Friday night rolled by relatively quietly without any issues. What a relief. This was going to be a nice relaxing weekend. I would get to spend some quality time with Averi and unwind from the day-to-day stresses of work. She was feeling much better due to the antibiotics and her temperature had dissipated so we could leave the room and go on walks or go to the kids’ room and play with the toys.
My relaxing weekend with Averi was shattered Saturday night. A rash showed up on her lower torso. Averi wasn’t too bothered by it at first, but by nightfall she was tugging at her hospital gown trying to scratch. The rash had spread up her stomach and back, all the way under her central line dressing on her chest. The physicians became concerned and order some Benadryl to help with the itching. This helped calm Averi down a bit so she could at least sleep through the night.
Sunday returned to relative normalcy. Though Averi was still a little agitated by the rash, it had diminished enough where we could play on the floor mat and the distractions would make her forget about the itchiness. We were having a good time playing when I stepped out to use the restroom. When I returned I saw a naked bum sticking out from under the hospital gown. Upon further investigation I found that Averi had scooted out of her diaper. Luckily, there wasn’t a mess to clean up.
What a cute little bum!
This morning I heard Averi start making noises just before 7am. I was not ready to get up and start my day off from work just yet so I tried to ignore her babbling and blowing raspberries. I dug my face into my pillow to block out the light. I went unconscious for what seemed like another hour or so, but when I looked at the clock it was only 15 minutes. Averi could now see me stirring and began to make her loud calls for attention. It was hopeless going back to sleep now.
I rolled out of bed and made my way over to Averi’s crib. I stopped in horror – no shock. Averi looked up at me with the biggest grin seemingly saying, “Good morning to you dad!” She was sitting in her bed completely naked playing in brown goo. She had wiggled her way out of her hospital gown and stripped off her diaper. Afterwards – and I say afterwards because her diaper was still clean – she decided to poop all over the bed and spread the good cheer. Averi had used the brown spread and was redecorating her bland, all-white crib.
Poop was all over the bars, the sheets, her hands, her central line caps, her head…. you get the picture. To top it all off, Averi had completely removed her central line dressing thus leaving the site exposed. This is a HUGE no-no, especially with an inordinate amount of bacteria-laced feces in the vicinity. Needless to say, my Memorial Day ended up being more of a Labor Day as I spent the rest of the morning cleaning EVERYTHING, especially Averi.
After all was said and done, my rational mind told me I should have taken a picture before cleaning everything up, but the worried father in me just wanted to get his daughter who has a compromised immune system cleaned up as soon as possible to avoid any infections or contamination. I hope I wasn’t too late. They took some cultures and we’ll have to watch her closely to make sure she didn’t contract any infections.
Needless to say, Averi is no longer allowed to sleep in just her hospital gown. We now keep her in a onesie as much as possible to avoid any similar situations. What a day to remember!!
~ Dan
1 comment:
Whoa...that really was a Labor Day of a Memorial Day.
I guess Averi just wanted to make it extra memorable for you, Dan.
That is the cutest picture!
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