Overnight in the ER

 

I was so looking forward to my first "real" night of sleep last night.  I thought I had just about conquered the bulk of my jet lag and anticipated not seeing my clock until it hit 6.  And then 11:30 rolled around and Sticks woke me up with a crying boy in in his arms.

 

I should have known it was coming.  I even commented on the fact that we made a run to the ER three days after Sweet One came home for stitches in Dr. Jiggles' head (he was playing superman and dove onto the couch with his cape over his head - missed the couch, headed a lamp). I was joking about the fact that I was so much more on top of things this time around - I had made it past day 3 without a trip to the ER.  Well, then came day 4.

 

We had noticed last evening the Rudolfo needed to run to the bathroom several times in a very short period of time.  (5 times in 10 minutes).  I commented to my mom that we needed to check on that first thing at his already scheduled well child visit this morning.  At around 11:30, he got up to relieve himself and cried out in pain.  Sticks heard him and went to investigate.  He was doubled over in pain and holding his abdomen.  I suspected a urinary tract infection.  I've experienced that little piece of misery and was not about to ask a child to endure that until the morning.  I didn't think I could make it to urgent care before it closed, so off we went to the ER.  He seemed to calm a bit in the car, but while we sat in the waiting room, he started dry heaving and holding his belly again.  The tears came again too.  I felt so helpless.  They had told me we would likely wait at least an hour to be seen.  My kid was in complete misery. 

 

We were finally brought back and waited another hour to find out the results of the urine test. It was inconclusive.  By this time full and uncontrollable vomiting had started, so they gave him some anti nausea meds.  Since I had been pretty convinced we were dealing with a UTI, I was concerned that they weren't so sure.  I don't like a mystery when dealing with health issues.  More tests were run as well as poking and prodding by a PA and then an MD.  We waited and waited, and he finally fell asleep for a bit. 

 

They finally decided to assume a UTI was the most likely possibility and to treat as such. They brought in his first dose of antibiotics. That stayed in his stomach for all of 20 seconds and then came right back up.  Ugh.  They considered keeping him there, but rechecked all his vitals and decided with no fever, strong heart rate, no other red flags, we could go home.  I got orders for prescriptions to fill in the morning and drove us home on the empty roads in the middle of the night.  We were home by 3:30.  I settled Rudolfo in to sleep with me in case he had more difficulty, but he slept through the night just fine.  He kept his hand on my shoulder the entire night.  What a sweetheart. 

 

The one and only good thing about this whole event is that it gave me the chance to completely care for him, soothe him, and hold him in his suffering.  It was a good bonding opportunity, but one I think I would have preferred to skip.

 

We went to our appointment with the pediatrician this morning.  She said everything looks great - except for a likely UTI.  Once we get that taken care of, and confirm with cultures that that is truly the problem, we can move ahead with all the blood work and additional immunizations he'll need as the more standard course of care for a newly internationally adopted child. 

 

In other news, we got this really nice "new addition" gift from the fun folks that work with Sticks.  Thank you to our Enterprise family for such  thoughtfulness, Each member of the family has claimed the use of a preferred gift card.  Mom has claimed the right to hold them all until such time that they are ready for redemption.  (My favorite one was the Bass Pro Shop card - our little fisherman can gear up with equipment beyond his own bare hands!)

 

 

 

We'll be taking the rest of today to heal and recover from sleeplessness on top of sleeplessness.  I'm really looking forward to the day when I feel "normal" again.  I guess I've never really been all that "normal" anyway though... 

 

:)