First off, I'd like to warn you that I'm posting this from my phone and well... auto correct hates me! Lol I try to catch all of the random and weird words auto corrected in, but when I start typing to fast who knows what will get left in. We'll call it a game :)
As I type this it is 5:50am and I've been up for almost an hr. I'm sitting in my pjs in a hospital room recliner next to Judah sleeping soundly in his bed. It is the beginning of day three in the hospital.
For those who haven't seen my posts on Facebook... Judah got sick with what we thought was a run of the mill stomach bug thus past Friday night. It started with the ever so common waking up in the middle of the night with a belt ache followed by throwing up and sleeping on mommy and daddy's bedroom floor on a pallet of blankets with a trash can near by. By Saturday morning his diarrhea had started and his appetite was gone. Then on Sunday we thought we saw the light at the end of the tunnel. His appetite was back a little, he hadn't thrown up since Saturday evening and he wad perking back up some. We were wrong. By Sunday afternoon it all came back with a vengeance this time. He started in with uncontrollable severe diarrhea and went down hill. He slept on or floor again that night and was up a few times.
By Monday morning I was getting pretty concerned that he wasn't keeping any food or fluids in and all we had been able to get him to eat for over 12 hrs was a single banana. Around 10:30-11 I made the call to our doctor to get their opinion/advise. They offered to see him, but said they would send him to the ER for fluids if he was dehydrated, so we could skip an office visit and go straight to the ER if we wanted. Something in me knew things just weren't quite right, I guess, so we opted to head straight to the ER. My parents were both home from work and not feeling well but still offered to keep the girls for us, so I could go ahead and take Judah in, until Larry could get out of work and pick them up. I assumed we would just get some fluids in him, possibly some meds for his stomach pain and such and be back home by that night. However, things didn't go according to that plan. They got him checked in and hooked up to an IV pretty quickly. He even watched and helped put his own IV in! He was pale and extremely lethargic but still mustered smiles for the nurses and everyone loved him. He was pretty popular in there :) They quickly started running tests and a few house after arriving they came in and said he was going to be moved up to the pediatric floor. I was surprised and not surprised all at the same time, if that makes sense. That is where this adventure really began.
In the ER I didn't really get a clear cut answer on why they were admitting him other than his white blood cell count was high. Once up here I was able to talk with his nurses and doctor much more in depth and we began the hunt for what wad causing all if his symptoms. Basically, his white cell count is very high but he also has white cells and blood in his stool. Neither of which are apparently common in child with viruses. That then led them to begin the hunt for some kind of bacterial infection or chronic gastric disease. The doctor here has been great and us really hoping we find something in one of the less invasive tests before having to move to the much more inside ones. The first thing they tested for was rotavirus-negative. Then we moved on to stool cultures for bacteria-so far those are negative too. Next came a C Diff test-negative too. Then they bright in the big guns!
As if Judah doesn't already have a big enough collection of doctors, we have now added a pediatric gastroenterologist to the mix. Try saying it five times fast... it's hard! Anywho, she is great and we both really like her. She came by yesterday and checked him over and we discussed all of the possible options and tests. Since the others were all coming back negative, she decided to start looking at chronic disease options next. The first we are looking at is Celiacs disease. It sounds bad, but since it is easily controlled with diet (which he already eats such a strict one), it wouldn't be that hard to adjust and adapt to meet those needs. As weird as it sounds, if he's going to be diagnosed with a chronic gastric illness it's the one to have. They drew the blood for the test last night and we are now playing the waiting game to get the results back. It's definitely not one of our favorite games!
As far as his symptoms go, things were staying to look a little better yesterday late morning. He asked for breakfast in the burning, ate some corn flakes and fruit and seemed to be perking up. His doctor ordered a dose of probiotics to try to help "slow things down" and they seemed to do the trick. He finally had a semi normal non-diarrhea poo and we were all thrilled. It looked like we could even possibly go home if he kept it up. Instead, not even an hour later, the excitement was over. His diarrhea was back and even worse. His output was higher than his intake again and by 3pm we knew we were here for another night. As of 10 pm last night it hadn't gotten any better either. We decided to give him a dose of ibuprofen, then, to possibly help with his stomach pain and so he could get a little better sleep. Amazingly he was asleep by about 9:30 and is still asleep at almost 6:30! He woke up a handful of times through the night because his IV pump would go off because he was laying on his line or something like that, but he didn't get up a single time to go to the bathroom. His pull up us filled to the max, but so far he hasn't had to go poop. I don't know yet if he will as soon as he wakes up or not, but I'm praying for the best.
As far as today goes... We wait. We are waiting for the results of his latest blood work and for him to drink enough to stay hydrated on his own without needing the IV as well as to intake more than he outputs in poo.
Please pray for guidance for his doctors and that we will finally be able to get some answers soon! If these tests come back negative three has been talk about having to do an endoscopy to find out exactly why his body is still doing all of this 6 days later. That would not be fun, so we really aren't exited about that route.
Please also pray for Larry and I. As any parent knows, it is the worst feeling in the world to have a sick child and not be able to make everything meter for them. To be honest, too, I've held it all together really well this week and done fine up here alone with him; but I'm terrified. I'm terrified that something serious is wrong with my baby and that I won't be able to help him or make him better. I'm terrified that this is something he will have to deal with his whole life and, like any parent, I hate seeing my child in constant pain. We have made it through so much with him and I knew we will do it again. It's just not any fun in the middle of it. Larry is just as scared as I am, but also has the added stress of not being able to be up here because he is at home with the girls and has to go in to work some.
Or family has been such a support for us and our parents were able to come up and see him yesterday, which made his day. They brought him lots of coloring books, toys and fun things to do and even brought me my favorite chocolates and some magazines :)
I knew we will get through all of this one day at a time and so appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers from everyone. Life with Judah has definitely not been what I expected when I found out we were having him almost 7 years ago, but I wouldn't trade my beautiful boy for anything! He lights up my world and I am honored that I get to be the one here in this recliner in a dark hospital room next to him sleeping in the bed.
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