Emergency Room

Well at least I THOUGHT everything was getting back to normal.

Andres seemed to be on the mend last night, so we decided to send him back to daycare today. I figured that being surrounded with other kids who were eating may stimulate his appetite, and the company would be good for him too. So I dropped him and Celia off at 8:30, gave Betty the full rundown of everything that had been happening, and then headed into work for what I figured would be my first real work day this week. As I left, I heard Andres trading war stories with one of his friends..."Remember when I threw up the yucky juice yesterday? My belly wasn't feeling good."

I got to work, hooked up my computer, and no sooner had I done 2 of the 99 things on my to-do list than I got the call. "Burt, he threw up again." Crap. Not a good development. Packed up, hopped in the car, drove back to daycare.

Andres looked a bit green when I picked him up. He didn't seem too upset, though he did seem exhausted--a combination of being sick, tired, and tired of being sick, I am sure. Since this was the second time this week that I had received the call, I figured a call to the doctor was in order. They suggested a trip to the ER.

So off we went to Newton Wellesley. We checked into the ER and then sat in the waiting area for a bit, Andres content to snuggle up rather than play with some of the toys that were available (another clue that he was not feeling well). A daytime medical show was being shown on one of the TVs...the topic: "what causes autism?" Or, more accurately: "why isn't there more research supporting the vaccine-autism link, and why don't more doctors believe in this link?" I was aggravated that this was being shown in a hospital waiting room. The study that caused most of this hoopla has been discredited, but still many people cling to it as a reason to avoid vaccinating their children...and although I believe healthy skepticism is often a good thing, at some level don't we have to trust modern medicine? Anyway, that's another conversation. The show annoyed me. The people on the show annoyed me. And, most of all, I was worried about the listless kid curled up on my lap.

Natalia met us there as the nurse was doing Andres' intake interview, and before long we were admitted into the pediatric ER ward.

Now this sounds a bit serious, and certainly we would rather have not gotten to the point where an ER visit was necessary--but it's worth mentioning that Andres was holding it together well, and that his condition had not taken any sort of a nosedive the past day; we were there as a result of this past week of occasional vomiting, no eating, little drinking, and (to work in euphemisms) few successful visits to the bathroom. So yes: we were in the ER, but I am mindful that what we were in for was relatively minor. (Related: the copay for an ER visit is quadruple that of a routine doctor's visit, so perhaps any ER visit is decidedly NOT minor.)

We explained the various symptoms and issues in triplicate to nurses and doctors before it was determined that Andres probably had a stomach bug of some sort. They gave him an anti-nausea pill to settle his stomach, which actually led pretty quickly to him being hungry for the first time all week. They also wanted to take a belly x-ray to rule out anything too serious. 

The x-ray room was fun. Andres kept asking if he could see the pictures after they were taken; clearly he was unfamiliar with the idea that photos can be non-digital and, thus, not immediately available. He did receive kudos for remaining so still on the x-ray table...in fact, the tech said he was "better than a lot of the adults who need x-rays." No doubt this comment was hyperbole, but it did lighten the mood a bit and make us feel a bit better.

We headed back to the room to wait for the results. Andres entertained himself with a set of cars graciously lent to us by one of the nurses. He also ate some crackers, drank some juice, and otherwise seemed to be relaxed while we worried.

In good spirits, racing cars.

The x-rays confirmed what the doctor had suspected: he had a stomach bug, and though his body was doing a pretty good job of fighting it, days of not eating or drinking much had caused some daily functions to...well, to stop functioning, and once that had been remedied, hopefully everything would be getting back to normal.

I won't describe the next 20 minutes.

Things went as well as could be expected. He was uncomfortable for a little while, but soon he was relaxing again and watching the Disney channel (as an aside: there are some crappy shows on that network). He also continued to eat and drink, which gave Natalia and I a lot of hope that, this time, he had FINALLY turned the corner towards good health...though he seems to have turned so many corners this past week I don't know which direction he is going in anymore.

It's hard not to smile when holding a double popsicle. (If he looks green, it's because the white balance on my camera phone is a bit off.)

By the time the doctor checked in again Andres' color had largely returned, he was still eating and drinking well, and it seemed like some of his energy had returned, so she did not hesitate about releasing him. She also gave us a little more anti-nausea medication in case he woke up tomorrow and refused food again.

So that's the story. His first ER visit proved to be a pretty minor one, and I hope we do not have to go through this again anytime soon.

What a way to start February vacation.