Post E.R. Story

I figured I'd document Emma's first trip to the E.R. and explain what happened to take us there in the first place. We didn't have much time to answer our phone let alone call family to fill everyone in during the chaos so....here's the scoop you may have been after.

(awww...look how cute that little gown is on her though....)

Emma had been complaining of stomach aches for almost a week. She started throwing up on a Tuesday night, had a fever that went up and down between 99 and 103 for 2 days, wouldn't keep any food down, was lathargic and very crabby. I am not the type of mom that takes her kids to the doctor for every ailment, so we waited it out at home with lots of Tylenol, Pedialite and plain toast. When she started throwing up liquids on day 2-I had enough and made a call to Dr. Larson. The scheduling nurses were pissy with me for calling at 4:15pm trying to get into my doc. I knew if they asked him, he would happily oblige us, and he did. I quickly dragged Em & Bryce down to the clinic. He ruled out Swine Flu and Nurovirus (which are MAJOR concerns) and we then discussed the possibility of a virus (which would have run its course by the next day-day 3), a blockage in her intestines from the Chinese Marble she swallowed days prior, or an appendicitis. Since the hospital was closed for x-rays, I'd have to wait anyways, so we took her home with an assurance from the doctor that it was most likely one of the first 2 diagnosis' and if it got worse the next day-I was to call his cell. We headed home.
Mike took the next day off of school to help me. Go figure-Em was completely back to normal-so we figured it was a virus that was now over.....oops-wrong! At 6pm on the night of Day 3, she started fussing about her tummy again (Mike was watching her at the time and called my cell phone very worried that this "thing" wasn't going away and made me take her to the E.R.)
So I came home, packed Em up and drove her down to the hospital-the whole way there I kept thinking to myself "she is just over tired from a HUGE lack of sleep-she'll be OK if she just gets some rest", but I wanted to make Mike feel better, so I took her (kicking and screaming). She hates the doctors because they give her vaccinations!
Anyhow-we sat in the hospital room for over an hour before anyone came in to see us-the whole time Emma was sobbing that she wanted something to drink. When I asked for some water for her-the "kind" nurse told me "I bet she's thirsty after all that fussing going on in there!" WHAT? She is freaking 2 years old and feels like crap lady! That was only the beginning of the wonderful E.R. trip because then she told me "no water until we know what's wrong with her". (Huh? That could be hours and her lips are cracking because she is so dehydrated and I can't get her to keep in the fluids she has because she is crying them all out! Next she will be on I.V because of you people!)
Then the med student from WSU came in and preceded to talk to Em like an idiot and showed her a poster of like 8 different "feeling" faces, asking her which one she felt like? Huh? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? Again-SHE IS 2! She knows happy faces and sad faces....get a clue! So when she couldn't show the 20 something year old-the gal got ticked at her and said very sarcasticly "If you don't show me then I can't help you....ok?????" What I wanted to say was "don't ever work in Peds B****" but I refrained. This was strike #2.
Then she tried to take Em's blood pressure by squeezing her wrist??? Seriously? What 2 year old who isn't feeling well, or is feeling fine for that matter, wants you to squeeze their wrist??? So Em pried the gals hand away and clung to me like a magnet. Med student gets pissed and leaves the room with a "huff" under her breath, and comes back 20 minutes later with a band-aid that takes your blood pressure! WOW! DUHHHHH!!! Moron. I kept thinking to myself-she's a med student, like a student teacher-we've all been there....then again-maybe not that dumb though! Ugh.

After about 2 hours the doc came in and tried to give her apple juice (which she is allergic to....strike #3) and it pretty much tormented poor thirsty Em. He put a tongue depressor in her mouth to try to look at her throat and she was freaked out by it, gagged herself and threw up. So then he takes a cotton swab, shoves it down her throat and she gags again, throwing up AGAIN! He goes out and says, no liquids for the irritable child-she is sick. BULLS***! You just MADE her throw up. She's been fine until you gagged her! I had enough. I called Mike and told him to come down and bring me a bottle. She was getting water whether they were going to give me a cup or not! I refused to see my baby in pain any longer. The only thing that calmed her was a picture of Mike she found in my purse which she caressed and kissed as she sobbed "I want Dadda...Momma I wanna go home to my bed..."
Mike gets there and Bryce isn't allowed in because of all the swine flu scare crap-so we had to switch off  in the waiting room with him. Needless to say, I got the bottle and gave Em water, and Mike took Bryce home and he was as mad as a hornet about what was going on! I turned off the lights in the room and rubbed Em's back and she fell asleep. That's it. I was checking us out and taking her home-SHE IS JUST TIRED. Bummer-because just then the doc finally came back (it had been another 45 minutes since the last time we saw him) and he explained that he wanted to give her an IV for fluids, anti-nausea meds and take some blood samples AND they were looking at the possibility of surgery for an apendectomy on my 2 year old! WTH? I said-why are you going to give her an IV if she is keeping her fluids down? She is dying of thirst and you refuse, so instead you'll give it to her intraveiniously? I don't think so. He decided to argue with me and say, "well she just threw up her liquids-you saw it". ARE YOU KIDDING? I must have had a stunned look on my face because he got pissed quick-and I said "Um-you gagged her and THEN she threw up-she didn't do that on her own. So because you gag her, now she gets an IV and anti-nausea medication? And surgery? What? I am really confused because she saw our family doctor yesterday and she was fine as far as her apendix was concerned-now she needs it out?" I asked to consult my own doctor and said I would need his cell number since I didn't have it with me and he quite smuggly told the other nurses to "get my doctor for my irritable child"! No joke. Strike 4-5-6!

Finally a family friend who is a nurse there came on shift and mouthed to me "What's going on?" I wanted to cry and she quickly came over and got Dr. Larson's cell # for me and 2 puppy dog stickers for Em (one of Pey and one of Binks-does she know my kid or what?) Em clung to her pictures of her favorite things and I called our Dr. back in the room. I explained what was going on and he assured me he would call the doctor right now and figure this out. I could hear Noreen (our nurse friend), trying to talk to the doctor about NO IV or blood tests, and just sending us home with pedialite popsicles, and he was being so rude to her. :(
Next thing I know Mike is down in our room (Shannon came over and watched Bryce at home) and 30 minutes later the doctor comes back in saying ever so nicely "Would you be alright with going home and keeping an eye on her? I think she'll be ok." OMG....This night couldn't get anymore stressful. YES WE'VE WANTED TO GO HOME FOR THE PAST 4 HOURS! Anyhow-it was a long long long night and poor Emee hit the couch hard when we got home and smiled for the first time in hours. Thank goodness for our friend Noreen and Dr. Larson, who went to bat for poor Em or we'd probably still be there with IV's, blood and a major surgery...and now we know it was a stupid marble that caused all this-luckily that didn't become serious enough for surgery too. Wow.
P.S. Sorry for my choice of or lack of "vocabulary"-this whole thing had me pretty heated...don't mess with my kids! lol!