We finally found out what Lizzy has.. poor girl.
She woke up again with a fever on Thursday so we went to the clinic right away. The doctor did a physical exam and ordered blood, urine, and stool tests. Getting her blood withdrawn was our first battle. A few hours later, her blood results came out and showed a clear indication of inflammation (CRP of 48) the rest was normal. By 4pm we got her urine sample and sent it back. But her fever went up again, her tummy is aching and she’s having diarrhea. We went to a bigger hospital this time and the ER was super efficient and the doctors and nurses were super nice. While we were there, the urine result came out, she has a urinary infection. We showed her blood and urine results to the ER doctors, and also got her heart checked with an ECG (because the morning doctor heard some murmur, fortunately, nothing came out). We got antibiotics for the urinary infection, probiotics, and zinc.
That night she woke up again with more tummy pain and diarrhea. She barely eats these days so it must have been really painful.
Friday noon, she’s not getting any better and her tummy pain is coming stronger and more frequent. I decided to take her back to ER. While we were there, we got her stool tested. She has amoeba, a type of parasite!!! This could be from drinking or eating contaminated food/water.
Additional course of antibiotic to treat the parasite, 7 days, 3 times a day. Gosh…
Now, Saturday morning. Her tummy pain is still there, and diarrhea continues, but at least she’s under the right medication. Hopefully, it works and kills the parasite asap so she can be herself. The antibiotic for the urinary infection seems to be working as she doesn’t have a fever anymore, only tummy pain and diarrhea.
Takeaways:
- going to big hospitals instead of small clinics as the small clinic didn’t even have a pediatrician on call
- when in doubt, go back to get checked. I almost hesitated to take her back 12 hrs after her first ER visit. But given how painful her tummy pain she has, I can’t just do nothing to help. I’m glad that we got to the bottom of it.
- take nothing for granted, especially healthy kids.
We suspect our water is not clean… not sure but for precautionary measures, we are using bottled water for now. Jakarta is notorious for bad water quality, so it’s not completely surprising that it could be from water, yet surprising because this building is so new and modern. Sigh….
I really need a break/rest after all this taking care of a sick kid… this is something I can’t delegate, not even to daddy, because Lizzy just wants mommy.
When she’s not having tummy pain, she acts normal, except for not having much appetite, so I just remind her to drink electrolyte water
Our New Journey 
I am so glad you got to the bottom of what is going on! Poor little girl! Hopefully the meds work fast and don’t bother her too much. Antibiotics are so hard on my boys’s stomach so we give them lots of yogurt which kind of helps.
Thinking of you all! You have enough going on as is without having to navigate a healthcare system and figure out water quality issues!!
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Oh the poor soul! That all sounds so miserable at the best of times, but having just moved and navigating a new system. Gah. Stressful and exhausting for everyone!
I hope the water situation gets sorted quickly and you’re able to confidently make decisions to avoid similar issues in the future. And it can be so hard to decide to go back quickly for a second opinion, but I think as a mother our gut instincts are almost always right. This happened to a friend this summer when her daughter was sent home because the abdominal pain wasn’t on the “right” side for appendicitis. They ended up going back less than 24 hours later and INSISTED they do an ultrasound and sure enough…the little girl did have appendicitis. All that to say – I’m so glad you went with your gut and that poor Lizzy is getting treatment and should be on the mend!
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Oh gosh! Glad you got it figured out, but how stressful to deal with, especially in a new country! The water issue is such a big problem in so many places… we don’t drink the tap water in Mexico either. Everyone has big jugs of fresh water in the house that they change out a couple times per week for drinking and cooking with. I probably take for granted here at our house how lucky we are to always have clean, fresh water! But who knows- maybe she picked it up from a food too? That could happen anywhere. Hope she fully recovers soon and that she stays well.
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