Catching up

Phew, I am so glad last week is over. That had to be one of the longest weeks of my life. I haven't blogged about it, but we had one more ER visit on Thursday, which made five days in a row at the hospital. We had to go in for B. His leg kept cramping so badly he couldn't even stand up. When he called his doc, the doc said to go straight to the ER to have them check for a blood clot. Apparently people who have broken feet and legs are prone to DVT.

Except the doctor neglected to ask one very important question - where was the cramping? B's quad was seizing up. When we got to the Heart Hospital ER the doctor there said that DVT doesn't happen in the thigh, only in the calf. But they ran bloodwork just to make sure we got our $150's worth.

Since then I've been playing catch up with everything and pulling myself together. Those five days wiped me out physically, mentally and emotionally. I'd managed to stay calm and collected during all the drama, but once it was over, I completely collapsed.

I spent most of Thursday and Friday sleeping and working. The little three were off with family members, which was a huge help. Saturday we all flopped around the house and watched cartoons, and Sunday I cleaned and folded laundry. On Monday, Campbell went back to preschool (thank the baby jeebus), and I was able to get a ton of writing done.

Now I'm where I need to be with my work projects, and the house is reasonably clean, so I'm feeling a bit better about the universe.

Plus, I get to go to Boulder, CO on Friday with Ella for a climbing competition. We leave at the crack of dawn and are staying through Monday evening. We'll have lots of time to explore and play when Ella's not climbing.

Yet another trip to the hospital

Last time I wrote, I had taken Ella to the ER for severe stomach pains and a fever. That morning we went to our regular pediatrician for a follow-up. He said that he didn't think that it was her appendix but told me he'd be on call Wednesday night if she got worse. Which of course she did. I spent 20 minutes on the phone with the doctor, while he had me go through some diagnostic things with her - like having Ella jump up and down, which she wouldn't do. She had also gotten to the point where she wouldn't let me touch her right side.

Off to Dell Children's Medical Center we went, for the second night in a row. Our doctor called ahead to tell them we were coming in the hopes of saving us some waiting time. We got taken back and evaluated pretty quickly. The doctor sent Ella for an abdominal ultrasound in the hopes of definitely ruling out appendicitis. Unfortunately, they couldn't get a clear view of her appendix with the ultrasound, so she had to have a CT scan of her belly.

And this is when I started wanting to punch people.

The ER doc came in and said, "The radiologist called up, and the tip of her appendix is enlarged. So I've called surgery down and started the procedures to admit her." And then she walked out. Ella started sobbing even harder than she already had been, crying that she wanted to go home and go to sleep in her own bed and that she wanted the IV port taken out of her arm.

After a few minutes, the surgery PA came in and told me that she had reviewed the CT scans and that she wasn't convinced that the problem was Ella's appendix. She said it was measuring on the larger side of normal, but that there was no inflammation in the surrounding tissue. She also said that Ella had swollen abdominal lymph nodes on her right side, which was consistent with having a stomach bug. When I asked about the pain and fever, she said that kids with appendicitis are screaming in pain even after having morphine, which is what she would expect Ella to be doing given how long her stomach had been hurting.

The PA told me that they were going to admit Ella for the night and re-check her bloodwork in the morning and see how she was feeling. That was at 11:30pm. We were finally taken to a room at 2:00am. We didn't get settled and to sleep until 3:00 and then nurses came in at 5:00 and 6:00 to get blood samples.

At about 9:00am, the surgeon finally came in to see us and confirmed that the problem was swollen lymph nodes, which can mimic the signs of appendicitis and are one of the most common reasons for kids having to have their appendixes out. Go figure.

He gave us permission to feed Ella breakfast, which brought a smile to her face, and said he'd start the paperwork for getting her discharged. We didn't get to leave the hospital until 2:00pm. Turns out nothing happens quickly when you're in the hospital.

As soon as we got home, Ella crawled into our big bed and slept for four hours straight. I packed up the three little kids and sent them off for the night with B's mother and aunt and then climbed into bed next to Ella.

While we were asleep, B went to an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in feet and found out that the ER doc on Sunday was wrong and his foot is actually broken. B is in an air cast for at least 8 weeks.

I managed to sleep in this morning until 10:30, but I still feel like I've been hit by a bus. Ella is still pretty flat, which the doc said to expect since she does have a GI bug of some sort.

