Mystery Diagnosis--Our Family Edition

Usually I don't share too much medical information on our blog for various reasons. I will put stuff from time to time, but I try to leave out the major details. However, baby Caroline has recently stumped us all and I thought I'd share the story. On Friday or Saturday, her right eye became "goopy" as we call it in our house. On Sunday, her left eye joined in the goop-production as well. I assumed that she just had blocked tear ducts and didn't worry too much about it---Lily had one for months, literally, when she was an infant that no amount of nasolacrimal massage could fix and we ended up having to get drops for her that cured it in one day. On Monday, we woke up and Caroline's left eye was very red and swollen underneath it and a little on the lid as well. We went to the doctor that afternoon to see what was going on and I assumed we'd end up with some drops to put in her eye. We saw the doctor, who was thoroughly stumped by what she had--he called another doctor from the office in to see her as well, who also had no clue about what was wrong, and they decided that they should run some lab tests, cultures, blood work, etc and start her on antibiotic injections. When the doctor returned to the room after the tests had been done in the lab at the doctor's office, he sat us down and told us that Caroline had a very very high white blood cell count. He was alarmed by how high it was and had called the CHOA emergency department doctor to conference. They felt as though we needed to take her immediately to the emergency room there. He was concerned that her eye was just a sign of a much bigger problem such as a systemic infection. He advised us that they usually call an ambulance for this type of thing, but that he thought we'd be fine if we go straight there. He said not to go home for any reason and don't pause at all, but just go straight to the ER and that they were expecting us. He also checked to be sure we had some support in the area. He said a couple times, "Don't pause." Uh...what?!? I'm sorry, you must have the wrong room...we are just here for some eye drops!!! So we gathered up Caroline and headed to the ER. They were indeed expecting us and got us back to a room very quickly. By this point, I was a wreck, trying to think positively, but scared as to why is was such an emergency and why the doctor wanted to know about our support sytem. Also by this point, Caroline's eye was even more swollen, to the point that she couldn't open it and had quite a bit of pus coming from it. They did a catheter for a urine sample, drew blood, started an IV, and did a lumbar puncture, which was one of the hardest things to watch ever in my life. Her lab work in the hospital looked a lot better, but they weren't certain if it was because of a difference of the equipment used or if she's actually improved. We ended up seeing 2 doctors at the hospital, neither of whom were certain about what Caroline had and both of whom talked to other doctors at the hospital as well. They all decided that they best plan was for us to take Caroline home with only an ointment to put in her eye, for us to monitor her for fever and to follow-up with our pediatrician the next day, with the understanding that just because she wasn't being admitted that night, doesn't mean she wouldn't need to be admitted the next day. They just felt as though it was too risky to admit a 9 day old to the hospital when they weren't even quite sure what she had and her lab work looked better. So we went home. The next day her eye looked better to us--less swollen and less red. We went back to the pediatrician, who was upset that the hospital had not given Caroline any antibiotic injections, and was still concerned about what she had---apparently her biggest concern was related to some specific type of absess which gets bad quickly and can cause vision damage. She conferenced with another doctor in the office and they decided to just continue with the ointment since her eye did look better, and she wanted us to bring Caroline in again the next day. We went back the next day, where, once again her eye looked better. I asked the doctor again about what it might be and he expressed that it may be an infected blocked tear duct but that they last time he saw one like Caroline had was 15 years ago and that baby had needed immediate surgery. Wow. He sent us to a pediatric opthamologist straight from that appointment, who examined Caroline and said her vision was perfect and since her eye was looking better every day, he wasn't too concerned about it. He still didn't know what it was, but expressed that it was either an infected blocked tear duct or some other type or bacterial or viral infection. Gee, thanks for clearing that up. He wanted to see Caroline again the next day (which is today) and again said her eye looked better and based on the cultures, feels she apparently had an infected blocked tear duct as well as some sort of skin infection--so weird to me considering how handwashing-crazy we are in this house!! He wants to see her for what we hope is her final appointment regarding this issue some day next week. What a crazy experience!! 5 doctor's appointments and 1 hospital visit in 1 week!! It has left me feeling a multitude of things--I am so relieved, obviously, that nothing is seriously wrong with her. I feel guilty for putting her through what in the end was unnecessary tests. I feel guilty for spending so little time with Lily through the whole process. I worry that it will flare up again in the future. I am grateful for Bryan's good insurance!! Mostly, I am just grateful that she is better!