4 September 2009

IMG_4344_9_1.sm Little Emily Barrett has been through it for the past 5 days. You may recall that back in April, 2009, Emily was diagnosed with Cyclic Neutropenia which is a form of chronic neutropenia which tends to occur every three weeks. Last Friday, 31 August Emily was diagnosed with Streptococcus Pneumoniae and later with Peri-Orbital Cellulitis. Read on for all the details of the ordeal that this little angel has been through this week.

Emily is the daughter of Stephen Dale and Courtney Marie Cummings Barrett, granddaughter of Cheryl Diane Williams Cummings, great-granddaughter of Billy Gene and Neva Caroline Albritton Williams, and great-great-granddaughter of Aunt Caroline and Uncle Walter Albritton.

Have a look at these photos taken of Emily this past week and you’ll see what she’s been dealing with. And here is the message that explains it all...

We are finally home after 5 long days at Baptist South with Emily. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and phone calls. They help sooo much!!! I will update in this email from this past Friday so some of you may already know some of this.

Last Friday morning, Emily got out of bed with green stuff draining from her right eye. I cleaned it with a warm cloth and her eye ball was not red and she wasn't itchy so we went on about our day. We went on to school/work and thought that she just had some drainage from the bronchitis that she had earlier in the week. When her teacher brought her to me at the end of the school day, her right eye was almost swollen shut and the green "yuck" was running down her cheek terribly. I took her straight to Dr. Fekete and we came home with a diagnosis of Streptococcus Pneumoniae and Augmentin to treat it. We were instructed to call her back on Sunday if Emily wasn't showing great improvement. Sunday morning, I called and Dr. Fekete saw Emily at about 3:00 Sunday afternoon. She sent her to the hospital with an additional diagnosis of Peri-Orbital Cellulitis to have IV fluids and IV antibiotic, Clyndamycin. When we got to the hospital, Emily's IV was started and LOTS of labs were drawn and a culture was taken from her eye.

Skipping Monday's events... Tuesday morning, Emily's labs were looking better and we hoped to go home Wednesday. Tuesday night, the culture results came back and it showed that Emily has Haemophilus Influenzae. Sad This is something that infants began getting vaccinations for in 1988! Emily had the vaccine at 2 months, 4 months, 9 months and 12-15 months just like every other baby gets. She contracted the H-Flu strictly because of her compromised immune system due to her Cyclic Neutropenia. H-Influenzae causes middle ear infections, conjunctivitis, sinusitis, pneumonia, epiglottis and bacterial meningitis. On day 3 after the onset of her symptoms, she already had 3 out of the 6 things caused by H-Flu. Getting early and agressive treatment saved our baby girl! Thank you, Dr. Fekete!!!

Wednesday morning, AM lab results came back and Emily's white count had jumped back up to 23,000, her CRP was at 5 (normal is 0-1.0) and Sed Rate was 76 (normal for her age is 0-10). Needless to say, we didn't come home on Wednesday. A chest x-ray was ordered and it showed Reactive Airway Disease and Pneumonia. Now she has 4 out of 6 things caused by H-Flu! Breathing treatments with chest percussion were ordered for every 4 hours. Should have had a video camera for those!

Thursdays labs were beginning to look a little better, but Dr. Fekete said that her infection and inflammation levels will take a good while to come down because of the severity of her illness and her having Cyclic Neutropenia. The good news is that her neutrophils are good right now! That means that her body is working hard to get her well!

She was discharged today!!! She has to stay home for 2 weeks, take Augmentin ES (the stronger one) for 14 more days, do eye drops (which she HATES) 3 times a day for 7 more days and if she does go anywhere, she has to wear a mask.

Overall, I think that this was quite a wake-up call for us. I think we had gotten somewhat comfortable with her "fever spells" and this has reminded us that we really do have to be careful with her. She has been such a little trooper and we had some wonderful nurses and hospital friends that helped us. I am so thankful for such great people!!! Please keep praying for us, especially Emily. She still has a long way to go to be well. Stephen is happy to have us home and we're happy to be with him! Maybe his nerves will calm down now. His whole class made cards for Emily today! It was great to see the smile on her face when she got them and to se his face light up when he gave them to her!



Thanks again for everything!!! Keep praying!!!



Love,Courtney


Let’s continue to keep little Emily in our thoughts and prayers. And please send a little love and a get well wish to Emily by her grandmother Cheryl Cummings. Cheryl’s email address is cbarrett82(at)elmore(dot)rr(dot)com