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Saturday, August 28, 2010

A Mom's Worst Nighmare

Every Mom, Mommy, Mama or Mother can relate to another when their child is sick!  Our Mama Lion comes out, we right away go into protection mode but we are helpless against this illness that has invaded their poor little helpless bodies!  Now don't get me wrong, when they do something cute or we have an aww moment with them we are putty in their hands!  I made a promise the MOMENT I held him, I promised to always love him no matter what, to always be strong for him in times of hardship, to always protect him from harm and to never I mean never ever give up on him ... or stop loving him, of course!!!!  Now on to the meaning of this post shall we? 
Ayden has been having symptoms that always have an out come of some kind of cold/flu.  Stuffy and runny nose, coughing, fever and sometimes ear aches and vomiting.  (Takes a deep breath)  This happens alot and when I mean alot I mean on average of once or twice a month.  So here is a little insight for the month of August...
*Sunday the 1st:
Anthony and I took Ayden into the ACC, Acute Care Clinic because he was having these symptoms and he was very lethargic so we thought he needed fluids which means an IV.  He was given Dimetapp, Tylenol and Motrin. 
*Tuesday the 3rd:
I layed him down for a nap, within 15 mins. he was up screaming and pulling on his ear so off I went back to the ACC.  Can you guess what was wrong with him, yes that's right an ear infection, he was given Amoxicillin.
*Sunday the 8th:
Ayden was doing a bit better and he was asking for the park, it had been raining so I took him to Burger King to play indoors.  On the way home he bit his tongue and the next couple of days were hell since he could not eat, drink or want to talk. 
*Tuesday the 10th:
This day was as a day filled with lots of vomiting and crying not only from Ayden but Mommy as well, the crying part that is!  That night he had a low grade fever, I gave him Motrin and off to bed we went. 
*Wednesday the 11th:
The difference between this day and Wednesday was his fever went away, yeay!
*Thursday the 12th:
When we woke Ayden had a fever again, I made an appointment as soon as I could.  His Pediatrician couldn't understand why he was having a fever while he was on Amoxicillin.  He came to the conclusion that the Amoxicillin was killing off the one virus but another one was invading his poor little body.  His Pediatrician told me to keep Ayden on the medication, add Motrin and to bring him in if the fever gets higher since it was just low grade. 
*Wait fellow bloggers, it only gets better I promise!* 
*Tuesday the 17th:
The vomiting only got worse, Ayden was laying on his knees with his head to the floor screaming owie and wouldn't even let me touch him!  He would start to gag which leads to vomiting followed by screaming, this time I was able to hold him then more vomiting.  He then would calm down enough to pass out but remember NO FEVER.
*Thursday the 19th:
I got an appointment with a different Pediatrician, she said it was reflux and ordered an allergy test. 
*Friday the 20th:  Surprise surprise Ayden magically got better!  All you Moms out there know how fast these kids bounce back from being sick!  I went and did the allergy test but did not fill his prescription, I do not think he has reflux because he has never showed signs of this before. 
*Sunday the 22nd:
Around morning, gosh I can't even remember the time because these days are melting together, Ayden woke screaming in pain, vomited cried vomited cried then passed out.  (Same for Monday and Tuesday all during the night and it was only one episode). 
*Wednesday the 25th: 
I got an appointment, his Pediatrician said it could be 1 of 2 things, constipation or intestinal intussusception which is when part of the intestine slides into another part of the intestine and can cause an obstruction.  Symptoms include nausea (check), vomiting (check), pulling legs to the chest (check), moderate to severe cramping abdominal pain (check) and usually no fever (check).  Pain only last for that episode not because it stops but because the part of the intestines stops contracting.  I was sent to radiology for x-rays BUT Aydens Pediatrician made it clear that they might not see anything because he wasn't having an episode, they needed to catch it when it was happening and sure enough his x-rays didn't show anything.  His Pediatrician told me as soon as Ayden started having an episode to bring him to the ACC or Tripler so they can run tests. 
*Thursday the 26th: 
