Rough Week

Hey all!

Forgive my lack of communication these last few weeks. Last week was pretty busy and last weekend we enjoyed a great visit with Mom Mom and Grandpa Scott. This week has been filled with sickness. All that added together equals a lack of communication on my part. =) I’ll write more later about the fabulous weekend we had when I have a little more time to post pictures.

Monday morning Luke wakes up and is fine and then out of the blue starts throwing up. Not spitting up, but throwing up. It was incredibly sad and pitiful. He stopped throwing up midmorning and was sleepy (with lots of yucky diapers) throughout the rest of the day. We tried to keep him pumped full of fluids and I nursed him as much as possible. He ate great that night and we thought the worst was over.

Tuesday morning Luke refused to eat and I was starting to feel queasy myself. Since Luke refused to eat, I tried to nurse him often throughout the morning and continue filling him with as much water as he would take. Then I got sick…really really sick. Lot's of throwing up and such. I couldn’t hold anything down. Luke was feeling icky so in the midst of it all, I’m still trying to take care of him and nurse him as much as he wants. By the time afternoon came, I was texting Chris practically begging him to come home. By the time he finally got out of class, he promptly came home and got sick himself. So we were a pitiful bunch.

By late afternoon, I was in so much pain it was about all I could take. I knew I’d become really dehydrated, but there was nothing I could do since I couldn’t keep anything down. So I’m on the loveseat writhing in pain trying to convince Chris to take me to the doctor. With each passing minute the pain got worse and worse. Finally I convinced Chris to take me in. At this point I can barely walk without collapsing. We get to the ER and it was PACKED. I swear everyone from Ft. Gordon was there. Some really nice man did let me have his chair since I couldn’t even stand up and Chris checked us all in. It took forever and with each passing moment I became more and more dehydrated and the pain became more and more unbearable.

So they finally triage us and the nurse says there are no beds available and we’ll just have to wait. At this point I can’t even sit up anymore so I’m laying on the nasty floor and they finally let us go into a separate waiting room so I can lay down on a couch like thing since I wasn’t “allowed” to lay on the floor. Yeah, looking back I’m completely grossed out and embarrassed by the fact that I laid down on the floor, but at the time I literally couldn’t sit up. So, we wait and wait and I’m moaning and groaning and Chris and Luke are just trying to put up with me since they don’t feel the best themselves.

At some point during our wait I knew I was going to be sick again, so Chris tries to help me find the bathroom. He practically drags me there. By the time I get out, Chris is no where in sight and I pretty much just collapse on the floor in front of the men’s room thinking Chris was in there and that he would find me. Lucky for me it was a nurse in the bathroom. I was pretty incoherent at that point and he was asking me questions and I know I didn’t make any sense, but in my mind I thought I had to find Chris to help me up because I wasn’t “allowed” to be on the floor. The nurse got me into a wheelchair and finally into a room. So I’m lying on the bed in intense, constant, persistent pain, moaning and groaning, wondering why in the world no one is coming to help me. Finally 3 hours after we checked into the ER a doctor finally comes to see me. He was actually really nice and even got me a blanket since I was freezing. Probably another 30 minutes goes by and they do lab work and finally start some fluids. Another 30 minutes pass and they finally start some pain meds and anti-nausea meds through my IV. Of course this makes me throw up right away, but then it all kicks in and knocks me out. Finally some pain relief! I was way out in left field and when they took me to X-ray (to run some tests) I was so far gone that I couldn’t even stand up without someone coming in to hold me up. Of course standing up made me sick, so these poor X-ray techs are trying to be helpful-frantically trying to get me a bucket. I feel bad for them now, but at that time, I was just completely incoherent and pretty much unable to do what they wanted me to do. I know there was a lot of wheeling around the hospital, there was a CAT scan and finally by the time I got back to my room, a doctor was talking to Chris and Luke about their symptoms and I was coming out of my haze a bit. They give me another bag of fluids which brings more life back to me and I can actually think semi-straight again. Finally all the tests come back and the diagnosis is what I could have told them the minute we got in there. Severe dehydration and a stomach virus. Uh, hello Army hospital, had I had fluids when I first got there, I probably would’ve been fine. Yeah, so needless to say we got out of there around mid-night (after checking in at 4pm.)

I had to check back in to a doctor on Wed, so we spent all afternoon waiting in the waiting room for that. He said I was hydradted and sent me on my way. Yet another thing I could have told them...maybe I should become a doctor? =)

Neither Chris or Luke got hit as bad, but they’re still on the mend. Luke refuses to eat anything solid, so we’re still trying to push as much fluids and nursing as he’ll take. He doesn’t like juice so it’s hard to get even Pedialyte down him. We finally had to syringe it into his mouth so he wouldn’t get dehydrated too. So pray that he’ll start eating again. If he doesn’t eat today, I’m going to have to take him in tomorrow (it's been since Monday that he's eaten solid food.) Hopefully if that happens I can get an appointment.

Chris is still feeling tired, but he’s doing better. I’m still really shaky and weak and still haven’t been able to hold my food very well, but thanks to all the fluids, I’m still hydrated. I lost almost 10 pounds after coming home from the ER – and that was after I had the fluids! Craziness.

Anyway, I just wanted to ask for your prayers – especially for Luke to eat. Alright, I’m off to lie down. I’ll post pictures of our weekend hopefully this weekend. I hope all is going well for everyone!

Have a great day!


UPDATE – We’ve had some internet issues, so I wasn’t able to post the above blog after I wrote it. So I thought I would tack on an update. I’ve been able to syringe some food into Luke, so that’s really good. Also I have to go back in for a scan because of some enlarged lymph nodes one of the scans picked up. Nothing to worry about, it’s probably due to the severity of the virus and dehydration. So I’ll go in for that next week. Whooopee, more time to spend at the hospital. Blah! Oh well, at least they looked at the scans! =)

Luke is crying, so I must go. I'll update more this weekend if I can!