Unplanned "Vacation"

Here are my sweet littles last week at BSF.



Little did we know what awesome fun was in store for us over the next several days. OPPOSITE DAY.

 I can't wait to see those precious smiles back on their faces.

Harrison woke up Friday at 4am vomiting. Been there, done that, many, many times. Not fun, but no big deal. Except when the doctor saw him Friday afternoon he was already pretty dehydrated. He couldn't even keep water or ice chips down at that point so his doctor gave him some zofran and told me to watch him carefully. 

We came home and the vomiting and dry-heaving did not let up any. So I packed the poor little dude up and we spent 5 hours at the ER. Note to self, do not ever, ever, ever go to an adult ER on a Friday night. Terrible experience and I will never be taking my children back to that hospital's ER ever again. I am not one to ever complain to management but they will most definitely be getting a letter from me very soon. Anyway, they gave him 2 rounds of IV fluids but he never perked back up or stopped vomiting. I have since been told that he should have been admitted and not discharged but for some reason I thought I should be able to trust the judgment of the on call doctor. That's what I get for doubting my instinct about said doctor. Lesson learned.



The only time he got out of bed Saturday was when I gave him a bath after he puked all over himself. He slept 90% of the day and night and woke up only to vomit and take sips of the water I was forcing him to take. I thought after getting IV fluids we would be in the clear but when he only peed twice in 24 hours I called the nurse Sunday morning. She asked me a couple of questions and then told me to take him to Texas Children's Hospital immediately. Rick and Harper were at church but they left early and he dropped her off with my mom so he could meet us up there.

By this point he was in scary shape. He couldn't stand and was extremely lethargic. I have never seen him like that and I hope I never do again. He was drifting in and out of sleep and when he was awake he just stared with the emptiest eyes. He only spoke a handful of words the entire day even though we were constantly trying to engage him by asking him questions. They immediately got him back on IV fluids and did blood work and the labs showed that he was severely dehydrated. His glucose was only 54 (normal for his age is 75-120). His bicarbonate levels were under 15 (normal is 24 and anything under 17 is considered severe dehydration). They were hoping to only need to keep him for observation for 24 hours but he ended up being admitted and we were there for 3 days. His electrolytes were still low, he had orthostatic hypotension (blood pressure fluctuations that made him too dizzy to stand or walk), and he was still refusing to eat or drink any liquids. Even though he was starting to feel better his poor body just needed some extra time to recover before coming off the IV. He finally woke up with a little bit of an appetite today and ate his first meal since Thursday. He didn't want to drink fluids but did when I prompted him to. And he was back to being silly and sweet Harrison!!!! He asked me today if we were on vacation and I just laughed. Once he was feeling better I guess he was having a blast watching tv all day and flirting with all of the nurses. I do have to say that Texas Children's Hospital is the only place I will be taking my kids should we ever need to in the future. The staff was great and he had excellent care. 

Here are a few pictures from our unplanned "vacation":











While all of this was going on, Harper was with my mom so I could be at the hospital and Rick could drive back and forth. I got a text from her Sunday night that she was complaining that her tummy hurt and had thrown up.

Of course she had.

She wasn't nearly as sick as her brother had been so we were hoping it was going to be much more mild. She was feeling puny yesterday and had no appetite but wasn't throwing up any more. My mom texted me this sweet picture of her eating a cracker and it still makes me smile every time I look at it.


Things kind of took a turn for the worse over the night though. My mom was up with her getting sick and so this morning Rick took her in to the doctor. We're trying to be proactive and prevent what her brother just went through. She was mild to moderately dehydrated and the doctor said to watch her carefully. If her vomiting or diarrhea gets any worse and she isn't peeing every 8 hours than she needs to be taken to the hospital. She was drinking okay at first but by the time Harrison and I got home tonight she wasn't being as compliant.  She's had 5 diarrhea episodes tonight and is starting to refuse to drink anything. We forced some zofran and liquids down her and now it's the waiting game. If she wakes up with a dry pull up and won't pee than we'll be heading back to TCH. I'm really hoping tonight's rest will get her over the hump.

I'm also really hoping that nobody else catches this freak-mutant stomach virus. It seriously needs to DIE.



To end on a happier note: Harrison was sad to hear that Harper was sick and wanted to "show her care by getting a gift to distract her from feeling bad." Those were seriously his own words and his own idea...how ridiculously sweet and thoughtful is that? So we ventured downstairs to the gift shop and he picked out a cute frog ballerina stuffed animal and said it reminded him of her. And then he quietly added, "I guess since I'm also sick I should probably get a toy to distract me too." Well played, kid. Well played. :)


Comments

Jocelyn said…
Omigosh... poor kiddos! Poor mama!

I'm obviously behind on reading blogs, but I'm so sorry to hear about your little "vacation." And I'm glad everyone's finally on the mend.

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