Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The things I have learned this week...

Well we officially had our first trip to the Emergency Room. I know it is just the first of many to come but I was hoping we would go for some serious boy injury, like I fell off my bike and need stitches. What we ended up there for, CONSTIPATION! Seriously, I would not lie about this. Let me tell you how we ended up there for such a reason.

As seen in my previous blog, Cannon has not been feeling well. On Friday he was really bad. He had a high fever, hadn't eaten for 2 days, very lethargic, had a nasty wet cough and the runniest nose ever. I seriously thought it was just a cold but come about 8:30pm Friday evening, of course when I am having a GNO with my aunt, sister and mom, I get this phone call from Brandon, who BTW had come home sick himself that day. All I can hear is Cannon SCREAMING in the background, then somehow Brandon manages to sneak in a quick phrase while Cannon is gasping for air, "I think it's mom time." Well there's the end of that night. I head home to find Cannon and Brandon both asleep on the couch, what happened to the screaming child? Cannon wakes up and instantly reaches for me, he is on FIRE! So we head to the insta-care (which I am so NOT a fan of). The Doc looks at him, looks fine but is Oxygen levels appear a little low and they can't get a good reading! If you know Cannon he is a texture FREAK, so anything foreign on him is like the end of the world! The poor nurse, all she needed was for him to calm down so she could get a good reading. Well what did that earn him, a nice trip the x-ray room so they could take a chest xray. They wanted to see if he had pneumonia. Saddest thing I've ever seen. They stick them in this bucket, arms straight in the air, and close the bucket. SO SAD, he was screaming away and looking at us like we were the WORST parents ever! The x-ray looks good so we get sent home with this "I think it just a virus" this is why I HATE going to the doctor because everything is "just a virus!"

So we head home! It is now 11pm just he beginning of a LONG night ahead. As I expected Cannon is up literally every two hours. He can't breath, can't sleep because he just aches and all he wants is for me to hold him. Brandon had a LONG night too, he slept through the whole thing. Granted he was sick.

Saturday he was better, still sick but he at least had more life in his little body.

Sunday he still had a little fever, some coughing and the runny nose, but really I thought we were on the home stretch.

Monday he starts out great. Wakes up happy has a good day but WILL NOT take a nap. Starting at about 1 he has these random freak outs! He points to his tummy, bends over or lays on his tummy knees tucked under his tummy and just cries! I feel so bad, but I honestly have no idea what is wrong. All I can do is hold him until he ready to go on his merry way. He had had some other freak outs over the weekend too but Monday afternoon was a special treat! Finally around 6:30 he falls asleep. YES I am thinking he is out for the night! Oh no, 9:30, just as I am getting ready for bed, he wakes up FREAKING out again. I call my mom, she says call the insta-care back. They are worthless, "you can come back if you want but we close at 10." Whatever! I call Brandon, he thinks I am beating Cannon because EVERY time I have talked to him, Cannon is screaming in obvious pain, he kindly calls our regular pediatrician and asks them what we should we do. They send us to Primaries.

Oh lovely, it is now 10:30! Yet another LONG night! I go pick up Brandon and we head to Primaries. We walk in and this is what we see, a scene from ER, the TV show. It is crawling with people. Literally standing room only. We check in, "just so you know it is a two hour wait." I am both shocked and a little irritated because I know that 3/4 of the people in the waiting room DO NOT have insurance and I do and I am paying for all of them to see the Doctor before my sick little boy can. What a joke!

Once again, they have to take Cannon's vitals which is another texture issue and yet another freak out! Finally they get them, send us to the waiting room and we wait. They finally get us back it is now 12:30 in the morning. We see one doctor, she sends us for some x-rays. Again, the worst parents EVER as we are not allowed in the x-ray room and Cannon is losing it. It took two techs to hold him down. "This ones a strong one" we hear the tech say as we stand helplessly at the door. Poor kid, he hates us!

