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Friday, April 30, 2010

Julia...

...spent the night at Children's in Boston the other night for what a doctor at Tobey thought was appendicitis. Turns out she was, well we'll just say backed up and had a stomach virus to boot. She woke up over night Tuesday (technically about 2AM Wednesday morning) literally screaming in pain. Nothing worked to settle her and it was clear she was in agony but, beyond that, she seemed to be having trouble breathing. She was taking quick and short breaths and couldn't take a deep breath when I asked her to. The pain was concerning but more than that I was worried about the breathing. After a few hours of this, with no indication of improvement, I decided to take her to the hospital. On the way there, in between tears, she announced that she didn't want to go to a hospital because Nana died in a hospital. It was so sad but I managed to convince her that going to a hospital didn't mean she was going to die. When we got there we were seen immediately. I can't remember what it was but her blood pressure was really high and her heart rate was 180. Her temperature was 100.4. Shortly after being taken back the doctor came in. He moved her legs around, and pushed on her belly and she was screaming. He ordered a catscan and the nurse started and iv and put her on an oxygen monitor because she was still having trouble breathing. The iv was probably about the worst thing that ever happened to Julia...if you ask her I am sure she would agree. The doctor also ordered morphine because she was so uncomfortable. While we were waiting for the doctor to come back in with the results of the scan, she started burning up. Her fever was 102.6. The nurse gave her Tylenol. Between the morphine and the Tylenol, she was finally settled down. The doctor came back in and said the scan was clear but because she was in such pain and had a fever he thought it would be wise to send her up to Children's overnight for observation. Ryun had to get back home in time to get Emily and Katherine off of the bus so Julia and I went by ambulance to Boston (the doctor recommended that she go by ambulance anyway because her breathing was still a concern and she could be monitored that way). We got there at about 2 and we went in through the ER. By this time, Julia had not had anything to eat or drink in about 20 hours (dinner on Tuesday night). She was starting to become very lethargic and only answered questions with yes or no. As the day progressed, these symptoms became worse and worse. She was getting fluids through the iv but it didn't seem to be doing much. The doctor drew blood and discovered that her white blood count was elevated. Everything else came back fine. Finally, at about 8, they let her eat. She had some juice and a popsicle which she proceeded to throw up. This was the deciding factor for the doctor having her stay the night. Her fever was back up again, so after we changed her and the bed, the nurse gave her Motrin and she fell asleep. We were moved upstairs to a room around midnight. The nurses and doctors came in at that point to check her over which she basically slept through. I slept in a pull out chair thing next to her bed (and by sleep I mean tossed and turned all night and woke every time they came in the room which was about every hour). Julia slept through the night more or less and only woke slightly when they came in to check on her each hour. She woke up yesterday feeling much better...not 100% but better. Whatever was going on with her breathing was gone. The nurse said I could order her food but to keep it bland. She managed to keep it down and was pretty much in good spirits. The doctors came in mid morning to check on her and they decided to observe her for the day. She managed to, well, get things going and later that day the doctors said she could go home. Ryun and the girls came up to get us and we were home by 5 or so. I kept her home from school today so she could just relax.

So...it has been a very eventful couple of days. I am just glad my baby is ok and it turned out to be nothing serious. In typical Julia style, even in her pain she managed to be pretty funny at times. A few examples:

Like I said when she first got to the hospital her heart rate was very high. After it had slowed down, she said, "Mom, I think my heart stopped beating!" She could probably feel it beating when it was racing and noticed the difference.

When she was at Tobey they had her connected to an automatic blood pressure monitor. When I heard it turn on, I was telling her each time that it was about to give her arm another hug. After a few times of this, she sighed and said, "This thing must really love me because it keeps hugging me."

When we went in for the catscan, the tech explained to Julia that the table she was laying on was going to move in and out of the circle, kind of like a ride. After the tech went back to take the pictures, Julia said to me, "Mom, I wish this ride had a water slide."

And finally, when we were admitted to Children's, we were on the 10th floor. She had a portable IV pole and she asked if we could go look out the window. I brought her over and she looked out and said, "Wow...this is like a skyscraper!"

2 comments:

Kathy said...

Glad to hear she is feeling better - you must be exhausted after such an ordeal! And I love what she said about the blood pressure cuff "hugging" her!

Have a good weekend!

Meowia said...

Wow, what a scary and stressful time you had! I am glad that your daughter is going to be okay and it wasn't something more serious. I know how scary the not knowing can be!