October 25, 2009 After five straight days of unrelenting fevers, the doctors ordered a CT scan today to determine if she might have a hidden infection that was not showing up in her bloodstream. They found pneumonia in her left lung and believe that is what is causing the fevers, coughing and pain in her stomach and chest when she coughs.
Whew! I know it seems weird to be happy about pneumonia, but she has a better chance of winning if we know what we’re fighting against. I feel a huge sense of relief that there is something we can do about it instead of just watching and waiting. Her fever today reached 104.5, which starts to get scary.
They’re not sure whether or not the pneumonia is a secondary infection from a virus she may have had last week or whether she had it all along, but it progressed too slowly to show up on the two x-rays she had earlier. The CT scan is more sensitive and may have caught something the x-ray couldn’t see.
They had already added another broad spectrum antibiotic earlier today as a prophylactic measure since the one she was already on wasn’t stopping the fevers. So, they’ll give that a day or so to work and decide whether she needs another as well.
So, we’ll probably be here a few more days, I believe. She was really too sick today to be bored. She didn’t really feel like doing much. She mainly watched a Punky Brewster DVD I found at Target, took a big nap and played a little on her computer. She loved getting some emails from people, but I knew she didn’t feel well when she didn’t want to answer them or write a blog post.
On a positive note, her neutraphils continued to come up today… they are at 630, up from 490 yesterday, so we’re making progress.
She has handled herself with more grace than I would have considering how bad she must feel. I’m amazed at the maturity she has acquired through this horrible ordeal and, at the same time, sad she’s had to grow up so fast at six.
Thanks to all of you who sent Vandy email cards to the hospital. They brought them in all printed out this morning and they made her smile.
She’s sleeping soundly and I’m going to try to do the same before someone comes in for something else!
Love,
Beth
Hello! My family and I (The Yarbrough’s) know John from BUMC. I wanted to let you know that I have been following Tanner’s blog and facebook page from the beginning, and that you all are in my thoughts and prayers. Tanner- you are an AMAZING little girl and I want you to know that you have a lot of people that are praying for you, even if you may not know who we are 🙂
Thanks so much for the update! I’m glad you’ve finally got some answers, and I hope the doctors can figure out exactly what they need to do really quickly. And Punky Brewster…that’s awesome. She was my hero when I was Tanner’s age. Now I’m old and Tanner’s my hero. Maybe she’ll let me borrow the DVD someday. 🙂
Keep fighting Tanner. You’re tougher than any old pnuemonia.
tanner you can fight this better than anyonelse!
YOU CAN WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!