Tuesday, October 10, 2006

7th Floor at DCH

Well, I guess I will start at the beginning. Sorry to those who have heard this story. John Evan woke up Thursday morning with a fever of 102.8. I treated him for his fever all day and sat up in the recliner with him all night. I called the dr. first thing Friday morning and they told me to bring him in. After spending 2 hours there he sent him to get some blood drawn. A couple of hours later they called and said that his white blood count was high and they wanted me to take him to have some chest x-rays and come back by the office for an antibiotic shot. WE did the x-rays at the Radiology Clinic and then headed to Dr. Pettit's. When we got there they said that something might have shown up on them and they needed to be redone. Dr. P decided to go ahead and admit us through the ER so they could redo them there and go ahead and start him on an IV for the antibiotics. Ofcourse I broke down because I had major flashbacks of being at the hospital with Sydney 1 1/2 years ago. So, we dropped Sydney off at Valoree's work and headed to DCH. They got us straight to a room and started his IV. It was awful. Fortunatly we new the guy doing it so that helped. He had a hard time finding a good vain and it took four of us trying to hold him still. The nurse finally found a vain and John Evan just wouldn't bleed. It took a while for them to get enough blood to fill up amm the containers. Poor thing he was so pale and his eyes were so red. He would just lay on my chest and grunt when he wasn't crying. Then they sent us for x-rays (which came back clear!) We got up to the 7th floor around 8pm and Chris went home to get us some clothes. Dr. P came by and decided to do a Spinal Tap. Now, this was awful. It was so hard to hand John Evan over to the nurse! We could hear him screaming down the hall!!!!!!! This also came back clear. WE finally got settled around midnight. The only way John Evan would sleep was on my chest and they came in every 2 hours to do his vitals. They had to take his temp in his hiny so that made him scream every time! Pretty rough night!
Everytime the lab came by to get blood they had a hard time. We finally found one of the nurses that could get it first stick! Thank goodness. John Evan started showing improvement by Saturday afternoon. He started smiling and blowing bubbles. To make a long story short.... we had to wait on the results of the blood cultures because one seemed to be growing a germ. That ended up just being because it was contaminated. So, the results... just some kind of bacterial infection. So, we got to come home Monday late afternoon. John Evan is on 7 more days of oral antibiotics and is doing great! He was so happy to have his hand back! The nurses, doctors, and CPA's were great! Thank you so much to Valoree, Mary, Ashley, Momma, and Daddy for their help with Sydney. Being away fro her was really hard, but it made it a little easier knowing she was with people who really care about her. Thanks to all the people who visited and called and for all the prayers! I am glad this tramatic experience is over!!!!!!!!



This was his hospital crib. Doesn't it look like some little prison bed. The only time he got in it was to have blood drawn.
He wanted to play so bad once he started feeling better and had to do it one handed!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Caroline, I am so sorry but glad everything turned out all right. I didn't know until this email/blog. These pictures bring back memories. The jailbeds haven't changed in 25 years!
I am glad John Evan and his parents and sister are all recovering at home!
Love you all!

heidi said...

his little bandage hand brings tears to my eyes. i love the jailbed. nothing is more comforting to a small child than cold, steel bars.
john evan is looking more and more like sydney every day.

Ashley said...

That's terrible! I had no idea he had to get a spinal tap. That breaks my heart just hearing about it. I'm glad he's all better though!

Valoree said...

He looks so pitiful. I'm so glad he's feeling better and see, you did it! You just do what you have to do:)