2-29 Another ER Trip

Last night we added another ER trip under our belt. Connor had not been eating at all and I think I got 1 bottle down him all day. I went against the dr's and gave him a few drops of Children's Imodium. I have been told that it is not good for him. But, neither is having 10-12 bouts of diarrhea a day either. Having his butt open and bleeding because of the diarrhea is not good for him. Since no one wanted to address either one of these problems I did it myself. Right or wrong it did help. He only had 2 bad diapers yesterday. But, he didn't have any wet ones either. On top of that he was so congested that he was choking on it. Around 6:00 last night he started to choke and couldn't stop. He wasn't breathing for a few seconds and then he started to throw up. I had enough!!! I couldn't watch him go through this anymore and just wait things out like we keep being told to do with everything. I called his pediatrician and got the one we saw on Monday and we decided that the best thing to do and to be safe we needed to take him to Jersey Shore ER. He called ahead and gave them his history, not just the RSV and sickness but everything neurological too.

After waiting 2 hours in the waiting room we were triaged. They put the pulse ox on his toe to measure the oxygen in his blood and all the alarms started to go off. His level was reading 88. Not good!!! But, she wouldn't except that. She reset the alarms and sat there with it on his foot watching it fluctuate between 88 to 94 for over 5 min. At one point it jumped to 96 for a sec and she wrote that one down. I know he is having problems breathing but I knew then we weren't going to get the right help here. They didn't weigh him even though there was a scale right there. He has had diarrhea for a week, vomiting and not eating. You think they would look to see if he has dropped weight. But they didn't. We finally got called back to the ped room around 9pm. They listened to his lungs and said they could hear the RSV. No x-rays to check for pneumonia even though he gets this easily. They decided to give him an IV, start some fluid, gets some labs and see what happens.

Joe had to take Julia (we had her with us since Brandon wasn't home) out to the van so she could get some sleep. We have been informed by the school that she can't miss anymore days. Not that I want to keep her home but when I have one child in the hospital what am I supposed to do with her? I am left in the hospital with Connor and Joe was in the van with Julia. Not fun and not easy. I couldn't even go to the bathroom because they didn't have a crib for him they only had a bed so he sat in my lap in the wheel chair the whole time and Joe was outside freezing in the van trying to keep Julia warm.

I have alot of complaints about CHOP but let me say that it never has taken them 4 tries to get an IV on him. It was horrible. By the time they finally got the IV started Connor had no fight left in him. He just laid there and cried. My heart broke. That was the last attempt they had because if they didn't get it this time I wasn't letting them try again. They drew some blood and got some fluid going. Once they got some fluid in him he was like a different kid. When he kissed me he actually left a damp spot on my hand. He was more playful and just seemed more alert.

The dr came back and said that his lab work came back OK and he wasn't dehydrated (I don't buy it. Just with the difference in his behavior). No talk of his breathing, no talk of the congestion, didn't even look at the diaper rash. Just if he drinks a bottle of pedialyte or eats an ice pop and it stays down. He can go home. Well, he wouldn't touch the bottle and played with the ice pop but they decided that it was OK and he could go home anyway. Dr tells me that he can't have juice or milk and until we stop it he will have the diarrhea. I tell him that he won't drink anything but milk. The dr then tells me that if I don't give him anything for 8-10 hrs he will drink the pedialyte!!!!!!!!!! I am NOT doing that. This poor baby has been through enough. I am not going to starve him and take away his source of comfort right now. He doesn't take a pacifier, he doesn't have a special blanket or stuffed animal that would count as a comforter for him. I am not taking this away.

As of now. He ate a couple Cheerios. He seems very tired but then again I would be too (I am). Nothing has been fixed and I don't feel we are any better now than we were before he went to the ER.