So , I have to apologize to all my favorite people.... my readers!
I have been very MIA this past week, but I do have a great reason!
Friday , August 12, 2011 my daughter woke up about 11:30 pm eastern running a high fever.
I gave her some medicine and laid her in bed with me.
Saturday when she got up she was still running a high fever and was complaining about stomach pains.
she would be playing one second and the next she was down on in fetal position crying her tummy hurt. ( or in my lap gripping me for dear life.)
All day saturday I tried to keep her fever down and tried to figure out what could be wrong with her tummy.
Mr.this chattanooga mommy saves thought maybe she was constipated so here we are running to wal-mart getting apple juice ( needed to grab the boys some school supplies too)
Keep in mind, Little des is not wanting to eat or drink at all.
Well Sunday rolls around and her temp is still in the 102's ( was between 102.3 and 102.7 most the weekend)
Des has begun to vomit now... still refusing to eat or drink ( i was forcing liquids down her with a medicine dropper)
We finally decided to take her to the closest hospital emergency room...East Ridge hospital.
After about 4 or 5 hours, 2 x-rays, a strep swab, blood work, and and IV...
they release her saying it is just a stomach virus she will get over in a day or two...
So home we go..still with a high fever and stomach pains... no medicine!
Monday morning rolls around and poor little Des can't get up from the bathroom floor because she was vomiting so much. ( about every 5-10 minutes)
She is still running a high temp and complaining about her tummy.
So, here I am calling the hospital. Holding my daughter as she is vomiting.
The hospital said there was nothing they could do for me and told me to call her pediatrician.
So here goes another call...
Her pediatrician tells us to come in at 2pm ...
Once we arrive at the dr. office, her pediatrician takes one look at her and says she is dehydrated. He was also very concerned that she had not had a bowel movement since friday evening.
So he tells me to take her downtown to TC Thompson hospital (it's a children's hospital) so that we could get her some fluids and check out her tummy and watch her overnight.
So here I am crying already because .. Des hasn't had an overnight stay at a hospital since she was born..
Once at Tc Thompson..
they gave her an IV, drew some blood, took xrays, and ran a few tests.
Finally they narrowed it down between appendicitis and intussusception, but was leaning more towards appendicitis because she didnt have many of the signs of intussusception and the signs she did have don't normally come with it...
So after 3 different doctors come in and look at her, they call the surgeon.
The surgeon requests a CT scan...
By this time my daughter is running from every Dr. she sees
( keep in mind she was at the hospital the night before too and saw her Dr. earlier that day. )
Once down in the CT scan room, Des is clawing herself off the table, jumping up every second she gets, tears running down her little face as she screams " mommy please"
It broke my heart so I picked her up and held her as I asked the dr to go get her daddy.
Once Mr. this chattanooga mommy saves was in the room we each got on one side of her holding her hands ( and shoulders) to help keep her calm and down so we could do the test...
It was one of the hardest things to do for me ( or so I thought at the time)
We sit in the room.. waiting on the Dr to come in and tell us something.. anything...
Finally, her Dr comes back in says it isn't appendicitis, but it is intussusception and was going to have an barium or water-soluble contrast enema.
( Now I had never heard of this before, so I was full of questions..)
Mr. this chattanooga mommy saves and I both pull out our phones and look it up. We needed all the information we could get and I didn't want to keep her Dr in there with us ..
the longer she was with us in the room answering questions.. the longer it would take for Des to get help...
They tell us that only one of us can go down to the room for the procedure.
Of course.. it was me!
I had to hold des down as they stuck a tube up her rectum.. after a few minutes, the dr said it was fixed..
I was SOOOOO happy to hear that!
We finally get back to the room ( while waiting for our overnight room) visitors start to leave and Des falls asleep shortly after. ( It is aprox 2:55 am )
About 4:30 am they come in to take us to our overnight room..
Finally Tuesday ...
Des wakes up.. still refusing to eat or drink but temp has dropped down and she isn't screaming in pain anymore.
My mom an grandma come up to the hospital... which was a huge relief cause I needed a shower!
The nurses are offering Des anything ( within her clear liquid diet restrictions)
she doesnt want anything but then asks for ice.
She sits up in my grandma's lap and chews down about 5 itty bitty small pieces of crushed ice....
Not 2 seconds later she is grabbing her stomach saying she hurts again..
I run down the hall to get her Dr.
The surgeon requests an ultrasound this time...
My grandma and I go down to the room, praying for some good news.. hoping the Dr is going to tell us it isnt back...
Dr comes back out and tells us it is and that they want to do another air-contrast enema.
Keep in mind that there is only a 10% chance of it coming back after the enema.. Des just happened to be part of that 10% chance
We get Des ready and my mom and I go to the room with Des for the procedure.
