9.30.2008
9.29.2008
more news...
the doc did indeed come back in to see Abbey. The culture came back and we are NOT dealing with a UTI. It is looking more and more like just regular old abdominal yuck that has just hit her very hard. She had the big sweat earlier and has been so much better since then. Also the fever is pretty much gone so her sense of humor is back. Also the cramping is still happening but seems to be passing more quickly. all in all things are looking up just a bit.
I think that we are just waiting for her to be able to eat and get off of the IV and we might get to go home.
woohoo
the doc did indeed come back in to see Abbey. The culture came back and we are NOT dealing with a UTI. It is looking more and more like just regular old abdominal yuck that has just hit her very hard. She had the big sweat earlier and has been so much better since then. Also the fever is pretty much gone so her sense of humor is back. Also the cramping is still happening but seems to be passing more quickly. all in all things are looking up just a bit.
I think that we are just waiting for her to be able to eat and get off of the IV and we might get to go home.
woohoo
More updates! This puzzle that is Abbey's abdomen seems to be a fun one for these docs. I got not one, not two, but three apologies from 2 different doctors about the lack of communication yesterday evening, which was so "normal" for a hospital that I sort of expected it, but I was assured today that they will all be around much more. Ok, that's nice.
Abbey's red blood count is low, so they want to rule out blood in the stool and we are still waiting for the urine culture to grow enough for the lab to rule the UTI in or out. If it's in we'll probably have an ultrasound on the kidneys to check them out. Poor Dabber has to have another blood draw and is currently sniffling about it. I'm glad she's not a cusser yet or she'd have let the guy have it.
All in all things seem better, but I want this infection out of her NOW.
Abbey's red blood count is low, so they want to rule out blood in the stool and we are still waiting for the urine culture to grow enough for the lab to rule the UTI in or out. If it's in we'll probably have an ultrasound on the kidneys to check them out. Poor Dabber has to have another blood draw and is currently sniffling about it. I'm glad she's not a cusser yet or she'd have let the guy have it.
All in all things seem better, but I want this infection out of her NOW.
Better
Abbey is finally feeling better. Phew. Her temperature spiked last night but so far today it is as close to normal as I've felt since Wednesday. She's still pretty wrung out but she's actually coloring and talking and even smiling sometimes. We'll probably be here awhile yet, they want to give her another round of the antibiotic this afternoon.
I'm gonna go play with her.
I'm gonna go play with her.
9.28.2008
I take back everything nice I said about McNeil, except for maybe how nice the nurse was, because as it turns out Abbey has a UTI from hell. They didn't catch it. If they had we could have started this process on Friday night instead of Sunday afternoon, almost 2 whole days of suffering for Dabber. F them.
Our course of action yesterday was to push the fluids, but we were warned that if she threw up that that could indicate a blockage and that we'd need to come back in promptly. Well, about 9:30 she threw up so we brought her into Loyola which has a ped ER rather than bring her back to crazy McNeil. It's like a hotel here almost, everyone is way more polite and professional, but it is entirely sucky to be here and dealing with this. We are still waiting for the head surgery guy to come and truly release her from the possibility of surgery. She finally got a chance to try and eat and so far it has all stayed down (cross your fingers).
I miss Ella. I'm going to go home with her tonight while John stays here in hell with Abbey. It's at least a kids sort of as nice as it can be kind of hell, but hell it is. There are some amazing splatters of god knows what on the carpet in the hallway. Oh yeah, and we're in the cubs room so I bought a white sox balloon to conteract the mojo and it worked!
I'm just relieved that the surgery option has dropped low low low and the surgeons aren't lurking around licking their chops anymore, that was disturbing. Although it was a surgeon who figured out the uti so good on em.
ok, over and out
Our course of action yesterday was to push the fluids, but we were warned that if she threw up that that could indicate a blockage and that we'd need to come back in promptly. Well, about 9:30 she threw up so we brought her into Loyola which has a ped ER rather than bring her back to crazy McNeil. It's like a hotel here almost, everyone is way more polite and professional, but it is entirely sucky to be here and dealing with this. We are still waiting for the head surgery guy to come and truly release her from the possibility of surgery. She finally got a chance to try and eat and so far it has all stayed down (cross your fingers).
I miss Ella. I'm going to go home with her tonight while John stays here in hell with Abbey. It's at least a kids sort of as nice as it can be kind of hell, but hell it is. There are some amazing splatters of god knows what on the carpet in the hallway. Oh yeah, and we're in the cubs room so I bought a white sox balloon to conteract the mojo and it worked!
