Help Daddy, Help

Okay these two words when spoken by a toddler who needs a hand getting off the floor or walking across some balance beam is cute and puts a smile in your heart. But when spoken by a toddler who is screaming for true help to stop a painful thing happening to her just makes you cry. Especially when it's something you have to let her experience.

For over a week or so I've noticed a strange rash on Makenna's left arm in the crook of it. Then all of a sudden I've noticed it on her left leg. At first I thought it was a heat rash of sorts. When it started to get darker I got concerned. I took her to the doctor's on Monday who said that it may be some sort of allergy or it may be some sort of viral infection that is manifesting in this rash.

I kept an eye on it all week and bought and used the Hydrocortisone cream as recommended. She had a fever a few times through the week and then today we woke up and she had the rash all up her back. I called the doctor again and after a stressful visit he asked us to go to the hospital to have blood drawn for a CBC count along with a few other tests.

It was very hard to get Makenna calm enough to get through the exam with the doctor (as it was on Monday,) but now at the hospital and having them trying to get her to calm down enough to get blood drawn was down right horrific.

It seems that they could not get a vein to draw blood from and it didn't help that she was squirming all over the place even with a few people holding her down. They tried on both arms and eventually after 15 minutes or so were able to get some blood drawn. I was already in tears by that point.

She had been screaming, "Help daddy, help daddy," repeatedly. It just tore me up as it did Chris, who was one of the people trying to hold her down. Then she'd say, "outside," and "I think we're done." We tried talking to her about different things and even said we'd go to get ice cream after. She didn't care and she just wanted to be done.

When we finally got her home, she went straight to a nap, not surprisingly. We both said how we sincerely hoped that we wouldn't have to go through that again for many years to come--until she could understand. Well, that hope was short lived. The hospital called about a half hour after we were home to say that we'd have to come down and have her give some more as the blood for the CBC clotted and they couldn't get an accurate reading. We both cringed but said we'd be down after she woke up from her nap. At least this time they pin-pricked her finger and got what they needed. She still screamed and put up a fuss but it wasn't as bad. They also gave her a $10 Target gift card for having to do this again which I thought was nice and will go towards some toy.

After, we headed off to Sam's Club as Makenna kept asking for "Steak and sauce" for dinner. We realized once we got home and she was whining incessantly for food, that she hadn't eaten all day. She had been offered food various times but always refused so it was no surprise that she literally wolfed down steak. She still said no to ice cream though...she must be sick!

Well, the bad news continues as we have to go back yet again tomorrow to repeat the test as her CBC was low - something like 64,000 and I thought the doctor said it should be over 124,000. Chris heard over 200,000. Not to mention that the rash seemed to spread up to her scalp and her face a bit. That could be because of the straining and crying she was doing. The doctor said it was like little blood vessels are bursting and that's the spotting we're seeing. So it wouldn't be surprising if we saw more of it with all she'd been through today.

All I know is that we have said some prayers, had a blessing for her and will hope that whatever this viral infection is, goes away and that it's not anything more serious than that. I do find it a bit coincidental that this time last year in England, we were going through an illness with her. Of course, she was sick a lot in England but it seems like July may be a bad month for Makenna if this trend continues.