First of all, nobody enjoys being sick, or even worse, watching their children be sick and having absolutely nothing you can do about it. Last week, one of the season's lovely stomach flu's reared its ugly head in our household. For a "normal" size family, this causes enough of a ruckus, but when you add a 6 person household to the equation, along with 2 parents that work/go to school full time, and a backup babysitter that lives with someone who's immune system is shot from chemotherapy and other "joys" of cancer, it is simply out of control!
This past week has been one hectic whirlwind to say the least! Late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning around 11pm, Drew woke up with excruciating stomach pain to the point where he was unable to lay still or get comfortable. About an hour l later he began vomiting with absolutely no relief in between each episode. He was very guarding of his stomach and would not let Dan get near him to touch it. Normally when Drew gets the flu, he will get sick, and then be fine/play until the next episode of vomiting and he repeats this pattern until he is better. About 1:30, Dan decided to take Drew to the ER and I called into work (not knowing if anyone else was going to get sick, or if I needed to take them to school, or if I would end up needing to go to the hospital to be with the boys). I later found out that Dan was even more nervous than I realized because Drew had complained of stomach pain a few times during the day on Wednesday to the point where he had to sit down and curl into a ball.
About 3:30, Dan sent me an update that Drew's white blood cell count was "really high" and that they were going to be doing a CT scan to rule out his appendix. Then, 1/2 hour later, he tells me they are EMS'ing them to Children's Hospital in St. Louis but doesn't tell me why right away. So, at 4am, I called my mom to come stay with the other kids while I quick got in the shower and was ready to leave by the time she arrived at 4:30am.
As I was leaving and driving to the hospital, I was able to get ahold of Dan who said they were just leaving on the ambulance and that the reason he had to go to Children's was because he was too young to scan at the current hospital (they have to be 6 years and 1 day, he's 5) and because they had to start an IV and bolus him with fluids since he was so dehydrated (his blood pressure had dropped pretty low). Luckily though, since they had the IV in place, they could give him some anti-nausea medicine through it which helped his vomiting tremendously. The previous dose they gave him under his tongue didn't do the trick. Dan also said that Drew all of a sudden said he was feeling better. Immediately, my radar went off and I was very nervous that his appendix had ruptured and that is what caused the pain to go away! So, I had the long drive to the hospital in the rain to think about it...
While we were at the ER at Children's, they ended up doing an X-ray to rule out intussusception (telescoping of his intestines) as well as an abdominal ultrasound to attempt to rule out his appendix. The X-ray came back normal, but the MD that came in to read the ultrasound while we were in there told us that it was abnormal in the fact that his intestines were extremely inflamed and filled with fluid; so much so that it was keeping them from being able to visualize his appendix. So, as far as appendicitis or a ruptured appendix, the exam was inconclusive. During our time at ultrasound, the docs switched shifts so when we came back, we had a new group of residents/hospitalists. They told us that because his intestines were so inflamed, it appeared he had a virus and that they were sending us home, but to continue to watch for signs that his appendix may have ruptured.
Exhausted, we left the ER to head home with absolutely no answers and many new worries. Ruptured appendices have run their course in Dan's family. Once we got home, I called our pediatrician to see if he would see Drew because I wasn't convinced and I was tired of worrying. I wanted my mind put at ease! I just kept thinking, "if it was a virus, someone else would have gotten sick by now. It's been 12 hours... and why did he have the pain on Wednesday?" At the pediatrician's office, Drew still had a low grade fever and was beginning to have some more stomach pain, but not as bad as before. The doctor was able to get a good assessment of his abdomen and informed us that he felt Drew might be severely constipated/impacted causing the pain with a virus on top of it leading to the temp and an elevated WBC count. He ordered 2 enemas and some miralax and told us to continue watching for an increased fever (over 101) and pain.
Fast forward to 4:30pm... Drew was napping and I noticed he was tossing and turning a lot and beginning to moan again. When I went to check on him, he felt very warm, so I woke him up to take his temp: 101.4... and now he says his stomach hurts more than before. We called my parents to come stay with the other kids while we took Drew back to the hospital and we called the pediatrician to let him know we were going back in. By the time the pediatrician called back and my parents arrived, Drew had fallen back asleep. We figured that his pain couldn't be too bad if he was able to sleep, so we decided to wake him back up in an hour and see where we were at. Meanwhile, my parents took the other three back to their house for a sleepover in case we did have to take Drew back in. When we woke Drew back up around 6pm, his temp was down and he said his tummy didn't hurt anymore and he could barely stay awake from being so exhausted after being up all night... nothing like a roller coaster! We made the decision to try and get some sleep while we could. We all slept in the living room that night (not enough room in our bed for both of us, my pregnant belly, and a sick 5 year old) so we could keep a close eye on him. Between Dan and I, we woke up every hour to check on Drew while he continued to sleep.
