Hospitalized

Well, at this point today my brain has turned to mush. I have been inundated with fancy doctor talk and I'm worried sick about my dear Mae who is currently resting comfortably in her hospital bed.

She saw her (fantastic, no nonsense) doctor today who was very concerned with the swelling and redness around her knee and ankle. She immediately re-ran all of the blood work tests and consulted with an Orthopedic surgeon. Both docs decided that the best place for Mae to be today without question, was the hospital. After the blood work was drawn, we drove straight over to the hospital where Dr. P (Orthopedic surgeon) was waiting for us in the lobby and immediately started checking her out and explained what he had in mind for her.

Mae ended up having minor surgery to drain the fluid from her right ankle and her right knee. He called this condition septic ankle and septic knee. He also discovered a similar area on her left elbow that he tried to drain but didn't come up with any amount of fluid. Of the three, the elbow seemed to be the newest and least progressive areas of infection.

For now, neither of the doctors (I spoke with both at length) know what is causing this but hopefully by tomorrow the blood tests will give them a better idea. Best case scenario? Lyme disease, believe it or not. (Originating from a tick bite last summer. Not that we ever noticed a tick bite on her.) Both docs are hoping for Lyme disease because it is the most common and easiest to treat. The incubation time for Lyme disease to produce arthritic symptoms is 6 months to a year, so it's likely but the results from last night's blood work are not consistent with Lyme disease. the blood work from last night showed a bacterial infection, which the pediatrician said may have just been a skin infection that is unrelated from the joint problems. At this point we just don't know and in the next few days if there are not any definite answers as to what is causing her infected joints, we may be headed down to Children's hospital. I guess it's just a wait and see game until we get any test results.

On a happier note, Mae has been in great spirits today and never even cried once. Me, on the other hand? Well let me just say that this sucks. bad. I didn't really cry until my friend called just to chat. She had no idea what was going on, but as soon as she said "how are you?" The tears started flowing. But really now that I had a good cry, I am starting to feel better and the pounding headache that I've been trying to fight off since last night has finally started to subside.

The Gardener stayed home from work today and waited at home for Binny to get home from school. they are both here at the hospital now along with my MIL who stopped in to see Mae.

So I guess I have no answers yet, but I am optimistic. Thank you for all of the well wishes, prayers and thoughts. I will update again as I learn more and I will try to call as many family members as I can tonight but my cell phone battery is already in the red zone. Please don't worry for us too much, Mae will get through this!