What a whirlwind the last few days have been. Christopher is in Vienna and Sweden for a week, it's Christmas, life is nuts, and Xander is sick. Sunday he didn't feel great so I kept him home with Andrew while I took everyone else to church. By the time we got home he just wanted to cuddle - which I love. We had a hard night that night (he couldn't get comfy, barky cough, yucky nose, fever, etc). When we got up I realized I needed to take him into the doctor, so I made him an appointment for that day at 11:30. Long story short, the dr. (not our reg dr.) kept us waiting in the room for over an hour, kind of blew me off and said it's a virus there's nothing we can do, just take him outside then to a steam shower and here are some antibiotics for his double ear infection. I left feeling unheard and not taken very seriously. I even had to ask her to listen to his lungs - and she said they sounded like he had a virus. She told me to expect another tough night, but I should see a great improvement by the next morning. Great.
We had a horrible night. He couldn't get comfortable, he couldn't breathe, he was just miserable. I did a few steam showers, kept up on meds, but nothing. As I was rocking him at 5am I noticed he was working really hard to breathe. I took a video to show Christopher and he said that didn't look good. I didn't want to over react - I was told it was just a virus, he will be fine at the doctors the previous day. But then I looked at his feet. They were purple. His hands were purple. I called his doctor to talk to them and ask if I could come in and have his oxygen stat taken. The nurse said they don't really do that and if I was worried I should just take him to the ER. I had Nick at home, Chris was out of town, and the other kids were at school. I didn't want to drag them all to the ER to just be told he had a virus and I was being dramatic. But he was struggling to breathe even more and I started to feel really anxious about it. By then the doctors office called me back and said if I really thought his feet and hands were purple I should call 911.
I called the school and told them to send Kal home ASAP. I loaded Xander into the car and waited in the driveway for her. As soon as she came home I asked her what she thought and she said he looks purple, get him to the hospital. I drove to the closest hospital and was worried I was just being dramatic. They took us right back. His oxygen was jumping all over the place, his heart rate was in the 200's, and his temp was 103.2. This kid was sick.
Xander was completely out of it and not really aware of what was going on. They put all the monitors on him and he just wanted to suck on his fingers and be held. Since babies do terrible with oxygen, they just watched it on the monitor and gave him a breathing treatment. With such a high fever and how dehydrated he was they started an IV. They put it in his elbow area and tried to splint his arm so he wouldn't bend it, but he wanted his fingers! He actually bent the catheter and they had to redo the IV in his hand, this time keeping his fingers accessible.
After a few hours in the ER the pediatrician on call came and talked with us and after checking him over told me they needed to admit him. He was just working too hard to breathe, his heart rate was way to high, and his fever was just aggressive. They needed to transfer him to a hospital with a pediatric ward, which was 20 minutes away. He was too unstable to drive there so they had to call an ambulance to transfer him. Kal came and brought me some clothes and things to spend the night in the hospital with him. Thankfully she was able to go with him in the ambulance - which he loved! Thank heavens for Kallie being there!
Our transport team was amazing too. They took such great care of Xander and was thrilled when Kal mentioned she wanted to go into medicine someday. They gave her the full royal treatment and loved sharing their knowledge. It was great!
He was so out of it I'm sure he didn't know what was going on. He was just watching everything and soaking it all it. When we finally got to his room he was ready to crash. His nurse was amazing and did all her assessments without actually touching him - which was amazing. She later told me he was in really bad shape. I was wondering why we had so many people in our room!
Every two hours throughout the night they would come in and give him a breathing treatment. I don't think he was even aware of what was going on. He just wanted me to hold him and sleep. Poor kid was just so sick.
The next morning I was so excited because I thought he was going to actually eat. He was feeling so much better! He woke up without a fever and noticed for the first time that he had a sensor on his toe. He hadn't eaten 4 days - but he didn't really eat. He's lost 4 lbs...and when you only weigh 22 - that's a lot.
Once he was feeling better he hated people coming in and touching him. Poor kid was just ready to get out of there!
When he was starting to feel better he noticed a ton of new toys. He kept tripping all over his wires - so I just disconnected him.
He turned the corner pretty quick. After explaining our home situation (Dad out of town, 17 year old sister taking care of everything including a 3 year old) the doctor made me sign my name in blood and let me take him home. Kal came to get us. She was so sweet and let X keep Ahba bear while he was sick. He cuddled that sweet bear the whole time!
But I think someone missed him more.....
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