Any Given Day

Sunday morning started out like any day - fighting to get Harper to put her clothes on, Nora to get garbage out of her mouth, all while trying to nurse Rosie and keep Scout from eating the girls' breakfast. After church we headed up to Tom's parents house for a birthday party and Harper began to complain of a headache. I told her to close her eyes and try to take a nap, but within minutes she was puking all over herself, her seat, and Tom's seat in front of her. It went on for a good five minutes, and after getting her bathed and cleaned up in Grandma and Grandpa's tub, she promptly began puking all over her clean PJ's and hair. For the next 2.5 hours she puked like clock work every 20 minutes until around 7:30pm she started having bloody diarrhea.

We were warned when the girls were diagnosed that a stomach flu in these girls could very quickly turn very dangerous - I realized we were at that point and paged her doctor. An hour later we were checking in to Mary Bridge emergency room. Harper was pale as a ghost and couldn't even sit herself up. She was continuing to convulse and puke up white foam on a regular basis, and was even more upset at the thought of a "poke" (IV). I quickly promised her a unicorn pillow pet, something she has asked for every time we step foot inside Fred Meyer. It cheered her up a bit, but needles are far from her favorite thing. Thankfully these guys really know what they're doing and the IV was in before she even knew it. Her tears quickly turned to surprised interest in "all the blood" coming out of her, and an hour later after a dose of zofran (anti-nausea) and a bag of IV fluids, she was laughing at Enchanted. Tom slipped away to feed the animals and made a stop at Fred Meyer and came back with the magical unicorn - needless to say Harper was EXTREMELY excited. "Daddy, it's what I ALWAYS, ALWAYS WANTED," repeated approximately 30 times in the next 2 minutes.

Harper's blood work showed a high white blood cell count, but normal inflammatory markers. Thankfully it was just a stomach flu and for now it looks like it didn't affect her Crohn's. It was a very scary reminder of how quickly things can get bad for these girls. On any given day, no matter how good they feel when they wake up, we could be rushing them to the ER by the afternoon. This summer we will be walking in the Seattle "Take Steps for Crohn's and Colitis" fundraising walk - please consider walking with us or donating to our team. I want a cure for my girls.