The house is a wreck, I'm behind in my work, and today's the first day of summer break.

I swear, we have a big, black cloud o' doom hanging over our house, and it needs to move on immediately or this is going to be a long, long summer.

Another day, another ER visit

Last night I spent another four hours in an emergency room, this time with Ella at the children's Hospital. And, as with her father, we don't have a specific diagnosis.

Ella started complaining on Sunday afternoon, while we were still at the lake, that her stomach hurt. Given that she's the only one in the house who hadn't yet had the stomach bug that's going around, I figured she was on her way to barfing her toes up like the rest of us did.

She woke up yesterday morning still complaining of a stomach ache; at times it was hurting her enough that she was rolled into a ball whimpering. She was also running a fever, which no one else did while sick. Ella slept on and off all day, crying when the pain got bad. I gave her motrin every four hours to control the fever and the pain.

By the evening, she was complaining that it mostly hurt on her right side. I, of course, got on Dr. Google and looked up appendicitis and read that symptoms include fever, stomach pain on the right side, and nausea.

I called the on-call pediatrician and described what was going on. He said the odds were that Ella had a stomach bug, but a different one than we all had. He also said that I wasn't telling him anything would allow him to definitively rule out appendicitis and told me to take her to Dell Children's Hospital.

Anyone who thinks our healthcare system works just fine has obviously never spent time in a public hospital emergency room. The ER waiting area was standing room only with two overflow rooms filled also. I would be willing to bet good money that half the patients there could have avoided the ER trip just with access to regular medical care - like the girl sitting next to us who was there for an abscessed tooth.

After two hours of sitting in the waiting area with Ella lying in my lap crying silently, we finally went back to a private room. The doctor poked around on her belly and decided that her appendix wasn't the problem. He said that given how long she'd been complaining of a stomach ache, he would expect her to be in a lot more pain if her appendix was going bad. They also screened her for a possible kidney or urinary tract infection, both of which came up negative.

Even though he ruled out appendicitis, the doctor couldn't give us a definite diagnosis, other than maybe it's a virus. When he told me to bring her back to the ER this morning for a follow-up check, I nearly sank through the floor. The idea of spending more hours sitting in that waiting room was just too much. Fortunately, he said that I could take her in to our regular doctor instead.

Ella's still in bed, still complaining that her stomach hurts and still running a fever. As soon as our doctor's office opens, I'll be calling to take her in. I hope he can tell us what's wrong instead of what's not.

And I hope it's a long time before I have to go back to an emergency room.

Great day, bad end

A few things you should know going before I get into what happened yesterday. First, my husband was a competitive diver - springboard and platform, not SCUBA. He dove for the University of Texas and was on two NCAA champion teams. He also travelled as part of the US diving team. Once his competitive career was over, he coached diving for a few years.

Second, we have what we call "The Lake Place," which isn't as glamorous as it sounds. It's a tree-shaded lot on Lake LBJ, just outside of Kingsland. Our goal is to someday build a house on it, but right now all it has is a covered boat dock, a boat, and a diving board. Even though it's rustic, I love going up there. No matter how hot it is, the water always feels great, and the big pecan tree provides shade all day long.

Yesterday we went up to the lake and had a great time. B's brother and his wife were in town from Louisiana, and the girls love horsing around with Uncle D and Aunt A. We had invited some friends up, and they brought their jet-ski, which the girls got to ride on. Campbell, after hating going in the boat last summer, loved his first ride this year. He sat in the bow of the boat, with Uncle D holding onto his life jacket, yelling "Faster, daddy! Faster!" the whole time. When we pulled into the dock, Campbell's hair was standing straight up, and he had the biggest grin on his face.

It was a very nice, very relaxing day. I was actually able to read and knit in the shade.

At the very end of the day, B hopped up on the diving board to jump in one last time before we started packing for the return trip. He bounced a few times, and then things went wrong. The best we can figure, his left foot slipped off the side of the board, which then rebounded and caught his right foot and gave it a good snap.

Uncle D fished B out of the water, pale and shaking and cursing a blue streak. I pulled a bag of ice out of the cooler and packed his foot, which was swelling as we watched, in it. Then everyone scrambled to pack up the floaties and rafts and gear. With help from B's dad and brother, we got him loaded in the car and hightailed it into town. It was the longest hour-long drive I've ever made.

