Friday, December 26, 2014

9 years to the day



356/365

So, Christopher gave me a heart attack and a wild ride on Monday. That was Monday, right?! Yes. Well, as you can imagine, with the giant influx of gifts for his birthday on Sunday, we didn't see much of him on Monday. He got up and played in the basement with his new stuff as much of the day as he possibly could. I was totally ok with that. That way I got to get some rest. I was starting to come down with the cooties. I didn't have a fever, but was getting some chills. So was Eric. So we kind of just let the kids play, while we chased Jacob around the house. The only thing we had on the schedule was to have dinner with Eric's parents, as a church fundraiser.

So we had a quiet day, it was nice. The kids played in the basement most of the day, I got a nap, and Chris did his flush, Eric mentioned later, that Chris had said his ear hurt during his flush, but he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. I felt like a horrible parent. I didn't notice anything was wrong. Until we were headed to the car. I walked into the garage, and saw Chris standing there with his coat on, and he told me his ear hurt. I did a double take, one cheek looked like a chipmunk's. I turned to Eric and yelled, how long has he been like this?! He hadn't seen it either. It must've just blown up while they were downstairs playing during quiet time. Really fast.

That kind of scared me, so I dragged him into the bathroom, so he could see what we were freaking out about. I was already thinking, we'll have to run to the hospital; should we even try to eat first? And Chris was as shocked about his face as I was. He said his ear hurt, and I went for my earache rollon. I put some around his ear, but then I wondered what if it is a absess, a bad tooth, so I asked him to open his mouth. He couldn't get very far. I warned him that I was going to put my finger in there, so open wide, and he did, or at least he tried. I got my finger about 2/3 the way into his mouth and he went white, and his head rolled back, and he passed out. He dropped like a stone. Luckily, I was right there so I caught him. But then he started pushing out with his hands and arms, and tensing up his head. I gently brought him to the floor, and rolled him on his side. I was terrified he was having a seizure. But it didn't last long. I screamed blue hell for Eric! By the time he came, which was just seconds, Chris was coming around. He was sleepy, but breathing. He thought he'd taken a nap. We decided to call the ambulance. Whatever it was, we didn't think it could wait now. It took a few minutes for the ambulance to arrive. And the guys were so nice to Chris. They checked his temp and BP, which were all fine. And one guy picked him up like a sack of potatoes to toss him on a gurney. I'm happy to say all my hallways and doorways are wide enough for gurneys. That's a weird thing to think of when building a house, but it's an undiscovered perk. As we're walking out the door, I grabbed yarn, and the ipad to keep Chris content. Fast thinking, just in case we had to wait. Good thing I did. As I was walking out, one of the emergency responders mentions, I've been to this house before. Huh? A few years ago, with the fire alarms. Oh yes, when I flooded the bathroom. I laughed, and said, Oh yeah, you know what? I was pregnant, and didn't know it yet. He laughed, oh you had placenta brain. Yup. It was kind of nice to have a light moment in the midst of being so worried. But they weren't worried, they didn't even turn the flashy lights for the trip to Riley. As soon as they found out he was a Riley kid, they suggested just going ahead and running him there, if we'd gone to West, we might have ended up downtown anyway, so they figured they'd save us a trip. It was kind of calming to not have them moving fast, if they were going slow, it's no worries. Chris thought it was kind of neat, but then he started getting tired again.


Sorry this picture is so scary. 

He was really pale on the ride in the ambulance. He was feeling queasy, so they gave him a pukey bag. And I was really scared of the way his cheek was swelling. I wanted to take a picture of it, to be able to compare it, during time of growth. Just in case it kept growing.

When we arrived at the hospital, we got straight into a room. And they checked him out, and we ended up waiting for the doctor. There was paperwork and waiting. I'm glad I packed the ipad and yarn, because there was a lot of waiting. First nurse was worried there had been a seizure, and another worried about a cardiac event, just like Ma with the vasovagal responses. So the first test they did was an EKG, but his heart was fine. I'm always glad to hear that, because I worry about him having VACTERL syndrome. He only has 3, and to have the syndrome, you have to have 4.

I put out an APB on facebook for prayers. Eric thought it was a little odd, but I wanted the warriors to get to work. I did not want to be at the hospital for Christmas. And I kept thinking they were going to need to lance some absess, and have to put him on iv antibiotics or something. I should have known, we always end up at Riley at the holidays.  But the Prayers Worked!  Chris perked up.

So there was even more waiting, while Chris happily played. I should be grateful, that they were in no rush, that means they aren't worried about an emergency. Aside from some mild ear pain, he seemed fine. Everytime they walked in, and tried to ask him questions. But he was so engrossed in his screens, he utterly ignored them.


As far as he was concerned, this was no big deal. He felt fine. Of all the things that have sent us to Riley, this was pretty painless as far as he was concerned. They ran an ultrasound of his jaw too. I was sure they would find a pus pocket. But there was none! They said it was a freak reaction to the virus that has been running through us all. They thought his gland swelled up like it does when you get mumps, except that's a bacterial infection, and this wasn't. Leave it to us to be wacky freaks of nature. They suspected that he passed out because of the pain from opening his jaw. I grilled them about whether he was still infectious, because I really didn't want to have to cancel Christmas, and they said, No, as long as he doesn't have a fever anymore, which he does. None of us did. They thought it was just a freak reaction as he was healing. so they prescribed ibuprofen. I was upset, come on people, FIX THE BABY!! I know, 9 years old isn't a baby, but I feel like I've been yelling the same thing for 9 years. Once they decided he was fine, they booted us out, only letting him have some powerade, which he didn't want. He wanted cheeseburgers. But when we tried to eat, he couldn't, it hurt to chew. So he got some ibuprofen on board and just went off to bed. He was exhausted. And Eric crashed on the futon with him, just to keep him company, and well, for my piece of mind too.

My mother in law pointed out to me later that it was 9 years to the day, the last time one of us had chased an ambulance to Riley. 9 years later, I sat in an ambulance with him.  9 years ago, on the 22nd of December, at about 2 am, the folks at Hendricks Regional sent a tiny Christopher flying to Riley because they just realized he couldn't poop. They'd never seen it before. But Riley was old hat at Imperferate Anus kids. And in this case, once again, I was freaking out, but the folks at Riley were old hat and totally comfortable. And he was fine. Still, it took me a couple days to calm back down. And I learned not to stick my finger in his mouth. ;)

1 comments:

Rachel said...

THAT is totally scary!! I'm glad he is okay!!!