Saturday, September 8, 2012

September 7, 2012 ~ A Day at the Hospital

Yes, it's true. Billy got his third trip to the hospital.

It started Thursday night. He woke up soon after going to bed and asked for cuddles. Uh oh. Billy only likes attack cuddles and usually in the daytime. Never at night. And every time I tried to put him down he asked for more cuddles.

 Then, late into the night he started throwing up. He was up all night, miserable, screaming, puking and whimpering. It was terrible night for us all. In the morning he finally fell asleep, so I let him sleep as long as he wanted- a whole four hours and then called the doctor once he got up.

It was clear to me that he was having breathing trouble again, which is what prompted me to take him to see his pediatrician anyway. By morning the puking had stopped.

They treated him at the ped's office with a nebulizer, but his breathing only improved marginally. So, we were sent off to the ER for further treatment and evaluation.

At the hospital they gave him his magic adventure bracelet so that everyone would know he was on a grand adventure. Listen, I had to make him think it was a good thing somehow. The ER is a big adventure.

He was treated with a dinosaur mask to three more nebulizers, and still he was breathing better but not well. He was a big boy though, didn't cry and helped hold the mask in place. He didn't like the elastic around his head, but as long as he could hold it or Mommy hold it he was okay and sat quietly while he was treated. This is a huge improvement from the last time.

As it turned out, even with three temp readings showing him having a normal temp, a final temp check with a rectal thermometer proved he had a fever. Immediately, the doctors suspected pneumonia. It was off for xrays to verify.

The xrays showed one small spot of infection on a lung, but no pneumonia. So, they treated him with a steroid, motrin for the fever and sent us home once his pulse-ox got up to 95.

We were there until almost 5 and in that whole time he didn't sleep and had a total of 4 crackers of food for the day with a handful of cheerios in the morning. I hadn't sleep either and I didn't have food and only half a cup of coffee- no other drink, for the whole day. I didn't think we would end up at the hospital, so I hadn't planned on it.

When we got home Daddy was making chili. Billy went down for a nap but got up shortly thereafter to eat. He wasn't really hungry, though. But he did want Daddy's chili. He helped make it, but it needed to Cook and Billy had to go back to bed. He went to sleep with his spoon- ready to eat at a moment's notice.

I heard him singing in his crib a few hours later and went to check on him. When I did, he popped up, spoon in hand. "It ready?!" he asked excitedly. Nope. Go back to bed. Actually, it was done, eaten and packed away in the fridge. But that's life. He can have some tonight.

Well, tonight puts him through the danger zone and then he should be fine. He's still sick, but I think he's on the mend.

Oh yeah, and the whole time at the hospital he had an aster clutched in his hand that he picked from my garden.



My question... You've got a kid with upper respiratory illness, fever and stomach conditions and you don't take a blood test? He was just at the fair twice. Swine flu? He's covered in mosquito bites. West Nile? But they didn't test him for these. I'm just curious why not? I didn't think about it then, but after I got home and thought about it. He's got flu-like symptoms and you don't test? What am I missing?

(our state has had outbreaks of both diseases in the past two weeks.)

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