Our daughter, 2.5 years old, Inaara Rae LeClair was born January 2020 right before the pandemic was set into motion March 2020. It is every mother’s worst fear when their child has a fever because everything is so unexpected.
Inaara woke up Monday morning with fever and vomiting. Very typical for any child who has a viral infection. We were monitoring her temperature and medicating her with Tylenol and Ibuprofen. Her fever was stable. The next day, Inaara’s appetite had completely gone and that was when my momma strings started to worry. We were still controlling her fever at home and she was drinking fluids so we thought everything was OK.
By Wednesday morning, Inaara had completely stopped drinking any fluids and had become lethargic and dizzy. I knew that we needed to take her into the ER. Because I had a newborn, the ER would not allow me to come with both kids, so I made my husband come home he rushed her to the hospital. All labs, radiographs, and Inaara’s demeanor were pointing to a viral infection but the ER doctor decided to admit her so we could monitor her.
The next morning, Inaara had a fever that was not coming down and she had a seizure – she was admitted to the PICU where they intubated her and did a lumbar puncture that was positive for Strep Pneumonia related bacterial meningitis. My world stopped and I literally fell to the ground. I could not stop crying and pick myself up. The infectious disease doctor came into the room to give us the news and started telling us the sequelae of complications that arise from bacterial meningitis and what their game plan was going to be for Inaara.
The next day, Inaara’s fever finally came down and we were able to extubate her. We were thrilled to find out that she could breath on her own. After many tests and MRI’s we brought our miracle home.
xx
