mystery rash

So Maddie and I took an ER visit late Saturday night to Wenatchee...she was admitted and observed in the hospital's peds wing until late yesterday afternoon. It's a mystery what is causing this rash/fever thingy that she's had off and on.

Remember the mosquito bites + hospital stay the first part of June? Well she's had 2 more bouts with this rash and each time she breaks out, she's itchy, feverish and then ends up with a virus of some sort. Metapnemovirus the first time, a stomach bug the second time and this time only a fever and loose diapers. We thought it was bites originally, now I know it's not. Tuesday morning she was covered with them, itching like crazy, and it's like her body gives us a little forewarning each time she's coming down with something OR she's allergic to something OR she's had this virus 3 times in a row OR it's chicken pox (which she's been immunized against and they're not quite pox like) OR some type of bug or spider, a "cantseeum", as I've been calling it keeps attacking her since another little creature wouldn't be capable of eating her up like this plus she sleeps about 6 feet from our bed OR ... IT'S A MYSTERY. Every doctor and nurse we've seen or talked to in the last month and half has a different take on it but they all agree that it's just weird.

So back to the ER visit, her fever was up to 104 (it had been low grade that day off and on and she hadn't had one yet with this breakout which began on Tuesday) and she was so irritable and fussy. I was thinking a bladder or kidney infection since she hadn't been peeing, or eating well, and the diaper I'd changed was pretty hot so I called Nephrology (her kidney docs) and they wanted her to get right in since she deals with the kidney reflux issue. She'd been off of her antibiotic for 3 days since at a doctor visit on Wednesday, Dr. Hourigan was thinking the Bacterim was causing the rash...like an allergic reaction. In the meantime, a new antibiotic was ordered for her kidney reflux, Nitrofurantoin, but did not get delivered to our local pharmacy by the weekend and wasn't shipped directly to us due to the heat wave we're having. Note: we live in the boondocks so her meds get shipped directly to us or to our little pharmacy here in town. So after waiting in the busy ER for an hour, she was taken back and amazingly, it only took 1 stick to get a peripheral arm vein and she was on her way for blood draws, IV fluids and a round of antibiotic. She was also cathed and urine was cultured since we were leaning towards a UTI, but the initial urine test came back fine and so were her labs. What?!?! So, Maddie is a mystery. This has not been contagious, we're all fine here at home (or immune to it) as well as the cousins and extended family we've been with here and there haven't had it either. It has really come and gone, lasts about 5-7 days then she's healthy and perky and then in the next week or so...it happens again. Could be coincidence or something we just haven't put our finger on yet.

As of now, the Infectious Disease Dept. at Children's is being informed of Maddie's mystery symptoms and hopefully we can get a consult with them at our appointments in Seattle this week. She's seeing the Nephrologist, Cardiologist, Ophtamologist, as well as has an echo and renal ultrasound scheduled, and I'm just praying that this gets resolved as something treatable! I'm sick of her "wearing it out" only to have it come right back again!