but we managed to get through it. We noticed about 3 hours after the treatment that Olivia was able to hold her bottle to her mouth with both hands (something she was not able to do).

We are very hopeful that only good will come out of this and wish to return in 6 months for another round.

We made a vacation out it and spent 1 week in the DR, where the weather was unbearably hot. Olivia enjoyed the pool for a day or two and them began to have fever by wednesday night. By 3 am she had spiked a fever of 40 and began to have febrile seizures, which were terrifying for us. We were very grateful for friends who were on the same trip that helped us tremendously that night, we will forever be thankful to both of you. A doctor came to visit Olivia at the hotel and thought that it may be an ear infection, but we feel it was more a Sun Stroke. The situation was very scary being in another country but thankfully it all went well. We spent the rest of our vaction taking turns staying indoors with Olivia.

We are home and see some little changes in her which makes us very hopeful. We will see within the next few months what progress she will make.

Franca, Luigi & Olivia