Kate's Infection April 21

Kate developed an infection in her hip 5 weeks into her first spica cast. I could tell right away something was wrong when I changed her. It was a smell unlike any other. We discovered the problem over a weekend. We took her to Shriners on April 21, 2009.

Dr. Carroll was not in-as soon as the other on-call surgeon saw Kate's leg, she said they would have to open the leg back up and clean out the infection. Kate had her second surgery on April 22, 2009 to clean and drain the infection from her leg. Dr. Carroll was able to make it back in town and made it just as they were opening her leg back up. They also put a central line in through Kate's arm as she would need intravenous medicine for the next 5 weeks to treat the infection.

Kate stayed in the hospital from April 21 through April 28.

Unfortunately this was not the end of Kate's bad luck. She had an allergic reaction the the first prescription antibiotic. We ended up in the ER twice and had to drive back to Shriners on May 5, 2009. Dr. Carroll made the decision to put Kate's 2nd cast (a broomstick cast) on during this visit. Kate's medication was changed and she was a much happier little girl.
I gave Kate her IV medication through her pick line about every 4 hours, 24 hours a day for 5 weeks. During this time, the kids and I stayed pretty close to home and focused on getting Kate's infection cleared up.

I did take a few pictures of Kate with her pic line.