The Bug and The Drama Queen

Trials and Tribulations...


Wow....what a trial that was~



I think I speak the truth when I say there is almost nothing worse than having a child sick, and the Dr's not being able to diagnose it.

All kinds of crazy things go through your head...

Here's what happened, and how it all started...

A few weeks ago right before I was set to head to Virginia to see Papa and Popo (grandparents visiting from Hawaii) and my brother and his kids....Bug got sick.


He was coughing and running a high temp of 103 to 104.


I (and worse mom of the year award goes to.....) thought it was the bug that was going around and after his fever went away....off we went.


He SEEMED recovered. Now in retrospect I think Bug was just tooo excited to let his illness slow him down...he LOVES his Popo and Papa, and couldn't WAIT to see them.


Anyway...we went and had a BLAST visiting. Meanwhile Bug had the cough the whole time. (the cough seemed to be in his chest only, and he wasnt coughing hard enough to cough anything UP) we went swimming...played games....etc...

Fast forward 2 weeks later.

He is STILL coughing....and I am giving him a "cough suppresent" thinking this will help knock it out!!

He wakes up Tuesday night (19th) and is SCREAMING for me. I go flying into his room (literally), and he is crying saying his stomach hurts and he is going to throw up. I swoop him up and carry him to the bathroom, where he dry heaves and bawls his little eyes out.

I take his temp...

it's 104.9.

I give him childrens tylenol and some water.


He falls right back to sleep.....waking periodically to ask for water because his skin is on fire.


Not one to panic..... and trying not to run to the doctors for every sniffle.....


I figure his fever will break by the next day.


Wed comes......


he wakes up and is still running a fever, and doesn't even want to get out of bed (THIS should have been my FIRST clue to bring him in) I dose him again, and let him rest.

About 1 o'clock in the afternoon, I went in to take his temp for the 100th time, and it was up to 105.3


I woke him up (which was hard to do) and he asked for water...as i handed it to him I noticed he could BARELY hold the cup...his hands were shaking so bad....then I thought I heard a dog....and since I know we dont have one I looked around.....it was Bug panting. seriously. Picture a dog after it has run to chase a ball for about a half an hour in the summer. THAT'S what it sounded like.


o.k.


it was time to freak.


We havent established a pediatrician in the area yet....so my first insinct was Urgent Care. But he seemed pretty bad....so I called there to see if maybe the E.R wasn't a better idea.


They said it was.


Do you have ANY idea how hard it is to drive the SPEED limit to the ER???????


hard.


Anyway.....I called Brad. He got off work to meet me at the E.R so he could take kay-kay ( I did NOT want her around all those other sick people...not to mention it seriously would have been HELL to try and contain her in the waiting room) and in we went.

It's PACKED.


2 hour wait to see the triage nurse.


1 more hour wait to get room in E.R.


1 and a half MORE before we even see a D.R.


He pokes and prods....asks questions....and does his thang (yes I typed that on purpose its how his twang was)


Bug is MISERABLE.


Time for blood work and X-Rays....

time to call for back-up.


I KNOW my son.....and I KNOW how scared he is of needles.

I forewarn the nurse.


She doesn't listen....and as she goes to stick it in (I am trying to hold him down KNOWING this isn't going to be good) well.....


Bug REARS back, pulls his other arm out from under me...


and proceeds to YANK the needle out of his arm..scraping/scratching it down his arm as he is pulling.


oh....


and SCREAMING bloody murder.



The nurse jumps back and is like "oh my"...and all I wanted to do was yell...."I TOLD you!!!!" He is ALREADY been through so much and is sooo sick...but no, I DIDN'T yell.


Now he has to go through it again.

she calls in 2 other reinforcements...

UGH.....this boy has a SET of lungs on him!


Anyway....they get the blood results and the E.R doctor rushes in.

"His white blood count is a 48,000" he says "and a normal range would be 9-10,000"

"That's great I say" blissful in my ignorance.

"no.....it's not." he replies looking at me strangely.

"But I thought white blood cells were GOOD, and helped fight things off" ( I am so confused)

"Yes, they are good....in the normal range....but when they are THIS high....it's pretty serious...it means his body is really trying to fight something off, and it doesn't seem to be winning the battle......."


He starts poking Bugs belly. His right side is tender.

They get the X-Ray results....nothing they could see.

His temp (sorry bug) rectally was 106.

The E.R doctor says...."I think we need to admit him, until we can figure out what this is."

My heart stops....I am in disbelief. "Admit him? as in...stay overnight?"

He is moved upstairs to Pediatrics.


Anyway......to make an already long story short..... they had to call in a specialist THAT night instead of the tomorrow time frame we were given....the nurses were concerned.

His fever wouldn't break.


She comes in at 10:30 from home, and looks him over. Then orders an unltrasound to see if he has appendicitis.

Results: normal.

His temp starts to go down with a dose of Motrin on top of tylenol. Many breathing treatments (here is him doing one on thurs), and LOTS of fluid.



Thurs comes....he is doing a bit better.


Blood work ordered, and another X-ray. As well as breathing treatments every 4 hrs.

Results:
White cell count 35,000
X-Ray: Bronchial, Bacterial, Pnemonia


Dr. says stipulations for going home are:
1.) Cell count well below 18,000 at least

2.) No fever for 8-12 hours

3.) eats and drinks on his own


That means ANOTHER night in the hospital....


BUT....Bug is perking up, and actually smiling by nightfall....especially when he got this frog and balloons from Popo and Papa, and when his sister visited...








He had even perked up enough to have some pizza...(NOTE he refused to move his arms since he had his I.V in one, and his blood work done in the other)

"pizza" she says....(she is saving some by her eye...for later :) )





So, Brad stays with him (by request...the traitor) so I get to go home...EXHAUSTED.

Meanwhile McKayla has been staying with a friend (during the day) from the church, Mimi, and OMG let me TELL you what a GODsend she was~!!!!!!!! She is our hero. Here's a pic of her visiting...




Here is his room...


Friday comes.....

He looks SOOOO much better....after the I.V antibiotics, and steroids....he is getting back to his old self. His temp had broke, and remained normal for 8 hrs. We wait in anticipation of the bloodwork....

The Dr. says not to get my hopes up, BUT there is a good possibility of us going home by noon! :)

Yeah right......

Good news: His count went all the way down to 10,000 on friday, which he said doesn't normally happen that quickly ( I chalk it up to all the wonderful people that took the time out of THEIR lives...to pray for my family....I thank you from the bottom of my heart)

Bad news: We didn't get out of there until 8 o'clock at night. But thats a WHOLE 'nother story.

Hey, at least he was better...and we were HOME!!!!!!!

He is to remain inactive, and continue to take omnicef, breathing treatments, and be monitored.

Any sign of fever, even slight...its back to the hospital. However...I think the worst has passed. :)

So we are home....

SOOO exhausted.

But SOOOOO very thankful.

To the doctors and nurses to cared for him,
to Mimi who was an angel from heaven and took on the Drama Mama,
to the prayers from family and friends,
to the visits from church family,
to the calls from concerned friends and family,
I really cant even begin to name you OR thank you all or enough....you are all blessings.

I am off to get some much needed "down time"

Hug someone you love even tighter today!

I know I did.