The nurse is telling my mom to stop crying as we put on the little xray coats and get ready to hold Des down. ( and no, they didn't put her to sleep during the procedure either)
Here goes another tube up her rectum again. you could see Des stomach puff up as the Dr pushed air inside her. It was almost like watching a balloon blow up, except this was my daughter and she was screaming for her life.
She jerked her Iv half way out and was bleeding from where she fought to get off the table as my mom and I held her down.
It was HORRIBLE..
After about 20-30 minutes of the Dr trying he finally said it wasn't working and we could either try the water enema again or surgery..
My mom yells at the dr to just do surgery because at this point Des was in serious pain.
She was crying her little eyes out and just wanted us to hold her.
We head back up to the room to wait for surgery.
Drs are coming in and out.. paperwork, explaining stuff.
To me it was a daze, I was scared, I was in a panic, i was freaking out and all I could think of was hold Des for dear life.
One nurse wanted to come in to take Des IV out and replace it....and at this point we just told them to wait until they had her asleep because we weren't going to put her through any more pain.
By this time, My grandma, my mom, my mother in law and Mr. this Chattanooga mommy saves are all sitting in the room with us just waiting..
A lady comes up and tells us they are ready for us.. and that only two of us could go down.. My grandma ended up being the last two to see her before she went in the surgery room.
We are back up in the room waiting. Everyone went to the cafeteria to go eat but I just couldnt eat so I walked back to the room.. was waiting on the dr to call and say it went well and I could come down to see her...
As minutes passed it seemed like days and finally the phone rung.
Des was out and ok and we could come see her.
Mr. TCMS and I rushed to the elevator to go to the 2nd floor.
All I wanted was to hold my baby. to touch her face.. to know she was ok.
Once we got in the room she was asleep. When she woke up I was scared to hold her because of the surgery but she wanted me so the nurse sat her in may lap.
I was overjoyed to just touch my little girl. to be bale to hold her and to know it was all over.
She slept the rest of the day once we got back to the room
Wednesday
She slept most the day, nibbled at a little bit of food but not much at all.
The lortab pretty much kept her knocked out all day.
About 11 PM she said she wanted to walk so I helped her out of bed and walked to the elevators and back a few times. When Mr. TCMS got there we met him at the elevator, which was exciting for Des.
Thursday
Des gets up and walks a little.
She played in the playroom.
She really loved the Barbie doll house ( So I think I am going to buy her one for her birthday )
She ate a little. they dropped her Iv down to 1oz every hour instead of two in hopes she would eat and drink.
About 10 am we got her to eat a little , which came back up shortly after :( the Dr said to just keep monitoring her.
A few of my mom's co-workers sent Des a giftbag. Which was exciting for her. She loves balloons and stuffed animals...
( the bag contained two stuffed animals: a cat and a bird that makes noise)
(THANK YOU DEBBIE, DIANE, and AUDREY.)
She slowly ate a little and drunk a little juice.
Friday
We were hoping Des would get to go home, but she was still wasnt eating enough so that became a big fat NO.
She watched tv, she slept, and she ate a little.
When she decided she wanted to walk down the hall.
about half way down the hall way she fell to her knees and cried her tummy hurt
I carried her back to the room, called her nurse down ( who called the Dr) and then called my mom.
One of the surgeons came in and checked on her said we would monitor her.
Not long after a lady comes in saying we are going for a x-ray.
Once we get down to the ground floor, ( des got to ride in a red wagon which she really liked)
we found out that the lead surgeon who had done her surgery, requested another enema.
At this point I am wondering if it is back and they are just scared to tell me that after everything she had been through this week or what is going on...
My mom and I go in the room ( after a little fuss with the Dr for the lack of communication and the fact that the last enema was horrible on Des.)
So here my mom and I are again, holding Des down while they shove another tube up des.
Des is screaming and crying ( as she had been as soon as she seen the room)
my mom is talking to her trying to calm her down.( and promised she would buy her her own little red wagon)
Des cried so much she cried herself to sleep.
you could see the blood filled water clear from my daughter's intestines as it drained down the tube. It was scary!
We got her back to the room and laid down. My mom left
About an hour later the surgeons came in and said that they did the enema to make sure it didnt come back and to also clean her intestines out..
When Des finally woke up.. she was eating .. like a pig!
Everytime I turned around she wanted food.
She only ate a little at a time but at 12am .. she was still eating!
Saturday
RELEASE TIME! YAY
So as you can tell it has been a very very long week for me!
and even that is an understatement!
On a good note- Des is at home, eating, playing, and doing much better.
I am glad I followed my motherly instincts and went to her pediatrician.
intussusception can be deadly if not treated
Luckily we have an amazingly strong little girl.
