May 28, 2014
Kellisa's doctor called this afternoon to report that Kellisa has a urinary tract infection. We were
so relieved with the diagnosis.
You might wonder if I'm being serious. I'm very serious that we were relieved. Why? Because Kellisa has been suffering with a fever for 12 days. Her temperature was reaching as high as 103.5 and we were alternating Tylenol and Motrin every few hours around the clock with minimal relief. In addition, Kellisa has had at least three seizures, including a major one which required administering one of her rescue drugs. We were extra worried because we've seen this before. Now Kellisa has a prescription for Cefdinir and should be back to normal in 10 days!
In July 2005, Kellisa had a high fever for six weeks. The doctors tested for everything, including HIV and all the tests came back negative. Kellisa suffered every minute of those weeks. Just as fast as the fevers started, they ended for no reason.
As bad as the summer of 2005 was for Kellisa, it was nothing compared to the spring of 2003 when she had a high fever for more than a month before they diagnosed her with a shunt infection. Kellisa was near death by the time the doctors figured out the cause. This isn't an exaggeration as evidenced by the picture below:
Spring 2003
To fix a shunt infection, the shunt and tubing needs to be removed while an external temporary shunt is placed. This is followed by 10 days of strong antibiotics to kill the infection. Kellisa stayed in the hospital during this entire process. Once the infection is cleared, the temporary shunt needs to be removed and then a new shunt and tubing is placed. Then there is a period where there is a risk of a new shunt infection from the replacement surgery. The risk goes down over the first year after new shunt placement, but you still have to sweat it out and it's always in the back of your mind.
I can't complain because what we went through was nothing compared to Kellisa, but we had her transferred to a hospital in Orlando for the surgeries. We were making the 2 1/2 hour one way drive and one of us was with Kellisa around the clock. I would drive down after work to visit Kellisa and then sleep for a few hours in the backseat of a Mitsubishi Eclipse before driving back to Jacksonville for work and starting a new day. Shortly after these surgeries, Kellisa's neurosurgeon in Jacksonville closed his practice. We blamed him for not being more aggressive and diagnosing the shunt infection faster. We've been very happy with her new Jacksonville neurosurgeon.
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