What Nightmares May Come

Maybe if I had known what a roller coaster month this would have been....I probably would have just burrowed myself in my house with my family and not come out EVER. But alas, hind sight is always 20/20. So where to begin......

Good news: We have lots of job prospects and are getting really excited and know that some of them will pan out very soon. We will post news as soon as we get any.

So the first half of the month, went off without any real hitch....it was pretty regular and we were just getting things taken care of that we needed to.

We had a super family reunion planned and were getting excited to go. On the day, we were leaving, I noticed that Alex was not really acting like himself but really didn't think anything of it. (I know some of you think I am being extremely melodramatic...but honestly I don't care).
When we got to Phill's cousin's house (btw Jas and Hez, YOU ARE AMAZING!) Alex definitely had a fever, we took it and it was over 100. So we decided to give him some Motrin and see how he was doing in the morning. After a very sleepless night, moving alex around to different areas, Phill ended up sleeping with him in the rocker. The next morning he was not doing better, so we decided I would sit out on the reunion that day and see if Alex was getting any better. (I was really bummed because we wanted to take Alex swimming for the first time!). Well, Alex did not get any better and his temperature had risen to over 102, so we headed over the the Dr.'s office. It was after hours so we saw a PA, and he checked his vitals and saw that he had an inflamed throat. He told us it was a virus that would be gone in a couple of days. So we went back and were getting ready to wait out the virus. Well, starting that night he started having very severe diarrhea and was becoming very lethargic. However, the next day he seemed a little bit better, so we decided that we would head out to the family reunion (especially since I was in charge a meal that day). He was acting better, but still had diarrhea and was acting lethargic (not really smiling etc.) By the end of the reunion, he was just pretty sick.

His diarrhea was so bad that every outfit had to be rinsed and washed and changed. We went back to the house where we were staying and hopefully had some really fun things planned there. He still was acting very lethargic and sick overall, but we just figured it was part of the virus he had. One thing was that he was sleeping really well, not waking up, taking good naps and I thought well this is nice...but it was because he was so sick, that his body just wasn't reacting the same.

Finally, he got so lethargic that he was hardly moving really and it really started to scare me. We made a Dr.'s appointment for the next day and took him in. Well, they took some blood and looked at his stools and the Dr. was pretty sure that he had rota virus. Many infants get the vaccination for this, but because we were off on our vaccinations (because we have to drive up north to get them...another story entirely), he did not get this vaccination.

Also, the Dr. said that he was so dehydrated that he would have to be admitted to the hospital. I was absolutely crushed for many reasons: fear, anger, sadness and I just started bawling. The doctor assured me that they would just get him re hydrated and be able to send him home. So we started the admittance process and I tried to go fill out all the paperwork, while being an absolute basket case. I was bawling and the clerk kept on asking if I was okay.

I was hoping that while I was downstairs getting the paperwork filled out, they could take care of all the gruesome stuff, such as getting IVs etc. However, would I be that lucky, no. So I come upstairs to find the room and find this. Yes, these are the cribs in the pediatric wing of the hospital. How disturbing really.

Also, to add to the absolute wonderful event. Our nurse was quite the hellion. She was for the most part unkind, insensitive and coarse to the situation. Well, they proceeded to find out where would be the best place to put the IV. Alex is so small that hey could not get it anywhere but his head. Yes, his head. They put him inside his jail cell and then Phil had to hold him down while they poked and prodded with needles inside his head. This is where I left because I honestly just could not take it. After bawling outside for a little bit, I came back to find an IV had been taped to his head and he was attached to a machine.

The next few days, were absolutely wonderful (dripping with sarcasm). It was awful seeing my little boy pricked several times throughout the day, constantly having to draw blood from his head, sleeping in a chair, having the IV machine wig out all night, and dealing with insensitive nurses. Overall it was the most horrible experience of my life. After all that we were able to go home and now he is fully recovered. Nothing has made me feel like a more horrible mother than that experience. There are lots of other details to the story, so if you care to know more give me a call; but obviously it was not a pleasant experience to say the least.


One funny thing was as soon as we got checked in and I went upstairs. The nurse was like, "Well, did you bring a camera?" Flabbergasted, I didn't know what to say. So she continued, "because you are going to want to remember this." I really almost swore at her. Are you kidding me? I AM PRETTY SURE I NEVER WANT TO REMEMBER THIS! Of course, that is what I should have said, but just gave her an absent-minded look. Alex is much better now and things are back to normal. Thanks for the many thoughts and prayers in our behalf, they were much appreciated.