Our oldest son, Kylan, has been sicker than he’s ever been before. On Wednesday, July 3, he had excruciating pain in his left leg. My husband and I were starting to get a little aggravated when he kept complaining about the pain, even after he had taken tylenol. It wasn’t until that night when he started vomiting and it continued until around 4am that we started to take him seriously.

Thursday was July 4th and he was miserable. I assumed it was just a stomach virus and that he would sleep it off the rest of the day. He had a low grade fever, but nothing that concerned me.

He missed out on our 4th of July celebrations and that broke my heart for him. I promised him a make-up celebration with a cook out, s’mores, water balloons, and lots of American flags as soon as he’s feeling better. Later that night his fever spiked to 102.

All three kids had a physical scheduled for Friday. Klara needed her kindergarten shots and Kylan needed some vaccinations for middle school as well. However, when we got there I told the nurse that he had been sick and that we could reschedule his physical. His temperature was normal so the doctor said he would, “still vaccinate him.”

Later that night I drove him to urgent care because he was miserable. His fever was 103 and I felt like he needed to be seen by a doctor. When we got there, they tested him for strep and when the results came back negative, they done bloodwork. The doctor said she pulled up his bloodwork and urinalysis results from his physical earlier that day and compared those results with the bloodwork they had taken. She said his white blood count was significantly off and suggested that he had a bacterial infection. We were sent home with a zpac and zofran. He had his first dose of antibiotics as soon as we got home. My husband and I both set alarms and took turns getting up throughout the night to check his temperature and to give him Tylenol so he could be as comfortable as possible.

On Saturday, his fever would not go down. It ranged from 102 to 104.5 with us rotating Ibuprofen and Tylenol every 3 hours. When it peaked to 104.6, I noticed his body was purple and that he couldn’t stop shaking. I ran downstairs and told my husband, and he told me to get him to the ER immediately.

When we arrived to check in, we were told that there were 15 people waiting in front of us. I reassured the lady behind the desk that I was sure Kylan needed to be seen. When I told her his symptoms, she seemed concerned and told me she would get us back as soon as she could. I had overheard a lady say that she had been waiting more than 4 hours so I was encouraging Kylan to eat some ice chips because I know he had to be dehydrated to some extent. He had a piece of ice in his mouth when we were called back to check his vitals. When they checked his temperature it was 101.5 which wasn’t a concern for them. When they asked what his level of pain was on a scale of 1 to 10, he replied with 6. When asked where most of his pain was, he said, “My leg, my neck, and I have had a bad headache.”

When we got back to a room, they checked his temperature again. This time it was 101.6, but a part of me was relieved because that was the lowest it had been in 24-36 hours. The first thing they checked for was meningitis. They ruled that out instantly and then the doctor ordered a chest xray to rule out pneumonia.

The xrays came back normal and because his fever had went down from 104 to 101, he told us just to continue with fever reducers and to finish the antibiotic, that he thought Kylan was improving and that he thought it was viral. Kylan was a little disappointed that he still didn’t have any answers, but he was relieved to be going home.

A nurse brought us our check out papers and as soon as she laid eyes on Kylan she said, “Come here for me and let me check your temperature.” It had shot up to 102 and she asked what the doctor had suggested we do. She seemed concerned, but wished us well and pointed us to the exit.

When we got home I gave him Ibuprofen and he slept the rest of the night. At 3am he came into our room. He had taken his temperature and said that it was 103.2 and he asked for medicine. Jordan got back up at 4 and checked his temperature. It had went down to 101.6 and he was pretty comfortable until 10:35 when it went back up to 102.3. That’s when Jordan called the urgent care we went to on Thursday to see if they recommended that we come back to be reevaluated. They said they would call us back to let us know, but we never heard back from them.

By 11:15 Kylan looked terrible. His fever was 103.6 and he was still complaining with his leg. By 12:10 his fever was up to 104.5 so my husband threw on some clothes, I gave Kylan some Ibuprofen, and they went out the door to urgent care. Again.

Jordan texted me to let me know the Ibuprofen had brought his fever down to 102 when they checked his vitals. They done some bloodwork and sent them back to the emergency room for more tests. The doctor had recommended that the ER do an xray of his leg and that they do a scan of his stomach to rule out early appendicitis. However, that didn’t happen.

As I was waiting to hear the latest from Jordan, I received phone calls and texts from our families and friends.

Jordan’s mom had brought us a new thermometer this morning and his stepdad even stopped by the house with Frostys for the kids and to check on Kylan. We are surrounded by the most loving people that uplift us in prayer more often than we know. I am so happy that Kylan has Godly friendships in his life.

Jordan said that when they checked Kylan’s vitals in the ER that his fever had went down to 98. That was the lowest it’s been since Wednesday! With his fever being normal, they didn’t spend much time with him. They examined his leg and suggested that it was a sore muscle and that because his blood count was back to normal or as they put it, “perfect”, Jordan was reassured that he would be fine. He was told that they have done all they can do to and that they could not confirm exactly what has been going on. Between Friday and Sunday, Kylan had bloodwork done three times, a urinalysis, and a chest xray. Nothing seemed to be wrong.

Before bed that night, Kylan’s fever spiked up to 103. At 2:30am he woke me up and asked for tylenol. He was so hot to the touch so I took his temperature and it was 103.2. At 6:30 I rechecked his temperature and to my surprise, the medicine had brought down his fever. Something it hadn’t been doing a lot of the past few days. By 10 o’clock he was back up to 104.

Here we are, Monday, July 8th and we are still hoping for some kind of answers. Tomorrow will be the last dose of his antibiotic and he still has excruciating leg pain and a 104+ fever. The leg pain is worse today than it has been so far. Today is the sixth day it has been going on and the 4th day he hasn’t eaten. We have seen 5 doctors between urgent care and the emergency room, but no one seems concerned.

I can tell you one thing, though. As his parents, we will do whatever it takes to see that he feels better soon.