Bacteremia: The presence of live bacteria in the bloodstream

Bacteremia....that is the latest diagnosis of my little G-Man. This kid can't catch a break. Let's take it back to day one........

Gavin was born on November 17, 2008. What a glorious day for us! It was so exciting welcoming our second son into the world. November 17th is also my Mom's birthday....so what a wonderful birthday present she received. Gavin was an easy delivery. Three pushes and he was placed in my arms. He looked (and still does) just like Landry's twin. He was healthy....great weight, eating good. 36 hours after he was born, we were headed home to Wylie. My doctor said that was the shortest hospital stay he had seen in a while.

The first time I took Gavin to the pediatrician (a couple days later) they took his bilirubin count. It was a little high. So, they instructed us to come back the next day. It was obvious he had a little bit of jaundice. He was a slight shade of yellow/orange, but nothing too bad. The next day we checked the count again. It had gone up. Once again....we were instructed to come back the next day. The next day was the same result....even higher than the day before. This time we were placed in the hospital to get help from the "baby tanning bed." It seemed to work. The next day they discharged us and his counts were lower. But, we needed to re-check again the following day. You guessed it, they were back up. This LITERALLY went on for 6 weeks. They diagnosed Gavin with breast milk jaundice (breast milk jaundice is long-term jaundice in an otherwise healthy, breast-fed baby. It develops after the first week of life and continues up to the sixth week of life.) Basically there was an enzyme in my breast milk that did not agree with Gavin's digestive system. It finally evened out, but it took 6 weeks. He had blood drawn nearly every day or every other day for the first 6 weeks of his life!

The next two weeks of his life were great. We were enjoying our lovely, not-so-yellow-anymore newborn. But, things turned at 8 weeks old. We noticed Gavin was having a lot of wheezing and congestion. Took him into the doctor again. They did multiple test and conclusion was he had RSV (Respiratory syncytial virus: A virus that causes mild respiratory infections, colds, and coughs in adults, but can produce severe respiratory problems, including bronchitis and pneumonia in young children.) His oxygen levels were very low, so once again we were visiting Children's Medical. He was admitted for 3 days. Hooked up to oxygen and receiving treatment. After those very long 3 days....we were sent home. My poor baby.....8 weeks of life spent in and out of the hospital.

***Now- let me pause right here. Even though it was a very difficult time for us, we were still VERY thankful for his health. Sure, he was sick. But, it was something that they could fix. He was just so young...they had to watch over him carefully. Kyle and I remember praising God at the hospital for the health of Gavin. We saw some other kids on the same floor dealing with life threatening diseases....cancer, etc. So, although we were concerned...we were also thankful!****

Spring, Summer, and Fall rolled around! GREAT times. Gavin was very active and energetic. Rowdy beyond belief. He gets into EVERYTHING!!!! He is such an incredibly happy kid.

Winter struck! Kyle and I noticed Gavin's breathing was struggling again. He was running fever and wheezing like crazy. So- into the doctor we went. Once again, for the second time...Gavin had RSV (along with a double ear infection and strep throat.) This time it (the RSV) wasn't as serious. He was older and able to fight it better. So- thank God no hospital stay. But, we were sent home with a breathing machine. Treatments every 3 hours....and antibiotics for 10 days. Wow....Merry Christmas little buddy! :( But, after the treatments we were recovering. Things were looking up.

And here we are in the present......on Tuesday Gavin woke up with 104.5 temperature. I pretty much freaked. He was blistering hot. Hello doctor....aren't you tired of us yet? They checked his ears and discovered not only did he have a double ear infection, but the right eardrum had ruptured. They had to clean it up. Sent us home with antibiotics and told us to come back in 2 days if his fever had not gone away. So- we went about our business taking care of the little guy. His fever never went down. Come Friday he was still sitting at a 103.2 (and it had been that way all week.) So, I took him back in. They checked his ears AGAIN! The ear infection had actually cleared up nicely. But, based on the symptoms he was still having (INCREDIBLY cranky, not sleeping, high fever, and not eating) they wanted to run a few extra tests. Checked for the flu...negative. Checked for strep...negative. So, they drew some blood.....to check on the white blood cell count. The doctor came in the room very alarmed. His blood count was sky high. They believed it was an infection in his blood. This is called Bacteremia. (What in the world.....why does my baby get the weirdest stuff.....breast milk jaundice....bateremia....etc) They decided to kick start the antibiotics with a HUGE shot of Rocephin. This made me break. I am bawling in the doctor's office because I can't stand seeing my baby suffer and hurt. Two nurses had to come in and give him the shot at the same time (one in each thigh.) So- guess what Mommas job was....holding him down to the table. Literally they made me lay across him. They told me the shot would hurt....bad! It was a very thick, powerful liquid. So- here I am laying on my child...they are sticking him....and Gavin is looking at me straight in the eyes screaming "MOMMA-MOMMA-MOMMA!" I crumpled. The doctor instructed us to come back in exactly 24 hours. They were going to need to check his blood count again. This is where the scary part kicks in. If his count had gone up any........they were going to need to test for "more serious" problems. The scary part was...they wouldn't tell me what these "more serious" problems could be. But, having the little medical knowledge I do....I know that white blood cells a lot of times deal with diseases such as cancer and so forth. Kyle and I were beyond worried. When you have 24 hours to wait and see if your child's blood is in a "dangerous" zone.....your mind races. We could barely eat, sleep, think! Gavin just wants to be held. All he does all day is cry, scream, and wants to lay on your chest. It is tiring...but we could care less. We devoted every minute we had to hold him. The time had come to take him in. Saturday morning Dr Katz meet us at his office. He took his blood....and PRAISE GOD....his levels were back in a normal range. The Rocephin took over and started killing the bacteria. Not completely....but enough to diagnose him with just a bad blood infection. Dr Katz said there were so many ways he could have contracted this. He wasn't worried about his fever. Told us he could run a fever for 5-6 days. He prescribed him a different antibiotic. Told me to make sure Gavin drank enough liquid....but wasn't worried about the fact that he wasn't eating.

Yesterday was hard. Gavin seemed to be in SO MUCH pain. He cried all day.....hardly got any sleep.....and once again didn't eat. Good news is he is drinking like a champ. Milk, juice, water, Pedisure, whatever. If it is in his sippie....he drinks it! My parents came over to bring us dinner. Gavin reached out right for my Mom when she walked in. He laid on her the whole time they were here. They are birthday buddies and he is always so comfortable with her.

Thank you for all the prayers, well wishes, and thoughts. A HUGE THANK YOU to Susie and Paul for having Landry the past 2 nights. It was such a big help to be able to focus on Gavin. We appreciate it! Good news...Gavin slept 14 hours last night. He woke up twice, but it was easy to rock him back to sleep. I think he is exhausted. It will take a few days for him to catch up on that. But, hopefully the little guy will start feeling better real soon!

WE LOVE YOU GAVIN!!!!!!!!