We made it to Friday, and were comforted when his appetite seemed to be returning when he woke up. He had some animal crackers as a test to see how his stomach would handle it and some eggs once we realized it could. As the day went on, however, he drank one cup of juice mixed with Miralax and didn't eat anything else. He was still very lethargic all day, but the miralax seemed to work where the enemas had not. That night, still nervous and overprotective, I had Drew sleep with me so I could keep a close eye on him through the night. He was out cold by 7:30pm, and me by 9pm. Around 11pm, I was so rudely awaken to Drew vomiting all over me and the bed. I quickly turned him off his back and then realized it was in my hair, the side of my face was so saturated that it was dripping off my ear, and my shirt was soaked. I yelled for Dan to come get Drew and the bed clean and I got in the shower. Seriously, almost 48 hours after the last time he threw up, he did it again with a ridiculous amount. No wonder he didn't want to eat most of the day! And now, the "close watch" begins again... I sat awake for 2 hours watching them sleep to make sure Drew wasn't going to get sick again... and then when he didn't, I went back to bed!
Drew slept with Dan the rest of the night and on Saturday morning I woke up feeling cruddy. Seeing as how I'm pregnant and have indigestion/reflux/nausea quite a bit still, I kept telling myself that was all it was and that I was being paranoid to think I was getting this "virus" that I swore the doctors weren't completely right about. Needless to say, I spent the entire day horribly nauseous and uncomfortable until around 5:45pm when I finally got sick. I felt better for about 10 minutes and then felt really nauseous again until the next morning when I woke up. Luckily though, I never did get sick again! I was so exhausted over night that I didn't realize Zach woke up around midnight and was vomiting... one by one we were being knocked down and out! He continued to get sick for about 13-14 hours. Not long after he was "done with the bucket", Kylie woke up from her nap whimpering. I knew she was next... 6pm... her start time.
Knowing that I had to work the next day (Monday), Dan said he'd take care of her over night despite the fact that he had just been up with Zach the night before. 5:15am when I woke up, she was still vomiting! Poor Dan, and to make matters worse, he was feeling really bad now. Down went casualty #5. I went to work with the hopes that since our census was low, I could come home early and help Dan out.... no such luck. Somehow, he made it through the day. Zach spent the day sleeping and recovering so he didn't go to school, and with worries that Heidi would get sick at school, she stayed home as well. My mom took Drew to and from school for Dan.
When I got home that night, I told Dan to go to bed and that I would take care of Heidi if she woke up vomiting, but that if she didn't, I wasn't keeping her home from school again. Midnight came around (our bewitching our apparently) and sure enough, Heidi was taken out! Poor girl was getting sick every 10 minutes for at least 2 1/2 hours and then I lost count... Tuesday came, I was off work, and was able to stay with Heidi. I was sure that by that evening, her fever would be gone and she would be able to go back to school on Wednesday. Nope! 6:30pm, Tuesday, her fever is 101.7 and not helped by motrin. I called to work to see where our census was at and warned them I might have to call in again if I couldn't get low censused. Dan missed school Monday and couldn't miss a weeks worth of those classes, so it was my turn to "take one for the team". At this point, I cannot ask my parents to watch the kids who can't be at school because my dad's immune system is shot, plus I wouldn't wish this horrible virus upon anyone! We are left to fend for ourselves.
Here we are, a week later from the initial stomach pains with Drew, and I'm home with Heidi after having to call in until 3pm when Dan will be home to switch over. We've spent the morning catching up on homework from the last 2 days and her temp is down, but she still gets worn out easily. The plus side to today... there isn't anyone else in our house that can possibly get this! I'd have to say that illnesses like this is the ONLY downside to having a big family.
Through all of this, I've realized things I took for granted previously. For instance, being a stay at home mom when a stomach bug tears through your family of 6 would be much easier than trying to have 2 parents work full time. My PTO that I've been saving up for after the baby is born is probably used up and I feel awful making that call saying I can't fulfill my job obligation. I hate feeling like I'm letting people down! Then, I try and put things back in perspective that no matter how horrible this stomach bug seemed, its nothing compared to brain cancer. My dad had an MRI on Monday and gets the results today to see if there has been any additional tumor growth. While I'm worrying about not being able to be at work, my mom and dad are worrying about something on a much bigger scale. So, I say a prayer and hope that if his tumor has grown again, we deal with the news gracefully.
No comments:
Post a Comment