Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Sick Boy + Lack of Sleep = Non-Production

I am sooooo tired. Monday night the Littlest One woke up through the night complaining that his belly hurt. He went back to sleep, got up in the morning, wasn't quite his normal self but not too bad. I worked, so he went to my mother's place. We went to get the big truck (which is finally fixed after being dropped off one month to the day for repairs). I had to scoot out for a couple of hours from work in order to take Hubby to get it. Anyhoo, shortly before suppertime my mother called the store (sure sign there's something wrong) and said the Littlest One had extreme pain in his belly, and she worried about it being his appendix. I called our doctor, but his office was closed, so I took him to the hospital's outpatient department.

The first trip was right after she called. Our doctor happened to be there, so he said it was the bug that's going around, and he was getting cramps. I took him home, he napped for short periods of time, like 15-20 minutes, then would be awake and screaming that his belly hurt. Back to the outpatient department we go shortly before eight. We lucked out, and there was only one other person there. (Usually it's busy.) There was a different doctor there, and he did some checks for appendicitis but ruled it out. He had a urine sample taken, blood tests, and had a bowel x-ray done, and it showed he was full of gas, extremely much so. He worried about a blockage, so he called a hospital about 1/2 hour away that has surgery. They wouldn't deal with it at all since he's only four, call the IWK in Halifax. They wanted him brought in right away.

So at 11:15pm we're finally outta there. They gave him stuff for pain, but he threw that up in the parking lot. I had to wake my mother up and get her to come down with the Oldest One. Then it hit me as I was getting ready to leave the hospital parking lot -- my fuel light was on, and I didn't get gas because of the screaming Littlest One on the way home earlier. Now the gas stations are closed (at 11:00!), and I didn't have enough gas to get to the 24 hour station about 1/2 hour away. Luckily hubby is in the fire department, so we arranged to use one of their vehicles. (A Tahoe truck, not a big one! But red with lights, sirens, decals and such.)

He slept most of the way in to the city. It's about a 1.5 hour drive. We got there shortly after 1am. They did a couple of more x-rays, but he moved in the last one, so they didn't get a full picture. They ended up putting us in two small exams rooms for the night at about 3:30am. Hubby was on a teeny tiny stretcher and couldn't move for fear of falling out. (Remember he's 6'4".) The Littlest One and I were in a bed in the room next door. He slept for short periods, the longest maybe 1 hour, before getting up for a drink of water or to use the bathroom. In the morning they did ultrasounds on his entire torso to check for blockages. All was clear, so we were sent home. (Basically it is what our regular doctor said -- the bug going around, but for some reason the poor Littlest One isn't passing the gas, and it had his insides all swollen and causing extreme cramping.) He's taking Children's Tylenol and Ovol drops for the gas and has a freezer full of various kinds of popsicles. So hubby and I are operating on about 2-3 hours of intermittent sleep. Now hubby is getting cramps in his stomach, and the Oldest One started in with the same thing tonight. Watch me have it for Easter. Next year we all get the flu shot, that's for sure. We've all been sick more this winter than the last three winters! Normally we may get the flu once a year, so far this winter we've all been sick like three or four times.

All of this has meant no knitting. I took my sock with me just in case. I had no idea how long we'd end up being there. Had there been a blockage that would have meant surgery. I didn't get to work on it at all. He was so unsettled, screaming and crying to go home, I had no time to touch it. Then on the drive home I was way too tired to even look at it. The way things are looking not a lot will get done over the next few days, either. I did get the baby hoodie finished. No pictures yet, too tired to take the pins out (it's blocking). She had a girl, but I don't know weight/name/details yet.

Happy knitting!

6 Comments:

Blogger Donna M said...

I cannot tell you how bad I feel for you and your family! You guys have really had a hard winter!
And I am complaining about my sore back and sciatic nerve. But we are finally home so I will rest for the remainder of the week and see the doctor next week for x rays to see what is going on.
Hope you are all better soon!

9:47 PM  
Blogger Charity said...

Sorry to hear of your "adventures". I hope all are well soon, and you can get back to knitting. :0)

9:48 PM  
Blogger Alyson said...

Oh man - that is NOT a fun time! I am, though, really glad he didn't need surgery. Hope everyone gets better soon (and you manage to avoid it entirely!)

10:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ohhhh! Poor Littlest One! I'm so sorry to hear how bad he's been feeling - but I'm glad indeed that he didn't have to have surgery! All the very, very best to him and to all of you!

2:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What a night!!! I'm so glad it's over and all is well!

7:58 AM  
Blogger Alisha said...

I am so sorry to hear what has been going down. It is so hard to have a sick child and to have to do the hospital/x-ray/blood test stuff.

Take care of yourself!!

11:53 PM  

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