Pardon my bluntness or grossness, but it is the stinkin truth. Over the past couple of weeks, and for one reason or another, I have transported 3 viles of POOP (both human and animal) from the site to the lab.
Let's start from the beginning...
Just past her 1st birthday, we switched Alaina from Similac formula to whole cow's milk cold turkey. Our doc said that if we have an easy-going baby (like we do), then cold turkey is the best way to make the switch. So we did, and there were no apparent problems at first. Alaina could taste the difference, but she drank the cow's milk just fine as long as it was the right temperature (warm...not cold, not hot). Done.
Shortly after the switch, Alaina started having di-ah-rrhea daily, and eventually a terrible, awful diaper rash followed. It got so bad that she screamed during diaper changes and she could not even sit in the bath tub because contact with anything (even water) hurt :(
Diaper creams did not help at all. Time went by and our nurse said it could be a yeast rash, which required anti-fungal cream. We bought the anti-fungal cream. We applied it to her sore bottom for a couple days with no relief.
Then exactly 2 weeks ago, Alaina suddenly broke out in a terrible rash all up/down her legs. I frantically called the nurse, and within 10 minutes of talking with her, the rash had spread to Alaina's ankles. It was BAD and I was a nutcase!
I was determined that her recent problems had something to do with the whole cow's milk. After all, every single problem occurred soon after we made the switch. I was also thinking of every single piece of food I'd given her lately, and wondering if it could be the culprit. Maybe a food/dairy allergy, possibly to milk, cheese, butter, etc. But our doctor determined that her leg rash was caused by an allergic reaction to freshly cut grass. We let her frollic in the backyard the day after Adam cut the grass. Ok, fine. Makes sense I guess. She was given RX rash cream, and this rash disappeared the next day. Great!
Then the next day, after breakfast, Alaina broke out in a minor rash on her face. Around the mouth and on one of her eyelids. With some benadryl and some time, it went away.
A couple days later, I found vomit all over Alaina and her crib when I went to get her in the morning. Plus she had diarrhea about 6 times before the afternoon rolled around, and it just seemed to get worse and worse. So I headed back to the doctor for a 2nd time that week, and we were determined to nip this thing in the bud! I was not leaving without a definite answer to all my baby's tummy/bottom/rash problems that just didn't seem to go away!
The doctor still refuted my argument about any milk/dairy reactions. She determined it to be a virus, but she wanted to be sure it wasn't anything more serious, like salmonella or a parasite. So in order to be sure, they had to collect a "sample" of her poop. And of course, she did not cooperate. We fed her snacks in an attempt to "wait it out."
We waited...and waited...and waited some more. For an hour! In a tiny room! With a 1 year old! Who is sick! With an anxious mommy! And an annoying doctor who won't listen to the mama bear's concerns! AHHH!!!
I ended up leaving that doctor's office with a baby around my hip, a gigantic diaper bag, an even more gigantic purse, another prescription for diaper rash (burn cream), and an empty tube...for the poop :)
Yep, I was assigned the duty of collecting the doodie with a tiny spork and neatly forcing it into the tube! Woo hoo. Alaina put up a fight and held it in for a day. Finally, at 4:30pm on a Friday, exactly 30 min prior to closing time, we had the sample! We all loaded up in the car and frantically made our way through Friday evening traffic to the office. I sprinted through the building, poop in hand! (Kinda awkward to get on an elevator with someone when all you've got on ya is a vile of human waste).
When I reached the office, I was disappointed to find that the carrier had JUST LEFT! Of course it did. But there was another Kaiser facility close by that had extended hours. So we rushed there with the goods, hoping, praying that we would make it with no problems. And we did!!! 1st turd transported - check!
Now we could focus on the virus. To help it pass, Alaina got plenty of rest and drank plenty of fluids. All she wanted to do was cuddle and watch Baby Einstein marathons! Her daddy was the perfect movie marathon partner :)
She was put on a very bland diet to get her tummy back in shape. Rice, noodles, toast, bananas, applesauce, yogurt...that was pretty much it for 3 days. The virus came and went, and our little girl was back to normal after a few days.
And we were notified that Alaina did not have any dangerous bacteria like salmonella or a parasite. Whew!
Ok, back to the transporting...Then last week, I took both cats to the vet for their annual checkups. And guess what? The technician could not collect their own samples of the cats poop to test for parasites. Apparently they were both uncooperative. Really? I wonder why they would be uncooperative in this situation. Please.
So again, all eyes turned to ME, faithful transporter. For days, I waited to collect the perfect samples of cat crap to then pick up with a tiny spork and then stuff in a vile and then transport to the vet for testing!
Luckily, my job is done. Transporter tired. Mission accomplished :)
P.S. My mommy instint still tells me that the whole cow's milk somehow and in in some way caused some problems. So we tried soy formula, which was fine, and now we are trying Organic Soy Vanilla Milk (MUCH cheaper than the formula). So far, so good.
No comments:
Post a Comment