I'm just relieved that the surgery option has dropped low low low and the surgeons aren't lurking around licking their chops anymore, that was disturbing. Although it was a surgeon who figured out the uti so good on em.
ok, over and out
9.27.2008
Seriously
So I have been fielding calls from doctors all morning. Abbey's ct scan set off alarms for several of the radiologists who looked at it today. Her elevated white count along with the swelling of lymph nodes and large intestine are symptoms of Mesenteric Adenitis. The lack of bm's (Thursday until Saturday morning) made them concerned that she had a blockage. Since there have been at least 2 liquid bm's today the blockage is less likely. So Abbey's ped is recommending that she ingest fluids today, clear liquids. I took that to mean the braty diet. So John says that he's going to the store for campbells chicen soup and 7 - up. And was snotty with me when I recommended something with a little less sodium and sugar, like, say, home made vegetable broth. Why on earth would my husband who is normally such a proponent of home made food turn to these horrid substitutes for food at the time when abbey is most in need of the right stuff? Oh yeah, he is still trying to act like all of this is still an invention of the hospital system's love of diagnosing people with stuff that costs money but my mama instinct is in high gear and he's being very threatening to me right now. As far as I'm concerned he can go get drunk at the golf course and stay there.
I told his mom on him.
I told his mom on him.
fun times
So Abbey has been more sick than I can ever remember her being. So sick that I actually gave her fever reducer medicine yesterday. She felt better after taking the medicine but then would start to feel crappy again. John of course said that we should send her to school and went to his golf thing without a worry. I, against my better judgement, sent her to school only because it was only for an hour and she really wanted to go. After school she zonked out for awhile and then I had to take both girls to Mimi's so that I could go teach Zack.
I really didn't want to do this, Mimi works from home on Fridays and my gut was telling me to stay home. I felt like I needed to go teach Zack, though, because we need the money and I had fronted them about 60 bucks for music which I was expecting to be re-imbursed for yesterday. I also needed to stop by Abbey's dentist to pick up her school form because they would not fax it. So I went. Zack's folks forgot to pay me and the dentiset was closed.
I get home to Abbey finally and she's OK but pretty swifly deteriorates. All day she had been complaining about a sharper pain in her belly. The kicker for me was when she refused to walk to the potty and then started screaming from the pain. I checked the Dr. Sears site which lists these symptoms as the ones to check out. Abbey had all of them except that her pain was centered and not lower right.
I called her doctor and she recommended that we head to the ER to rule out a bladder infection and appendicitis. Yay, a trip to the ER on Friday night. John is still not home so I go to my house and get supplies for Ella to sleep over at Mimi's and head out. Abbey won't walk so I have to carry her and she's heavy! So we get checked in and sit around for awhile before we ar called back for triage where the nurse is pretty harsh when I rate Abbey's pain at a 9 or 10 FOR HER. Since I know her pretty well and this really is the most pain that I've ever seen her in. But somehow my telling the nurse my opinion is not letting her do her job. Then we wait.
Then the debate starts. I'm not sure if I know of a better torture than sitting in the ER with a sick child and being a captive audience for this crap they're calling election coverage this year. I'm decided and I'm done. Anyway, I thought I'd try and call John and see what he was doing, Mimi had said that she had called while I was on my provision run. So I called and god damn it if he wasn't slurring. And answering the phone while driving drunk. Yay.
So back to the good ole ER, the admitting table called out a name, that sort of sounded like Abigail but really didn't because of how strong of an accent the woman used. She didn't use this accent while speaking directly to me, so I didn't catch it. It was only when they called the folks who had come in behind me that I put 2 and 2 together that Abigaeil was my Abbey. I'm still carrying Abbey at this point so I struggle over to her and ask if she had indeed called Abbey and of course she had but could I just wait a minute while she finished with these people? Sure! Let me just lean here on the wall a little. So finally after she finished with those folks she looks up and finally someone who works there (I've been there well over an hour at this point) asks me if I need a wheel chair. Yes thanks. So I fork over my 75 bucks and get Abbey settled into the wheel chair and we go over to wait by the fish. John finally shows up. reeking of booze. yay.
Finally they call us back, but again the thick accent of the people who work there made it hard for me to know what was going on. So we go back to the room, and wait, and the doctor comes in and checks her out. He pokes her belly and orders a cat scan to rule out the problem with the appendix and also wants her to pee in a cup. And of course get an IV. Our nurse, Casey, could be Matt G's long lost brother, he had the same way of speaking, it was eery. He also had the same birthday as Abbey and also had a son her age. He placed a hep lock which Abbey slept through. But she has to drink the nasty barium stuff so we spend the next hour force feeding her little sips of it. Meanwhile, John has decided to tell me that this is all wrong and that I've made the wrong choice to bring her to the ER. He doesn't tell the doctor this, in fact he didn't peep to the doctor, he just tells me like it's all my fault. Great. So of course it's miserable there we wait and wait, and then Abbey finally went for her scan. She fell asleep in the scanner, and then we wait and wait to hear that her appendix is fine but her large intestine is really swollen and is what is causing the pain. And her white blood cell count was worrisomely high. So finally after only 5 hours we're released and head home. She's still sleeping, is still fevered and we are not out of the woods. She has to stay hydrated and has to see her doctor on monday. What a nightmare. I can't say that I wouldn't bring her again if she was exhibiting those symptoms and I'm not sure what I was supposed to do.
