We have been through a lot this week with Ella's illness. She's had a fever and horrible hacking cough since early Saturday. By Wednesday, it hadn't improved so Ella's doctor checked her out and said it sounded like pneumonia and prescribed amoxacillin which we started right away.
Ella woke up from her nap yesterday with cramps in her calf muscles but because it was only a minute I thought her leg had fallen asleep and she was experiencing "pins and needles". Then again in the middle of the night she woke up to pee and couldn't walk to the bathroom her calves hurt so bad. She immediately fell asleep after and only had the pain when she tried to stand. In the morning, she had such severe muscle pain that it took her most of an hour to walk properly so I took her back to the doctor. This entire time she's not had any change in character and has been her same chipper self which has made it especially frustrating because though complaining her legs hurt, and refusing to walk then slowly limp around, she still wants to watch "Zaboomafoo" and play. ?????
Today's doctor's appointment went no better, the urine culture came back normal (no muscular infection) but I was told to stop the amoxicillin and come back tomorrow... though I was assured it wasn't an allergic reaction, Ella's doctor had never heard of such a thing and had no idea about the leg cramps.... not at all reassuring.
At 4 this afternoon, after stewing on many unanswered questions, Ron, Ella and I were off to the acute care clinic as I wanted better answers and proper tests done. After 5 hours and a chest x-ray (blood work was ordered for tomorrow as they couldn't get a vein tonight) a middle-aged doctor determined that it is bronchitis. He was surprised that pneumonia was diagnosed with no chest x-ray or further blood work (my exact concerns) and questioned the use of amoxicillin when there is a better one out there. Also, the calf cramps, he said, can be common from this type of infection coupled with fever and dehydration. The fact that he didn't seem at all concerned or STUMPED by them made us feel better. The blood work will determine if Ella's bronchitis is viral or bacterial but for now Ella's on a different antibiotic. Hopefully this second opinion gets Ella back on the fast track to good health.
On a side note: despite the long 5 hours, the 3 failed attempts to draw blood, and the other screaming kids, Ella was on her best behavior! She followed the doctors and nurses' instructions and didn't even cry until the third attempt at drawing her blood was failing and it was hard even for the nurse to watch. Then sat quietly and watched Disney on the large screen TV in the waiting room until the x-ray results came back. She can be quite the big girl when she wants to :)