When we got to the house, I took the kids inside and got them settled while B waited in the car. As soon as Uncle D and Aunt A arrived, B and I left for the ER (the Heart Hospital ER totally rocks, BTW).

They gave B some high-octane pain meds and took x-rays. While we were waiting for the results, B said that if his foot was actually broken, it would be the first time in 15 years that he's had a clear diagnosis and treatment plan for any of his injuries.

As if on cue, the doctor walked up to say that there were no broken bones. B managed to mangle his tendons pretty well, which is almost worse than having a broken bone. Instead of having 6-8 weeks in a cast, B now has an unknown number of weeks on crutches with rehab and PT.

We got home at 10:30 pm to find the house spotless. Uncle D and Aunt A had convinced the girls to clean up their rooms and the living room. I'm thinking of having them move in with us.

And to add insult to injury, Ella woke this morning with the stomach bug the rest of us have already had.

It's going to be a long day. just.kill.me.now.

Scenes from Thanksgiving

Here's Campbell shortly after we got home from the ER. He was starving by the time we were finished, so he was thrilled with his food. His good mood quickly faded, though, and he turned pretty cranky. His poor little head had to have hurt. I ran this morning with a friend who is a surgeon, and she recommended keeping him on Tylenol for the rest of the day for the pain and swelling. I think I'll follow her advice. The bruise, however, isn't nearly as bad today as I thought it would be. The two other marks on his forehead are mosquito bites. His head is just a mess.

B loves to cook, but only when he can show off . I really don't care much about food - it's a means to an end for me. But B loves good food, and he still gets misty when he talks about a meal we had in Corpus 8 years ago. So he's in his element at Thanksgiving when he has an appreciative audience. This year he made Beef Wellington, which was a big hit. The dish involved his starting the process the night before, reducing 8 cups of beef stock to two cups and making something called duxcelles. B also made steamed veggies and bread-crumb stuffing (down here in Texas, people eat something called cornbread dressing, which just isn't the same). I made two pies, both of which were devoured.

After several questions, I'm adding this - we did have a turkey and all the traditional Thanksgiving casseroles and potatoes. There was so much food that everyone left with a plate of goodies to eat later.



Now I just need to finish cleaning up and putting the house back together again. And laundry - there's always laundry.

Today I'm thankful for

the ER at Austin Heart Hospital.

This morning at about 11:00, I was up front marshalling the girls into their Thanksgiving clothes when B came out of the back of the house holding a screaming baby. Campbell had fallen and hit his head on the corner of my dresser. There was a huge lump on his forehead with a thin red line of blood. I'm normally pretty calm about the kids' injuries, but this one really upset me. I got a boo-bunny from the freezer and tried to put it on Campbell's head, but he kept screaming and pushing my hand away. Meanwhile the lump continued to swell and the red line got wider and bloodier. My across-the-street neighbors were outside, and they, unfortunately, have had experience with a child's head injury, so I went out in tears, holding Campbell, who was still wailing. They both advised that I go to the hospital just to be on the safe side.

Ages ago, I read an article in the paper about the Heart Hospital's ER, which was practically begging for people to go there instead of the other hospitals. The article talked about how they have a level 4 trauma unit and can handle any emergency that might come through the door, with no waiting because no one ever goes there unless they're having a heart attack.

Since it's the closest hospital to our house, I headed there with Campbell. We were taken back immediately, and we had three nurses tending to Campbell. Actually, it was one nurse doing the tending and two singing and dancing to make Campbell smile; I don't think they get a lot of kids in there. The doctor was in right after the nurses finished their routines. The verdict - no concussion and no stitches. The nurse put something similar to superglue on Campbell's cut to seal it closed and sent us on our way. We were home less than an hour after we left.

Campbell seems to have recovered. He was cranky for a few hours, but then he took a two-hour nap and woke up to be the life of the party. The bruise is going to look awful tomorrow, though. I'm sure it's going to turn lots of different colors.

The rest of the day was good. We hosted all of B's family, and everyone behaved themselves. We had old and new friends join us. There was lots of laughter and telling of stories and lots of good food - including B's Beef Wellington. It was too cold to sit outside, so we all crammed inside, but no one seemed to mind. It was a happy event - just what Thanksgiving should be.

Happy thanksgiving to everyone reading this.