Campbell will be the one to send me over the top. Campbell will push us to our limits and come running back with a huge hug. He's so loving and mean at the same time. Oh how I love that kid. But Campbell, that sweet thing gave us the scare of our life 2 weeks ago... I don't go 15 minutes without thinking about it.. Here's a recap...
Saturday morning we woke up late for our own Yard Sale. I yelled at Brian and pushed him out the door.. I waited for Chad to bring Emery and woke up the boys to rush to the yard sale. When I got Campbell out of bed I noticed he was wheezy. This is typical Campbell and we weren't alarmed. Campbell has the early stages of asthma. Whenever he has any runny nose, he's needing breathing treatments. He's experienced pneumonia twice, and it's just how it is.. Anyway, we ran to the yard sale and set up with 3 kids in tow. I then sent Brian home with Campbell to give him a breathing treatment. It didn't really do much, so after a day of albuterol, I took him to Med Express for some steroids.. I knew that would open him up. He was acting fine and skipped dinner, but we weren't alarmed. We gave him a breathing treatment and sent him to bed...
Then the nightmare began.....
We did nothing different than normal. We put both boys to bed, watched a little TV and headed to bed ourselves. I was able to actually sleep in, which was unusual and nice! At 9am I woke up and on my way down I noticed Campbell was still asleep. I stopped in his room to make sure he was okay. He was sleeping peacefully so I left him to sleep. We had been out late at MedExpress, so I chalked it up to that. About 30 minutes later, I went back in and this time made noise. He opened his eyes and reached with one arm for me. I picked him up, snuggled him and took him down stairs with his blankey in tow (which usually stays in his bed). I snuggled him while I read the paper on my computer and he fell back asleep. I didn't think much of it. After about 15 minutes, I went to lay on the couch with him and noticed he didn't even budge when I moved.. WEIRD. Then I laid on the couch and thought he seemed cold. I yelled to Brian to get the thermometer. His temperature was 96.6. I handed him to Brian, literally RAN upstairs, got on clothes and ran out the door with my baby. Brian asked where I was going and I yelled the ER. I don't know if its my training or what, but I knew he needed to be there and I would be way faster than a rescue squad. I YELLED the entire 6 minute drive to the ER trying everything to get him to stay awake. He just wouldn't. I called on my way to the ER our friend Kristen on the phone and told her to meet us at the ER to get Burke. Thank god for good friends. As I ran in with my lifeless baby, I began yelling and they almost immediately had nurses standing there. We ran into the room and there had to have been 12 nurses and a doctor working on our baby. I cried and cried.. No one knew what was wrong. Kristen made it there before Brian and sat with me while we watched in horror. They said he would scream when they put in the IV. He didn't move (i cried more.). After what seemed a lifetime, Brian got there, they took his blood sugar and found it to be 35. DANGEROUSLY LOW. They immediately started shooting him up with glucose and he finally opened his eyes. Thank you God. Although he never cried or moved, but he finally looked at me. They were relieved, we were scared. His body temperature was 95.
Our pediatrician came running in.. she started with theories and tests she wanted to run.. spinal taps, etc. She mentioned sepsis, meningitis, she even tested for strep. Ashley came and sat with us. We were scared and hopeful. She warned us if there was any indication of cloudiness on the spinal tap we would be headed to Roanoke. If she couldn't get it, we would be in Roanoke. They wouldn't let us watch. We waited outside. Horrible gut in your stomach. Miserable. Then they said it was done. Campbell was sitting up crying, thank you Jesus. I hate to see him in pain, but he was alert. She came back in and said she got it fine, but she was concerned that he didn't fight her. She's had 6 month olds fight harder. Her worry, worried us. We knew it before she had to say it, we were headed to Roanoke.... Everything pretty much came back normal. Some slight elevations, etc.. but nothing crazy... by 2pm, we were in an ambulance on our way to Roanoke. Burke was super jealous, if only he knew.
10 am... How he was when we got there.
10:30am, eye contact but nothing else.
2pm - First and hopefully last ever ambulance ride
When we got to Roanoke Children's Hospital, they checked us in and we immediately saw A LOT of doctors. No one had answers, no one really knew what to do. They finally gave Campbell the opportunity to eat whatever he wanted. And he ate. and ate. and ate. He was finally up and moving (which was hard with an IV pole). Kristen brought Burke to visit that evening and Campbell finally seemed to be back to normal. We didn't know anything except we would be in Roanoke for a minimum of 48 hours, possibly more.
3:30pm - FOOD!
Daddy came back Monday morning after he dropped Burke off at preschool. He missed the doctor rounds, but we didn't really find anything out. They were still at odds at what was going on and talked to the endocrinologist multiple times, who assured them she could do nothing without blood tests, which could only be run on the "sick" blood. We didn't have any extra from the ER, so we were told he just had to wait. NOT REASSURING! I ask a ton of questions (thank God I'm an RD and know a little about metabolic disorders!) and got few answers. The pediatrician did agree that we should do some glucose testing and cut off the IV since he was getting constant sugar through his IV. The testing ended up being a bust because the nurse forgot to turn off the IV, until I told her. Then the nurses and doctors never told us they were doing it through the night (a 12 hour+ fast), so he snacked during our nightmare IV replacement, so he wasn't fasting.. perfect. But in all, the lack of IV was huge for the little boy to be able to move around. They also explained if nothing changed we would leave Tuesday around noon. We were ready to get out!
Again we are blessed with great friends who took care of Burke. Ashley and Megan split time with him on Monday and Megan brought him and dinner Monday to the hospital. Poor guy had some hard and fun days, but was exhausted! Campbell was so excited when Burke was at the hospital and so sad when he left. Burke was also sad to leave all of the awesome toys and asked when he could go back to the hospital.
Tuesday came and we waited to be discharged. All of Campbell's tests came back normal and we have no answers. Everyone agrees they feel there is a metabolic issue, but it can not be detected unless he is sick. I'm holding out hope it was just a crazy fluke. They've assured me that's likely not the case.. We have a long list of tests to be run the second his blood sugar is low again. It is stored in my phone so I have it if we ever end up in the ER again. The doctors have it in his charts to check his glucose every time we come in just in case... Oh the joys...
Best sign ever.. and Best smile ever.
I will say, Roanoke was a great hospital and the nurses were so good with Campbell. They are a children's hospital, but my kid ran around at all hours of the day playing cars, riding the cozy coupe and they were so patient. When we finally went to leave, a nurse we didn't have told us how much she would miss seeing Campbell running around. Roanoke was great, but I have to say how impressed I was with Lewis Gale Montgomery ER nurses. They called multiple times to check on him because they were so concerned. We stopped by to visit them the Wednesday after we got released and the nurse that spent the most time with us was there and cried when she saw him. She was a peds nurse who had just left Roanoke to be closer to home, so I think she was truly touched by a little boy being so sick.
But when it's all said and done... I'm scared out of my mind. And constantly wondering if it will happen again.
And to any doctor's reading this.. It is NOT reassuring or funny to tell a parent their child is a mystery.
But yes, lil C is totally back to normal and 100% healthy! And here's to hoping he stays that way!
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