Life More Abundantly

On Wednesday evening, my mackerdoodle began running a fever.  She wasn’t really irritable, just listless and hot.  The thermometer said 102 degrees, so I called pediatrics after hours.  She wasn’t vomiting, so they said “Tylenol every 4 hours.  It should run its course.”

Thursday around 3, when the fever had not, in fact, run OUT of anything, and had, if anything, deepened, I called the pediatrician.  After some discussion, the nurse said “well, bring her in first thing tomorrow, and we’ll check her ears.”  As an infant, and young child I had chronic ear infections because of collapsed eustachian tubes.  I had tubes placed in my ears, which fixed the problem, but from the time the nurse said “check her ears. . .” I began to pray that my daughter had not inherited my defective ears.

Last night the poor little girl woke up every two hours or so crying inconsolably.  I had to sit her up, rock her and then nurse her back to sleep.  At each waking I murmured the prayer “Lord, please don’t let her have my ears.  Please spare her my ears.”

This morning the PA did a standard exam, asked me the standard questions, then looked into the mac ears.  They were fine.

“That’s great news!” I said.

The P. A. looked at my quizzically and said “Not really.  We don’t know what’s causing her fever.”  Oh, yeah, right.  The fever.

Have you ever tried to collect a urine sample from an infant?  It is no small feat!  A small bag was glued to her, and I was told to “try to make her pee.”

Juice?  Not interested.  Nursing?  No thank you  - for the first time in her life.  Finally, after 30 minutes, I realized that the thing guaranteed to produce urine was to stand her in the bath tub.  I put her bare feet in the hand washing sink, and within minutes we had enough tinkle to diagnose a urinary tract infection.

It was at this point that God showed me how narrow my prayers had been.  An ear infection would have meant a scrip for antibiotics, and out the door.  A UTI meant a catheterization to collect enough urine for a culture.  It means general antibiotics until the culture can diagnose what she really needs.  It means a renal ultrasound next week, and possibly blood work to determine the cause of the UTI.  While it is most likely that it resulted from an “intermingling” of waste in her diaper, UTIs can indicate kidney problems, blockages, and other bigger issues.

I’m trusting the Lord to handle all of those things over the next few days.  I’m learning my lesson.  I’m not going to try to second guess God’s plans.  I’m just going to ask Him to heal and comfort my daughter.