Just in case you were like me and wondered what it is-
An intussusception is a medical condition in which a part of the intestine has invaginated into another section of intestine, similar to the way in which the parts of a collapsible telescope slide into one another
Friday , August 12, 2011 my daughter woke up about 11:30 pm eastern running a high fever.
I gave her some medicine and laid her in bed with me.
Saturday when she got up she was still running a high fever and was complaining about stomach pains.
she would be playing one second and the next she was down on in fetal position crying her tummy hurt. ( or in my lap gripping me for dear life.)
All day saturday I tried to keep her fever down and tried to figure out what could be wrong with her tummy.
Mr.this chattanooga mommy saves thought maybe she was constipated so here we are running to wal-mart getting apple juice ( needed to grab the boys some school supplies too)
Keep in mind, Little des is not wanting to eat or drink at all.
Well Sunday rolls around and her temp is still in the 102's ( was between 102.3 and 102.7 most the weekend)
Des has begun to vomit now... still refusing to eat or drink ( i was forcing liquids down her with a medicine dropper)
We finally decided to take her to the closest hospital emergency room...East Ridge hospital.
After about 4 or 5 hours, 2 x-rays, a strep swab, blood work, and and IV...
they release her saying it is just a stomach virus she will get over in a day or two...
So home we go..still with a high fever and stomach pains... no medicine!
Monday morning rolls around and poor little Des can't get up from the bathroom floor because she was vomiting so much. ( about every 5-10 minutes)
She is still running a high temp and complaining about her tummy.
So, here I am calling the hospital. Holding my daughter as she is vomiting.
The hospital said there was nothing they could do for me and told me to call her pediatrician.
So here goes another call...
Her pediatrician tells us to come in at 2pm ...
Once we arrive at the dr. office, her pediatrician takes one look at her and says she is dehydrated. He was also very concerned that she had not had a bowel movement since friday evening.
So he tells me to take her downtown to TC Thompson hospital (it's a children's hospital) so that we could get her some fluids and check out her tummy and watch her overnight.
So here I am crying already because .. Des hasn't had an overnight stay at a hospital since she was born..
Once at Tc Thompson..
they gave her an IV, drew some blood, took xrays, and ran a few tests.
Finally they narrowed it down between appendicitis and intussusception, but was leaning more towards appendicitis because she didnt have many of the signs of intussusception and the signs she did have don't normally come with it...
So after 3 different doctors come in and look at her, they call the surgeon.
The surgeon requests a CT scan...
By this time my daughter is running from every Dr. she sees
( keep in mind she was at the hospital the night before too and saw her Dr. earlier that day. )
Once down in the CT scan room, Des is clawing herself off the table, jumping up every second she gets, tears running down her little face as she screams " mommy please"
It broke my heart so I picked her up and held her as I asked the dr to go get her daddy.
Once Mr. this chattanooga mommy saves was in the room we each got on one side of her holding her hands ( and shoulders) to help keep her calm and down so we could do the test...
It was one of the hardest things to do for me ( or so I thought at the time)
We sit in the room.. waiting on the Dr to come in and tell us something.. anything...
Finally, her Dr comes back in says it isn't appendicitis, but it is intussusception and was going to have an barium or water-soluble contrast enema.
( Now I had never heard of this before, so I was full of questions..)
Mr. this chattanooga mommy saves and I both pull out our phones and look it up. We needed all the information we could get and I didn't want to keep her Dr in there with us ..
the longer she was with us in the room answering questions.. the longer it would take for Des to get help...
They tell us that only one of us can go down to the room for the procedure.
Of course.. it was me!
I had to hold des down as they stuck a tube up her rectum.. after a few minutes, the dr said it was fixed..
I was SOOOOO happy to hear that!
We finally get back to the room ( while waiting for our overnight room) visitors start to leave and Des falls asleep shortly after. ( It is aprox 2:55 am )
About 4:30 am they come in to take us to our overnight room..
Finally Tuesday ...
Des wakes up.. still refusing to eat or drink but temp has dropped down and she isn't screaming in pain anymore.
My mom an grandma come up to the hospital... which was a huge relief cause I needed a shower!
The nurses are offering Des anything ( within her clear liquid diet restrictions)
she doesnt want anything but then asks for ice.
She sits up in my grandma's lap and chews down about 5 itty bitty small pieces of crushed ice....
Not 2 seconds later she is grabbing her stomach saying she hurts again..
I run down the hall to get her Dr.
The surgeon requests an ultrasound this time...
My grandma and I go down to the room, praying for some good news.. hoping the Dr is going to tell us it isnt back...
Dr comes back out and tells us it is and that they want to do another air-contrast enema.
Keep in mind that there is only a 10% chance of it coming back after the enema.. Des just happened to be part of that 10% chance
We get Des ready and my mom and I go to the room with Des for the procedure.
