Una and the Knee

Last Friday, Una and I dropped Jesse off at the airport to attend Frankie's wedding in upstate NY. Little did I know that Una was developing a cold/flu/whatever virus that would put her in the hospital less than a week later. By the end of the weekend she had a high fever. Doctors visit on Monday - no real information given except they thought she might have parainfluenza and to give baby Tylenol and lots of TLC. By Tuesday afternoon, she couldn't walk (terrifying). Her knee was completely swollen by Tuesday evening. Wednesday morning/afternoon we were off to see a specialist who drained her knee of fluid and found puss. Surgery was scheduled for a couple hours later. Una had knee surgery Wednesday at 5:30. They opened up her knee and cleaned out the infection. They inserted a drainage tube. Jesse arrived back into Austin late Wednesday night. Friday afternoon, they inserted a PICC line into her arm so that we could administer antibiotics (which requires hooking her up to a machine) four times a day for the next 2-6 weeks. We were discharged Sunday afternoon. They were never able to figure out what exactly caused the infection. The labs didn't produce any results. Our best guess is, she had the flu and that virus attacked her knee joint causing septic arthritis. I guess it's not that unheard of in children. 

The good news is Una is doing really well! She is starting to use her leg more and more. Her appetite is growing and she's been in really good spirits since being back home. We were able to space the antibiotics out in a way so that they are all given to her when she is sleeping. She's fighting the process less and less. We're hoping by mid next week she'll be able to spend a couple hours back at daycare. It was very difficult for her to be so cooped up. 

We were lucky to have the support of our family and close friends. Although Jesse was out of town for the surgery, Anna (aka Oma) spent that Wednesday with Una and I as we navigated our way through the unknown. It's really unbelievable how fast everything happened. It was so traumatic for little Una. She was in a lot of pain (some of the procedures required her to be restrained while needles went into her knee or drainage tubes were pulled out). If it wasn't intense pain, it was fear and confusion (on top of shear exhaustion). Her face was so swollen from crying (and the IV fluid) and she had bruised and cut her face while scratching with the hand that was all bandage up with the IV (first round of pain meds made her face itch). It is so hard at this age... she couldn't tell us what she was feeling and we couldn't explain everything that was going on. All of it was very draining and at times unbearable. Jesse and I are confidant that we've grown immeasurably as parents through this surreal process. Crisis parenting is a skill we were never forced to test. This experience shifted things into perceptive. Reminding us of how priceless our little family is and our seemingly infinite ability to love and protect it.