As you all know, I keep a spreadsheet of Dominic’s health – including his sleep times, behavior, any changes in supplements, his skin, and his stools. Doctors LOVE this spreadsheet because its extremely specific, and we can track things very well. I’ve been so glad lately that we keep track of this because it shows his tummy’s been really distressed now for a few weeks.
Dominic’s first symptom of H1N1 was diarrhea Monday October 21st after school. Tuesday morning he’d spiked a fever and we kept him home. He had a fever and diarrhea Tuesday and Wednesday, and it broke late Wednesday night. Thursday he still had diarrhea so we kept him home, and Friday he didn’t have school or Alpine due to their schedules so he had more rest. He developed a dry cough about this time. The diarrhea was for that week yellow with undigested food (so all bile), and he was not holding food in for more than a half an hour at best. It continued like that the week of October 26, but as the week progessed, it started changing color to the expected brown, and there was less undigested food. His behavior and energy level were normal all week and he was in school all week. Saturday, Halloween, he seemed to tire early, and so we skipped trick or treating and he was in bed asleep by 7. Saturday his dry cough started to sound a little wet. Sunday afternoon he was a bit lethargic, and had a fever of 102. Sunday evening, he crashed hard and was ready for bed by 6. His diarrhea started turning grayish and there was undigested food again. Monday morning, no temp, so we sent him to school. They called at 10 to tell me he’d been a little lethargic, so they took his temperature and it was 103.8 (they were really surprised because he didn’t seem “THAT Lethargic”. I went to get him and he spent the rest of Monday asleep on the couch, outside the time when we went to the doctor to make sure that we were still just dealing with something viral. We are – and his lungs sound clear. She prescribed rest and fluids. Monday evening, he threw up. His appetite had almost disappeared at this point. All day Monday, I couldn’t get his temperature under 102 with medication, so after dinner, I made his bath lukewarm and that broke his fever. He went to bed running 98.4. he was 99 at 10pm but woke up at midnight at 102 again, so we medicated. Tuesday morning, he was under 101, so we didn’t medicate, and his temp ended up breaking without medication by Tuesday afternoon. We kept him home from both school and Alpine all day Tuesday and school Wednesday. He did go to Alpine yesterday afternoon. Their report was that he was very quiet and distracted. We came home from Alpine and he had diarrhea 4 times in an hour (we figured he’d been holding it at Alpine). For us yesterday, he was a gigglebox, which is a sign of yeast. So I gave him a double dose of activated Charcoal after school (which should’ve stopped the diarrhea. It didn’t)We went to Occupational therapy, and he did really well. He woke up this morning and is still having diarrhea, which is now black from the charcoal. Fun. At least the giggles stopped. His appetite is still really low, and we’re trying to focus on gentle gut things like broth and bananas and rice.
Over the course of the past 3 weeks of this, I’ve been in regular contact with our nurse at Dr. Kucera’s office, Jessica. I talked to her again this morning. We are clearly behind in our “plan” – by this point we should’ve done a stool test and started OSR. Well, she agrees with me that we need to hold off on the OSR until his tummy heals up and we get the yeast more under control. And that it’s a waste of money ($300 test) to do the stool test when he’s in the middle of a viral induced diarrhea flare. I was supposed to go in and just talk w/Dr Kucera about test results without Dominic on 11-19 but at this point, he may need to be seen, so that may morph into a different appointment, we’ll decide next week. We’ll just wait a while for the OSR.
We do have our yearly followup appointment with the neurologist now on the calendar. I remembered that last year it took 2 months to get the appointment, so I called today and our appointment is mid January. Right at a year from when we saw him last. That should be interesting, since the one thing he suggested to us, IVIG, our then pediatrician was supposed to call us back about after speaking to the neurologist, and never did. We no longer see that pediatrician.
The big question is still, will this double round of high fevers cause any regression. Right now, in the thick of the gut stuff it seems like it has to Rod and I, but truthfully, its probably too early to tell. He’s still doing the labeling of his favorite night time book – albeit a bit slower, but everything is harder for him while he’s actually sick. He’s still doing the good night routine with us. He is more irritable and distracted, but that can be explained by his sore tummy (sore tummies make EVERYONE more irritable and distracted). We’re working hard to make sure we’re expecting him to label things and use his words, and hopefully when we get through the sore tummy stuff, it’ll be without regression.
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