A Month to the Day

We managed to stay out for one whole month, but last night I found myself speeding along dark city streets at four in the morning and taking the little man back in. It has been QUITE the week, and I was so looking forward to a quiet weekend, a reunion with my book club, and visits from friends. Unfortunately, it’s been derailed by a fever and a cough. Luckily, his fever has already subsided and he’s been getting major antibiotics in hospital.

Another week has flown by in which Gavin has tested mama’s patience many times. Every small move turned into a battle of wills, putting on coat, getting in car, going out, going home, having a nap. Of course, now I feel terribly guilty about all of it as Bean spends yet another night in hospital. I should have suspected that something was brewing as he’s looked flushed a bit the last couple of days, but never registered a fever.

We were actually at the hospital yesterday afternoon for a follow-up with chest clinic, who pronounced him very well, and in great news, decided that he no longer requires oxygen 24-7, but could get by with only night-time/sleep support. We ceremoniously snipped off the prongs and headed home. The snipping was premature though, as he fell asleep in the car and then stayed asleep once home. I attributed his tiredness to a three-day run of no naps, but perhaps it was something else brewing. I had to put on another set of prongs while he was sleeping and then left him alone, apart from administering meds and such.

At three in the morning, Gavin woke me for some reason and I realized he felt quite hot. My first read came back as 38.2, a fever on the rise perhaps? I was a bit panicky, and woke Craig up (who unfortunately had arrived home late from a work party) and buzzed around trying to figure out what to do. I then remembered that I’m supposed to call the haem-onc. fellow on-call at hospital and get advice. Right, now to find that number in my sleep-addled state… A few minutes later I was on the phone with a doctor who told me to wait an hour to see if it came down, and if not, come in. In the meantime, Gavin had coughed and vomited in the bedroom. My next temp read came back at 39.2. Okay, heading in!

I threw on some sort of clothing and grabbed a couple of things we needed for supplies. Craig would have to stay at home as one of us needed sleep for today, so I told Gavin we were going on an adventure to the hospital, which amazingly he took in stride. He was in a great mood and we chatted all the way to the hospital, which seems much closer at 4 in the morning!

We made our way to emerg, checked in with the triage nurse and got put into a room. Thankfully, the ER at Sick Kids is set up with completely separate, private rooms. We were seen pretty quickly and started blood cultures. It was just too bad that Gavin only got to sleep about 20 minutes longer, and then had to have a poke for a blood culture. He was very brave and bore the prodding for a good needle site with fortitude. He was happy to choose something from the treasure box afterwards, although I thought it a bit weird that he picked a Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson dress-up game,  (how long has that been in there?) I didn’t say anything. He then got hooked up to the IV and was examined a couple of times. Everyone seemed to think he looked pretty good, and all of his stats were good, blood pressure, heart-rate, and O2 sats. I was alarmed to discover that his next temp was 39.6! Absolutely burning up. I got out the cold cloths and tried to cool his arms and head down a bit. A short time later the Tylenol kicked in and the fever came down to a level where I could touch him again.

I think at that point it was around 5 or 5:30 in the morning, and we had to head to X-ray to get a scan done of his chest. He stomped into the reception and said, Hi, I’m here! as though they’d been waiting all night. He did really, really well with the x-ray, asking me about everything. What’s that, mama? What’s this for? After the scan was done we went back to the room and waited to be checked into a room upstairs. And waited. And waited.

We got into our room at 11:00 in the morning. Craig arrived at about 10:30, so for the most part, I was trapped in an ER room with a toddler for about six hours.  Who wanted me to lift him up to a head-height window so he could see the crane outside, wanted to stand on the bed, or walk around the room and get his tubes tangled in everything. We tried colouring, watching TV and playing iPad games, but he was just bored to death and told me so. When is the nurse going to call Gavin Pardey? Where’s my new room? I want my new room now, mama, now! It was pretty amusing but I think our second nurse hated me because I kept asking when we could go upstairs. I have to say a huge thank you to our first nurse who took the liberty of ordering us breakfast. (technically parents aren’t supposed to be allowed Meal Train) Gavin had one bite of banana and I had pancakes.

It was a long night, but not entirely terrible. Gavin just seemed to be doing so well the whole time, that I’m not overly concerned. I mean, of course I’m worried, but not vomit-inducing worried. I hate to leave him at hospital in these situations but only one parent can stay and after my night last night, it wasn’t going to be me!

He has remained afebrile for the rest of the day and was also playful, but tired. He had a long nap and some more tests done, and so we hope we will be kept for observation for a couple of days and then sent home. I pray that it is not shunt-related or a line infection. I know that these are the bumps in the road that we’ll be facing for the next year or so, and seems to just be part of the process.

Hoping for a better day tomorrow.