I'm very relieved that Abbey doesn't need surgery. I'm beyond upset with John for being such an amazing jerk to me in that situation. There is one certainty, if I should ever need to do this again he is NOT the person I would call. I'm contemplating calling him out on his drunkenness in front of his parents today when we go get Ella. Must decide what the most appropriate way to handle this is because I don't think I can ignore it or forget it.
Ok, I'm off to check her.
I really didn't want to do this, Mimi works from home on Fridays and my gut was telling me to stay home. I felt like I needed to go teach Zack, though, because we need the money and I had fronted them about 60 bucks for music which I was expecting to be re-imbursed for yesterday. I also needed to stop by Abbey's dentist to pick up her school form because they would not fax it. So I went. Zack's folks forgot to pay me and the dentiset was closed.
I get home to Abbey finally and she's OK but pretty swifly deteriorates. All day she had been complaining about a sharper pain in her belly. The kicker for me was when she refused to walk to the potty and then started screaming from the pain. I checked the Dr. Sears site which lists these symptoms as the ones to check out. Abbey had all of them except that her pain was centered and not lower right.
- Severe right lower abdominal pain
- Constant pain – it usually doesn't come and go
- Gradually increased pain – the pain will usually get worse and worse
- Fever
- Refusal to eat
- Vomiting – this is sometimes present, but not always
- Refusal to walk – a child with appendicitis will often lie down curled up in a fetal position
I called her doctor and she recommended that we head to the ER to rule out a bladder infection and appendicitis. Yay, a trip to the ER on Friday night. John is still not home so I go to my house and get supplies for Ella to sleep over at Mimi's and head out. Abbey won't walk so I have to carry her and she's heavy! So we get checked in and sit around for awhile before we ar called back for triage where the nurse is pretty harsh when I rate Abbey's pain at a 9 or 10 FOR HER. Since I know her pretty well and this really is the most pain that I've ever seen her in. But somehow my telling the nurse my opinion is not letting her do her job. Then we wait.
Then the debate starts. I'm not sure if I know of a better torture than sitting in the ER with a sick child and being a captive audience for this crap they're calling election coverage this year. I'm decided and I'm done. Anyway, I thought I'd try and call John and see what he was doing, Mimi had said that she had called while I was on my provision run. So I called and god damn it if he wasn't slurring. And answering the phone while driving drunk. Yay.
So back to the good ole ER, the admitting table called out a name, that sort of sounded like Abigail but really didn't because of how strong of an accent the woman used. She didn't use this accent while speaking directly to me, so I didn't catch it. It was only when they called the folks who had come in behind me that I put 2 and 2 together that Abigaeil was my Abbey. I'm still carrying Abbey at this point so I struggle over to her and ask if she had indeed called Abbey and of course she had but could I just wait a minute while she finished with these people? Sure! Let me just lean here on the wall a little. So finally after she finished with those folks she looks up and finally someone who works there (I've been there well over an hour at this point) asks me if I need a wheel chair. Yes thanks. So I fork over my 75 bucks and get Abbey settled into the wheel chair and we go over to wait by the fish. John finally shows up. reeking of booze. yay.
Finally they call us back, but again the thick accent of the people who work there made it hard for me to know what was going on. So we go back to the room, and wait, and the doctor comes in and checks her out. He pokes her belly and orders a cat scan to rule out the problem with the appendix and also wants her to pee in a cup. And of course get an IV. Our nurse, Casey, could be Matt G's long lost brother, he had the same way of speaking, it was eery. He also had the same birthday as Abbey and also had a son her age. He placed a hep lock which Abbey slept through. But she has to drink the nasty barium stuff so we spend the next hour force feeding her little sips of it. Meanwhile, John has decided to tell me that this is all wrong and that I've made the wrong choice to bring her to the ER. He doesn't tell the doctor this, in fact he didn't peep to the doctor, he just tells me like it's all my fault. Great. So of course it's miserable there we wait and wait, and then Abbey finally went for her scan. She fell asleep in the scanner, and then we wait and wait to hear that her appendix is fine but her large intestine is really swollen and is what is causing the pain. And her white blood cell count was worrisomely high. So finally after only 5 hours we're released and head home. She's still sleeping, is still fevered and we are not out of the woods. She has to stay hydrated and has to see her doctor on monday. What a nightmare. I can't say that I wouldn't bring her again if she was exhibiting those symptoms and I'm not sure what I was supposed to do.
I'm very relieved that Abbey doesn't need surgery. I'm beyond upset with John for being such an amazing jerk to me in that situation. There is one certainty, if I should ever need to do this again he is NOT the person I would call. I'm contemplating calling him out on his drunkenness in front of his parents today when we go get Ella. Must decide what the most appropriate way to handle this is because I don't think I can ignore it or forget it.
Ok, I'm off to check her.
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