Helena’s Story

Site created on May 18, 2018


It all started on Friday, May 5th.  I took Helena in for a visit to the pediatrician, feeling quite confident Helena had yet another ear infection.  Sure enough, she had a double ear infection, the right ear worse than the left as it had a large amount of discharge that was a white substance, the consistency and texture of cottage cheese.  The doctor took a swab culture of the discharge and sent it in to the lab to be tested.  Meanwhile, we did our usual routine when it comes to ear infections: we began 20 days of Augmentin, along with penicillin ear drops for the right ear.


Now, in the past Helena has had a history of chronic ear infections.  She's had ear tubes twice.  Her second set fell out last summer.  So far she had been doing really good with not having chronic ear infections.  So we had nothing to really fret over.  Helena was set to return to her ENT on May 10th anyway.  So he would be made aware of her current diagnosis.


The following Tuesday, May 8th, we received a call from the doctor's office that Helena's culture was back.  It tested positive for MRSA.  Being pregnant, I completely freaked out and began worrying to no end.  We were told that it was localized to her ear, so we need not worry about her being overly contagious.  However, we were to stop the Augmentin and penicillin drops because MRSA is a staff infection that's resistant to many common antibiotics, such as these Helena was already taking.  Instead, Helena would begin a 20 day course of Bactrim, along with Bactrim ear drops for the right ear.


Wednesday, May 9th: Helena woke up with a low-grade fever of 100.4.  She laid around, not interested in eating, and drinking very little.  During the mid-afternoon she began vomiting and didn't stop until about 5:30, when Tom and I made the decision to bring her to Sioux Falls to the ER for fear of dehydration.  She was diagnosed with moderate dehydration and prescribed Zofran, an anti-nausea med to help with the vomiting.  Helena began to turn a corner the next day.


Thursday, May 10th:  Helena had her follow-up with the ENT.  The ENT said things looked good in Helena's ears-- the meds were doing their job.  We were told that before we could even begin to think about a third set of tubes, we needed to clear up the MRSA in her ear or else it would attach itself to the tubes and we'd have to start from scratch.


Friday, May 11th:  Helena had a follow-up visit with her regular pediatrician as protocol from an ER visit.  Her ped said Helena was looking good.  And she was!  She was bubbly, perky, spunky Helena!  And she remained that way all through Saturday.


Sunday, May 13th:  Helena woke up with another low-grade fever.  She stayed home from church and the fever broke.  We went to Sioux Falls to celebrate Mother's Day.  We went out for Cherry Berry, but Helena refused any frozen yogurt..... something wasn't right!  Upon our arrival at home, I took Helena's temp: 102.2.  We managed to get it to break.  


Monday, May 14th:  Helena's fever returned at 102.4.  We went into the clinic where Helena regularly visits her pediatrician.  The ped doctor started Helena on IV fluids right away.  In addition, a series of tests were run to rule out certain viruses as well as pneumonia.  All tests were negative.  We returned Tuesday the 15th.  More IV fluids were administered.  Blood work came back about the same-- indicating that Helena was fighting SOME type of virus.  We were to return Wednesday morning.  We did another round of IVs on Wednesday.  At that time Helena had broken out into a rash that indicated she was fighting Fifths Disease.  Overall, Helena was really improving.  Her hydration levels were back to normal; her white cell count a little low-- that was to be expected with the virus she was fighting.  Thursday the 17th was Helena's birthday, so we were told to take it off and return Friday morning to run more blood work and see what her white count showed.  Helena was schedule for her Well Check Visit on Friday anyway, but if the white count was too low, they wouldn't do her 4-year shots.  


And that brings us to today: Friday, May 18th.   I will post this in a journal entry.

Newest Update

We Have a Diagnosis!

Journal entry by Theresa Jacobson —

The last week has been crazy busy with Antonia getting very sick, too.

Yesterday (11/6) Helena had her appointment with her pulmonologist.  Helena has officially been diagnosed with Asthma.  Her allergy blood panel came back showing that the kid has TONS of allergies-- including food and environmental.  She will be seeing an allergist as well.

Helena's immunology blood panel also came back.  It showed that she has NO immunity to pneumonia.  She had the pneumococcal vaccinations as a baby, but apparently, they did nothing for her.  This is the reason she has struggled with ear infections, sinus infections, respiratory infections, and now pneumonia.

So she got the pneumonia vaccine yesterday.  In addition, she will receive the pneumococcal series AGAIN that she already received as a baby.  THEN, they will run immunology blood work again and see if any immunity is being built up.  If not, we'll talk about that with the doctor when the time comes.  For now, we have a plan and once again we have AMAZING doctors who are helping her.  The pieces of this crummy puzzle are FINALLY beginning to come together.  

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your prayers for questions to be answered and for healing to begin for Helena.  This has been a 4-year battle for her.  And now we know why she catches everything so easily.  Thanks again for your prayers and support!
Read More of the journal titled "We Have a Diagnosis!"
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