Lillian had a very bad fever all weekend , 27th and the 28th of March.  It was not getting better. We were giving her Nurofen and it was not making a difference, you are supposed to give Nurofen every 6-8 hours. However she seemed to want and need more every 2-3 hours. So I hugged her and consoled her and she slept, however she was burning up and just so hot and not herself. During this period she did not eat and was off her food completely.

As it was not getting better I decided to go the hospital on the Sunday after lunch. I thought that they would say she was teething and that she was o.k. and to go home and to give her more painkillers and just do what we were doing.  When I got to the hospital, mentioned to the nurse that she has been like this all weekend, off her food and just all over the place.

We then waited to see the triage nurse. The triage nurse took Lillian’s temperature and it was 39.7, at home it was 39.5 and that is what made me take her to Katoomba Hospital. They then gave Lillian panadol and we went back to the waiting room to wait to see the doctor. We waited for hours, afternoon turned into evening and then finally we went to a room to wait for the doctor.

We saw a nurse before we saw the doctor and even then the doctor took hours and hours, so it was about 10pm before we saw the doctor. The nurse took Lillian’s temperature again and it was still in the 39 degree area. It was not going down. At 8pm we were given Nurofen and the nurse decided to put a bag on Lillian to capture her urine to see if it would show why she is so ill.

I explained that  months back that their paediatrician wanted to collect urine and we had no luck. He thought they were under weight and said that they were in the bottom third percentile (all based on the graph in the blue book), I did not see an issue and they were hitting all their milestones and doing things that some singletons are not doing. However everyone develops at different rates and I was not concerned. This doctor thought that as they were underweight there might be a reason for it, like a food intolerance or having CF, but glad that the girls don’t have a food intolerance or CF.

 So mentioned to the nurse that if we were to get any urine that I would like to make sure that she is o.k. as we were not successful in the past to get any. She agreed that it would be good to check. 10pm came and the doctor came in to look at Lillian. I was so tired and just wanted to fall asleep, however Lillian was active and playing with all the toys in the room.

The doctor found that the throat, ears were o.k., however the left one was a little red. He could not tell if that was just due to the fever or if it was an infection. Then was telling me that it was all viral or the beginning of a middle ear infection and if Lillian had a fever on Tuesday to come back. He also mentioned that we might need antibiotics. I asked if he could prescribe these now and if we needed them I could then go to the chemist to fill it but he would not. I told him that I have another baby at home and it is difficult and especially if they are sick to have to go to doctors to get a prescription when I get one now. So he concluded that she might have gotten through the worst and it is just a virile thing and it will past, if it is the ear infection just come back and get the prescription from him. So we were going home. Doctor left and we were packing up.

I thought that if we were off home it might pay to do all the terrible things that will disturb Lillian at the hospital so that we can just go to bed when we get home.  I was changing her nappy and noticed that we had been lucky to collect urine in the bag that the nurse had attached earlier in the night. The doctor told me to throw it in the bin and not to worry about it. I wanted to have it tested as we had it and thought it might help on making her better. The nurse took the urine and did the PH test. It came back saying that it was high in nitrates and in white blood cells.

We were not going anywhere, they now needed to get blood to check if there was a high amount of white blood cells there as well. This was pointing to a Urinary Tract Infection. This is dangerous if left untreated. Can cause kidney damage and make children/babies go off their food and have high fevers.

Lillian had to have the pads put on her where they wanted to take blood as it numbs the area and makes it easier to take blood. As she is a strong little girl it took 2 nurses, a doctor and me to hold her down to get blood. The doctor was taking ages to get blood and tried in one arm and it was just terrible to watch and see Lillian scream.  Since they noticed the veins on the left hand on the back were good,  they decided to put a canella in the back of her left hand in case the blood came back with the same type of results as the urine. 

Blood turned out have a very high count of white blood cells so Lillian was given a room in the children’s ward. She was hooked up to a drip to get fluids and to have antibiotics given intravenously. It was hard, she wanted to go walking everywhere, but she could not as she was hooked up to the drip. Every time anyone came in the room to even just check temperature or anything else she would scream.

I had to wait while she settled in and then had to leave as I could not contact James my husband.  As I had Julia at home, I was not sure if James needed to go to work on Monday or if I needed to come back and get her and take her with me to the hospital. They mentioned that she could stay with me there as well. James was lucky that he could take some time off work and he looked after Julia. However as a contractor if you don’t go to work, you don’t get paid. But it was important that he was there and that was the priority.

I went back to the hospital and Lillian did not know that I was gone, she was so tried.  I spent the next 3 nights with her and only missed a couple of hours.  Julia was pinning for her sister while she was in hospital. She kept on walking around the house yelling “sister”, and she looked lost. When she came to visit us at the hospital she hugged and kissed Lillian and this has never happened before. However they have never been apart until now. So they obviously felt lost and lonely alone.

It is just so interesting to see the connection between the girls. Twins really do share a connection that I can never understand, and it is very special. Near the end they took her off the drip and let her walk around the ward. This was good but could have turned out to be a disaster. Lillian nearly walked in on a birth. The doctors were putting on their gowns and she was off running and talking. I just grabbed her and walked away very fast before they could ask me who I was and why I was there.

Lillian took to the play area like a fish to water. When you are stuck in a room without toys you can understand the joy it gave to her. She saw some plastic balls and got the plastic golfing clubs and was batting them around the room. She enjoyed them so much that I took them back to our room.

Lillian is much better now and back to her giggly, smiley self. I am so glad that I took her to the hospital and that they gave her the antibiotics. I am even more grateful to the nurse that put the bag on to capture the urine as the doctor did not think it was necessary. I also don’t know why the ultrasound that they said they were going to do was not done. They normally check the kidneys to make sure that they have not been damaged. It would have been a quick test, however the doctor on duty said it was not needed. Also the doctor that was on duty on the day we left hosptial said that they don’t investigate a first issue with a UTI.

Again just so happy that we went to the hospital and that we had a nurse who did the right test to fix my little girl.  Thank you lovely nurse, I don’t know your name and just so happy as it could have been worse.