Ugh this is the morning that I will never forget because it lead to a day that I never want to go through again!  Around 3:30am, Ayden woke screaming, right when I woke I heard him vomiting.  I grabbed him, cleaned him off, got him and I dressed, buckled him in and drove off to Tripler as fast and as safe as I could!  Checked in, was seen by 6:30am and this is when spiral of fears began.  They took urine, started an IV (which was so hard to sit there and hold him down while he's screaming 'Mama help please' and yes I am crying right now just thinking about it).  The Pediatric team (such an awesome team by the way) came down and sent us off to radiology for more x-rays and an Upper GI Barium Swallow.  Yet again the words 'Mama help please' came out of his mouth and I knew what I had to do, hold him down so they can take these images as fast as they could.  As they were doing the test they can see the liquid going down through his intestines and they could rule out some diagnoses they have been thinking about.  The Pediatric team went ahead and admitted him.  This was the first time he has been admitted to a hospital and hopefully last!  I was nervous because I wondered how Ayden was going to do, would he not be able to play, be couped up in his room and what about sleep...gosh how tired we both were.  I was amazed at how 'fun' the peds floor was!  The first thing I saw were all the colors and all the rooms were decorated with different themes!  (side note: as I am writing this Ayden is asleep and he just growled!)  They had a play room and push cars that children can sit in and you can take them around the hospital to explore!  Aydens room was decorated in flip-flops which was OK because he kept on saying 'Mama look, shoes!' and he had a nice size TV in his room!  The nurse team was awesome, they came in and Ayden wasn't afraid of them.  He wasn't allowed to eat anything until that night which was a clear liquid diet.  The peds GI doctor came to introduce himself, such a nice guy and told me that they are trying to understand what is going on.  They got all his lab results back and they were happy to say the scary things they were searching for came back negative.  He wanted to 'clean out' his system (side note: 'clean out' is pretty self explanatory!) so they gave him an enema followed by Myralax.  Boy oh boy did I have the most fun I have ever had in my entire life during the next few hours, I bet your oh so jealous of me right now!  They waited till around the time he usually has an episode but he did not have one, only the waking up crying happened. 
*Friday the 27th: 
YEAY WE GET TO GO HOME!  The GI specialist told me to watch Aydens diet for the next couple of days, soft foods and try to not give him red colored food so we can rule out blood when he has a BM.  He had oatmeal and applesauce last night and I have been pushing liquids like crazy.  Ayden went to bed around 8:45pm, I had to move him and he did not even wake up!  Although he did wake at 4:00am crying saying owie but he fell right back to sleep and woke at 6:30am!
*Saturday the 28th:
So far Ayden hasn't said owie and has been a happy little boy that everyone knows him to be.  He's napping right now and when he wakes I will get him ready because someone special will be here around 3:00pm!  DADDY IS COMING HOME! 
We have 3 more day left of August, this has been a rough month but so many friends have stepped up and offered to help with anything.  We have gotten so many prayers, everyone has kept us in their thoughts and I cannot thank yall enough!  Special shot out to Teresa for attempting to bring us some items we needed for the stay at Tripler but housing did not have a key for her, I will be paying them a visit Monday!  Also to Amanda for bringing us dinner, Ayden did not eat but I sure did!  Lisa and Jamie even though yall are a puddle away I'm sure yall would have come to our rescue!
This concludes my post, I hope yall enjoyed my novel!  Until next time ... 
 Peace Love and Chicken Grease!
His IV, tear!


Finally asleep after all the torcher!
They had to re-wrap it, during the testing it came undone.


Going for a ride to calm him down.

2 comments:

  1. Jackie you are right our Mama Lion does come out when our cubs are sick and helpless... I have been there before one to many times that I have been in ER and wanting to strong but deep down inside we are breaking down into pieces... I am happy to hear that Ayden is doing better.

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  2. You're more than welcome! Let's hope September is a better month for our Ayden!

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