Well, it finally
happened. After almost 2.5 years of
Connor walking this Earth (and many close calls), we finally ended up in the
Emergency Room. Strangely, it had
nothing to do with Connor acting out his boyish tendencies, he simply fell victim
to a crazy-aggressive stomach bug.
I can’t help but feel some responsibility towards this unfortunate turn
of events since it is highly likely that I am the one who passed it to my poor
sweet little boy (with an assist from Disney World). It all started last weekend. The family took a weekend trip to Disney to celebrate Aunt
Kaitlyn’s 13th birthday.
The three of us remained at Disney for the weekend so Connor could visit
with some of his favorite Disney Junior Characters (see last week’s blog). Sunday morning, I (being Tim) woke up
with the sudden inability to keep anything in my stomach. It was terrible. Not even something I would wish on my
worst enemies. We had planned the
entire time to hang out on Sunday in Orlando and meet up with Heather, Josh and
Hilary (who was flying in from VA later that morning) before heading home
Sunday evening. With me being
sick, we talked it over and decided that we should just stick to the plan since
it was probable just related to something I had eaten the night before and
should pass soon. Cue Connor’s
introduction to the world of vomit.
Keep in mind, not
only had we not had to make a trip to the ER, Connor had never even thrown up
to this point in his life. That
all changed, and it was not fun.
Long story short, we ended up making ourselves temporary houseguests at
Hospital deRose where Josh took great care of us (it pays to know people in the
health care world). Kristin had
not been infected by our nasty virus so she was able to enjoy the day the best
she could with Heather and Hilary.
Finally, later that evening Connor and I were both feeling “ok” enough
to make the trek home. Though the
car ride to the deRose house had many more stops, thankfully, we only had to
stop twice to get home and Kristin drove the entire way,.
By Monday morning, I
was feeling run down, but for the most part I had gotten over the hump of the
virus. Connor was not so
lucky. Although his vomiting had
calmed down, he was still having a lot of trouble processing anything that went
into his mouth. We tried out
hardest to get him to eat anything and keep him hydrated but that proved to be
difficult. Tuesday morning this
really began to get crazy. I was
feeling up to a full day at work so I was out the door early. Kristin had been fighting flu like
symptoms for a while and finally decided it best to take a day and rest so she
stayed home with Connor. Poor girl
probably regretted that decision as soon as she made it. On Tuesday alone, Connor (who is potty
trained when healthy) went through over 20 diapers. It was so sad. Tuesday
nights I facilitate a Bible study near our home in Hollywood. Kristin stayed home I went with the understanding
that I would come home right after it finished. About 8:15, Kristin sent me a text message asking when I was
coming home. I texted back that we
had just finished and I was on my way.
When I got home, I could see that Connor was not doing well. He was screaming and clearly in a lot
of discomfort. Kristin and I
talked and decided it best that I take him to the Pediatric Associates that is
near our house. It is only a few
blocks away and we thought it remained open until 9:00pm. We were wrong. It closed at 8:30; I got there at
8:40. So there we are, sitting in
an empty parking lot with a screaming, sick child in the back seat. I decided it might be wise to call the
afterhour’s number and speak to a nurse about what was going on. Can I just say that calling that number
proved to be a waste of time? They
were no help and down-right rude.
As I sat there trying to get any information I could from this waste of
a phone call, Connor proceeds to projectile vomit all over the back seat of the
care (did I mention we were in Kristin’s car?). I immediately hung up with the woman I was arguing with; I
was ready to take him to the hospital.
Kristin had been ready to take that step a lot sooner but I resisted. While Kristin was getting ready at home
and grabbing some necessities, I decided it might be wise to take as much vomit
soaked stuff out of the car as I could.
This of course included his box of toys, some jackets and his entire car
seat that now needed to be completely cleaned. We changed Connor, jumped into my car and were off.
Thankfully, we only
live 5 minutes from a great children’s hospital (Joe DiMaggio at Memorial
Regional). We pulled into the
emergency room and checked in around 9:15pm. Connor was so spent that he literally crashed. Glenda and Kaitlyn met us there for
moral support but when it became clear that we were probably going to be in the
waiting room a while, we convinced them that it was alright to go home (not to
mention Glenda has started to come down with the same thing Connor and I had
been fighting). After about an
hour and a half of waiting, we were called back. They brought us to this cute little room where they had Connor
lie on the bed. They hooked the
poor little guy up to all sorts of machines to read his vitals. That alone was enough to break mommy
and daddy’s heart and all the sensors were external. After getting all the readings, the Doctor on call (Dr.
Joseph) came in and checked him out.
She ordered an IV drip with fluids to rehydrate and Zofran to assist
with his nausea as well as blood work to rule out anything serious. They determined that the best mode of
action was to put the IV needle in his right hand. Connor is thankfully blessed with veins like his mommy so
they didn’t have to work hard to find a good one. I can honestly say, I am so proud of how our little guy
handled the whole situation. When
it came time to stick the needle in his hand, Connor didn’t fight and only
complained a little. Far better
than anticipated. Thankfully, on
the way out the door Kristin grabbed our Ipad so Connor had something to watch
(Little Einstein’s) as his IV bag drained.
The IV took a little
over an hour but we still had to wait for the blood results. Thankfully the results came back
negative to anything bad. They
determined it was just a run of the mill stomach virus that he was having
trouble shaking. They wrote us a
script for Zofran and probiotics and sent us on our way around 2:30am. On top of all that, the car still
needed to be cleaned. Longest
night we have had in a very long time. After he lived on Zofran for a few days,
and introducing the probiotics into his system, he finally started to shake it
by Saturday. The probiotics were probably the most difficult thing to find.
Everywhere we went they were out. This bug is really going around. Whole Foods
came through with Strawberry-Banana Probiotic Popsicles. He did lose a lot of
weight from not eating for a week, but I’m sure he’ll gain it back. It’s hard
to look at his little face and see how hard this past week has been on him.
I knew we would
eventually need to make a trip to the ER.
Like I said earlier, with as hard as Connor goes all the time I am
surprised it took this long and it was for something relatively minor but it
was still nerve raking nonetheless.
As a parent, there is no feeling worse than the helpless feeling you get
when you have to sit and stare at your child lying on a hospital bed hooked up
to machines. Our experience was as
good as we could have hoped. I am
grateful that we live so close to such a great children’s hospital. I know that
if we ever need to go back, Connor will be in good hands but it would not break
my heart if I never have to see the inside of that building again.
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