Everett tricked mommy into not one but two hospital visits this week. And by tricked I mean the first required minor treatment and the second required immediate attention. The real kicker is they both took place on the same day, Monday. On Sunday night Everett started to vomit. He couldn't hold down anything, would throw up water within 1 minute of taking it. Unfortunately on Monday morning he was still unable to keep down water. We headed to the hospital to fill out some work paper work. While there my charge nurse took a little at Everett and suggested we head down to emergency just to get him checked out and an order of the miracle drug Zofran. So begrudgingly I did it. I took my baby down to the germ infested waiting room and waited. Of course I gave my good friend Jen, an emergency room nurse, the heads up we were coming. Eventually we saw the triage nurse "What seems to be the emergency?" my response "I wouldn't call it an emergency" Ha! Wasn't I smug? As I told the resident, who I happened to know from the floor "I feel like I'm wasting resources by being here." Of course she did a full assessment on Everett, and provided him with a small dose of Zofran and Tylenol, which stopped the vomiting. So we were off on are merry way.
Everett of course fell asleep as soon as we got home and he enjoyed a wonderful 2 hour nap. When Everett woke up he enjoyed two ounces of milk. And then his hands, feet and lips turned blue. Not an I'm cold blue, a full blue. His temp was 38.0, he was responsive but something was not right. I grabbed Everett, went to my parents house, who reassuringly said "Take him back to the emergency room!!" Dylan and I did just that.
Unfortunately the triage nurse who was very busy didn't seem to believe us at all, and informed us it would be a 4 hour wait. 2 and a half hours later we were admitted.
The intern we saw made me smile with his confidence. He made a ton of uninformed claims like "Sometimes peripheral cyanosis can be a good thing." Really when?!?!?!? My kid is not a smurf!!! Or "Im concerned it might be a stomach issue such as Chrone's"...Really?!?!?!? Because Im pretty sure it's gastro since I was pooping and vomiting earlier this week. And of course "I'm sorry but your kid checks out. I think they're going to send you home."Really because his resting heart rate is 180, his BP is 108/68, his o2 sats are 92-95%. HE TURNED BLUE!!!! HE DOES NOT CHECK OUT!!!
After the intern left I was going over all these arguments in my head, waiting for the resident to come in, praying for a resident I know. Wasn't I shocked to see an Emergency room intensivist instead. Of course she took one look at Everett and said "There is something wrong with your son, you won't be leaving." She then continued to say to the intern "His heart rate is elevated, his pulses are thready, his peripheral pulses no longer match, his feet are dusky, his extremities are very cold, Did you even look at his feet?!? His cap refills are about 5 seconds. We have been bothering him for how long and he has no tears, and his mouth is dry. We need to get him fluid started right away." By this point Everett was no longer sitting independently able to drink himself. It was breaking my heart to hear everything the Dr. said because I knew what it ment. But at the same time it was such a relief to know. The Dr. was very reassuring. She said she was pretty sure that he had "turned blue" because he was so dehydrated that his cirrculation was being compromised, but to be sure she wanted to do a partial work up, including EKG and chest Xray.
Everett ended up having the workup including, 2 IV pokes, blood work, catheter, A tube up his nose for NPA's and well the works. But he was to tired to care. The only part that really upset him was the Xray which he needed to be sat up in this plastic contraption.
800cc of fluid, 2 boluses and 50 cc/hr maintanance, and 12 hours later my son was painfully able to sit independently for short periods again, and started to make soft babbleing noises. But the most wonderful site for me was to see one single tear role down his face.
Everett was discharged, he still weighed less then his 1 year check up, he was still weak, but he could drink again. And we were given prescription of Zofran. Our nurse Mary said it best "Im so glad he reacted so well the bolus's. I thought you were going to be here for awhile." I smiled because I knew what she ment. I knew what she wasn't saying, because I have said those words to. Dylan of course is still clueless to how sick our little man was. He just knew if I was worried then he was too!
On Tuesday Everett was probably awake for a total of 3 hours. I determined he wasn't able to tolerate cow's milk, when he started throwing up again and his tummy was all distended. So on Wednesday we defrosted left over breast milk and he drank that all day tolerating it well. Thank goodness I hadn't gotten around to throwing it out yet. He was still pretty sick, continued to have a temperature and was unable to walk independently.
By Wednesday he was up for 5 hours of the day. Tolerated breast milk, and at dinner ate 6 bites of rice cereal. He was up walking around and finally smiled and laughed again. This morning you can't even tell he was sick. His appetite is still tiny but he is working on it. He is up playing and getting into trouble as we speak.
Now for all you cloth diaper users out there, no I did not use cloth diapers at the hospital, in fact I had to go up to my unit to steal some disposables for him. It was a hard thing to do, but when your kid is dehydrated they want to keep track of everything that comes in and out, so we weigh diapers. And that is what disposables are ment for emergencies!!
Wed
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