They review the x-ray can't see anything that should be causing a problem. Another Doctor looks at the x-ray orders an Enema. I was shocked about the enema because Cannon had pooped (soft poop) twice that day and pain free it appeared. If you thought the x-rays were bad you should have been there for the Enema! You wouldn't believe what can get stuck in your body! By now it is 3am. The doctor comes back, tells us the potential problems and what to watch for. Final diagnosis, SEVERE CONSTIPATION!

What a night! The doc tells me to take Cannon to his Pediatrician Tuesday for a follow up because she is worried about his tummy. She is worried it could still turn into pneumonia or even appendicitis but for now the x-rays are good and the enema seemed to help. We finally make it to the car at 4am, Cannon is asleep before we leave the parking lot. Poor kid.

Tuesday we go to the Pediatrician, he reviews the chart and x-rays from hours before and asks a million questions, including he is a relatively healthy? I am thinking you are looking at his chart for crying out loud, YES this is only his 3rd sick visit EVER. I would say that classifies him as Healthy! Reassures me that it was the right thing to take him to Primaries, because I couldn't have done the enema and that you can never be too careful. Puts him on a higher dose of a Miralax (he was already taking it because the kid won't poop) tells me if he sparks a fever to bring him back right away and sends me home with instructions to have Cannon take it easy and get some sleep. Finally last night he SLEEPS, GLORIOUS NIGHT!

So after days of a sick kid, some major tears and sever pain for my sweet baby this is what I have learned.

1. Mom's know best no matter what age you are!

2. It SUCKS seeing your kid in pain and not being able to do anything about it.

3. I am paying and so are most of you, a shload for insurance because Juan and
Juaninta don't have it but the ER won't turn ANYONE away. (I know this is racist but I was frustrated, I don't have anything against any race, really!)

4. There is no such thing as TIME in a hospital.

5. It's not always "just a virus" that is causing grief.

6. I am not sure why an Enema hasn't become a fad diet.

7. Dad's always come through for the kids, they hearts soften to mush and they would fight the world as long as they could make their kids better!

8. The Lord is always listening to your prayers.

So, as silly as it may sound, CONSTIPATION. I am glad that was all it was! Let's pray that it remains as such and doesn't turn into something more!

8 comments:

Bree said...

Oh poor kid we know how that goes Addison's first ER visit was for the same thing... She acted the same way freaked out ALL the time, she still has problems we have been giving her enemas and mads for 4 months now and I think she is just starting to get over it we have not have to give her anything for about 3 weeks and thats a major record. Try giving your kid an enema about 1-2 times a week for the last 4 months as soon as she sees it she covers her bum and freaks. Hopefully he will get over it faster then Addi did.

The Lind's said...

first off you do not suck! you made me laugh...thanks for the email...i will return it...as you know life is crazy!!

Poor little Cannon. That made me so sad when I read that he was pointing to his stomach! So sad! I am glad he is feeling better and hope it continues to get better!! Lauren had issues with that too...not fun! I hope you have a much better week!

Amy said...

I am so sorry! We went through a very something simialr on Christmas eve only we ended up having to give the enema to Ash ourselves. I hope he gets feeling better soon.

Aaron said...

HAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHA

HAHA

.......HA.....


LOL!!!! HAHAHAHAHAH

I laughed through this whole thing...especially the ER discription. Cracked me up. I could go on for days about the ER...

HAHA...

Jill Knotwell said...

After reading your post I think you are the worst parents in the world! I've been in the position where you don't know whats wrong and neither do the Dr's and I've also been to PCMC and have the same sentiments concerning Jose and Juanita. I'm glad he is feeling better though.

Dibble's said...

OH Rachel! That's horrible! I'm so sorry! ER's are the WORST and Primary's is ALWAYS busy! I'm so glad that Cannon is feeling better. I can't imagine the whole x ray experience. You're a trooper!

MerrittBadges said...

What a story! I laughed, I groaned, I even thought the SAME thing about InstaCare. I loved the things you learned. I will learn from your experience! Hope he's (and you) are feeling better!

Heather said...

Amen to hating Insta Care. I think it's full of doctor's that don't know what they are talking about. You can always guarantee a follow up visit to somebody else that know's a thing or two about medicine. It's so horrible seeing your kids go through such pain, and torture. Hope this week goes better for you.