One Year Ago Today 12/2/2012: "She has to be admitted to the hospital!"

(12/2/2012, Sunday) Evie has been sick for four or five days. It began with a fever, then later in the week the fever vanished but it was replaced with intense bouts of vomiting and bloody diarrhea. We took her to the doctor. The results of an e-coli test were negative, and they said "It must just be a virus, and she'll be fine in a few days." I pled with the doctor's office over the next few days "What can be done? She's in constant agony and is terribly weak. She can't keep food down, and she's lost too much fluid, she needs an IV." "She'll be okay," they said, "just give it another couple days."   
Sometimes it is best to listen to your parental-spidey-sense.  Unfortunately I didn't. I did as the nurse told me to do, and I continued to wait for her to be "fine". 

Learn from my mistake.

This morning I couldn't ignore it any longer. I called the doctor's office again. "We can talk about whatever you want, and I'll answer whatever questions you need to ask, but in the end, you have to agree: She has to be admitted to the hospital!" 45 minutes and a lot of questions later, the nurse agreed.  "I'll page the doctor, she'll call you within the hour." I began packing a bag, but couldn't shake the need to check on Evie every few minutes.

And then it happened. My little brown-eyed angel had a seizure on our couch.

I called 911. I did my best to help her avoid biting her tongue, yet kept her airway unobstructed. The local police and paramedics responded very quickly. She continued to seize. They placed her on a stretcher in the middle of our living room. The phone rang. "Hello Mr. Wentz, I've talked to the nurse, I understand you think Evie should be admitted to the hospital, and based on what I've heard, I agree."  "You are too late. She's being loaded into an Ambulance. She is having a seizure."

Heather, (my wife) went with Evie to the local (Moore County) regional hospital. I tried to calm down Evie's sisters (10, 6) and her little brother (18 months). A member of our church came and stayed with our kids while I drove to the hospital. Evie was given a special priesthood blessing while unconscious in the emergency room. The blood work results were not good--a life-flight helicopter was sent to take Evie to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at UNC Chapel Hill. There was not room for Heather on the helicopter, so she drove the 60 miles as quickly as she could to be with our precious girl.
 

Evie's kidneys are not functioning. They placed an emergency femoral catheter so that they can perform dialysis. They don't know yet what caused the issues. Originally they'd guessed E-Coli, but they've run two tests now which have both been negative. They mentioned at some point that they believed she has an ulcer, but I haven't yet heard that they've positively confirmed that. She has not yet regained consciousness.

The kidney function is the primary concern, but things seem to be changing fast, so that may change. It sounds like she'll be up there for a couple weeks at least.  Hopefully we'll have more answers to share soon.

Please pray for her.

DISCLAIMER: Posts Labeled "One Year Ago Today" are a record of what transpired when Evie first became ill.  The slightly edited text comes from emails which we sent to family to let them know what was happening, and to keep them updated.  These posts are usually long, but if you want to truly understand what life was like for us, and what led to this point, it makes for great "light" reading.