The nurse is telling my mom to stop crying as we put on the little xray coats and get ready to hold Des down. ( and no, they didn't put her to sleep during the procedure either)
Here goes another tube up her rectum again. you could see Des stomach puff up as the Dr pushed air inside her. It was almost like watching a balloon blow up, except this was my daughter and she was screaming for her life.
She jerked her Iv half way out and was bleeding from where she fought to get off the table as my mom and I held her down.
It was HORRIBLE..
After about 20-30 minutes of the Dr trying he finally said it wasn't working and we could either try the water enema again or surgery..
My mom yells at the dr to just do surgery because at this point Des was in serious pain.
She was crying her little eyes out and just wanted us to hold her.
We head back up to the room to wait for surgery.
Drs are coming in and out.. paperwork, explaining stuff.
To me it was a daze, I was scared, I was in a panic, i was freaking out and all I could think of was hold Des for dear life.
One nurse wanted to come in to take Des IV out and replace it....and at this point we just told them to wait until they had her asleep because we weren't going to put her through any more pain.
By this time, My grandma, my mom, my mother in law and Mr. this Chattanooga mommy saves are all sitting in the room with us just waiting..
A lady comes up and tells us they are ready for us.. and that only two of us could go down.. My grandma ended up being the last two to see her before she went in the surgery room.
We are back up in the room waiting. Everyone went to the cafeteria to go eat but I just couldnt eat so I walked back to the room.. was waiting on the dr to call and say it went well and I could come down to see her...
As minutes passed it seemed like days and finally the phone rung.
Des was out and ok and we could come see her.
Mr. TCMS and I rushed to the elevator to go to the 2nd floor.
All I wanted was to hold my baby. to touch her face.. to know she was ok.
Once we got in the room she was asleep. When she woke up I was scared to hold her because of the surgery but she wanted me so the nurse sat her in may lap.
I was overjoyed to just touch my little girl. to be bale to hold her and to know it was all over.
She slept the rest of the day once we got back to the room
Wednesday
She slept most the day, nibbled at a little bit of food but not much at all.
The lortab pretty much kept her knocked out all day.
About 11 PM she said she wanted to walk so I helped her out of bed and walked to the elevators and back a few times. When Mr. TCMS got there we met him at the elevator, which was exciting for Des.
Thursday
Des gets up and walks a little.
She played in the playroom.
She really loved the Barbie doll house ( So I think I am going to buy her one for her birthday )
She ate a little. they dropped her Iv down to 1oz every hour instead of two in hopes she would eat and drink.
About 10 am we got her to eat a little , which came back up shortly after :( the Dr said to just keep monitoring her.
A few of my mom's co-workers sent Des a giftbag. Which was exciting for her. She loves balloons and stuffed animals...
( the bag contained two stuffed animals: a cat and a bird that makes noise)
(THANK YOU DEBBIE, DIANE, and AUDREY.)
She slowly ate a little and drunk a little juice.
Friday
We were hoping Des would get to go home, but she was still wasnt eating enough so that became a big fat NO.
She watched tv, she slept, and she ate a little.
When she decided she wanted to walk down the hall.
about half way down the hall way she fell to her knees and cried her tummy hurt
I carried her back to the room, called her nurse down ( who called the Dr) and then called my mom.
One of the surgeons came in and checked on her said we would monitor her.
Not long after a lady comes in saying we are going for a x-ray.
Once we get down to the ground floor, ( des got to ride in a red wagon which she really liked)
we found out that the lead surgeon who had done her surgery, requested another enema.
At this point I am wondering if it is back and they are just scared to tell me that after everything she had been through this week or what is going on...
My mom and I go in the room ( after a little fuss with the Dr for the lack of communication and the fact that the last enema was horrible on Des.)
So here my mom and I are again, holding Des down while they shove another tube up des.
Des is screaming and crying ( as she had been as soon as she seen the room)
my mom is talking to her trying to calm her down.( and promised she would buy her her own little red wagon)
Des cried so much she cried herself to sleep.
you could see the blood filled water clear from my daughter's intestines as it drained down the tube. It was scary!
We got her back to the room and laid down. My mom left
About an hour later the surgeons came in and said that they did the enema to make sure it didnt come back and to also clean her intestines out..
When Des finally woke up.. she was eating .. like a pig!
Everytime I turned around she wanted food.
She only ate a little at a time but at 12am .. she was still eating!
Saturday
RELEASE TIME! YAY
So as you can tell it has been a very very long week for me!
and even that is an understatement!
On a good note- Des is at home, eating, playing, and doing much better.
I am glad I followed my motherly instincts and went to her pediatrician.
intussusception can be deadly if not treated
Luckily we have an amazingly strong little girl.
Just in case you were like me and wondered what it is-
An intussusception is a medical condition in which a part of the intestine has invaginated into another section of intestine, similar to the way in which the parts of a collapsible telescope slide into one another
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