Thursday night Robert has class at Indiana Wesleyan for his Master's degree. Often times, I will take the boys over to my parents for dinner on those nights. My dad and brother has just been fishing and my dad fried up a bunch of blue gill for us. All of us but Ryker (who didn't seem hungry and refused to eat more than a bite of bread) enjoyed the meal. As I nursed Camden, my mom gave Ryker a bath. Right after putting him in his pajamas he started complaining of stomach pain. At first, I honestly thought he was pretending or making it up so he wouldn't have to leave. Quickly, I realized that wasn't the case. He began crying harder and harder. Within minutes, he couldn't even stand up without falling back down and curling into a fetal position on the floor. He started sweating really bad. He didn't have a fever, but it was so intense, I quickly packed up the boys and got them in the van. Thankfully, Robert's class let out early and he was already home. I called the pediatrician on call and she said to take him to the ER. I drove like a maniac to the house and picked up Robert. Ryker was crying, screaming, and moaning the entire drive. I sped up to Community North Hospital and Robert hopped out and took Ryker straight in to the ER.
By this time, he was half awake/half asleep, sweating, shaking, pale as a ghost, and moaning constantly. The nurses were fantastic and had him triaged and in a room in no time. Everything happened very quickly from there. They drew blood, started an IV, and catheratized him for a urine sample within minutes. The doctor did an initial exam and said his abdomen was very rigid. Next up was an Xray. They didn't see anything alarming on the Xray, but said that because he is so skinny, it's hard to get a good image of all of his organs. They did mention that he had a substantial amount of stool in his system. After the inital blood work came back, they said his blood sugar was at 200 which is too high and his potassium was too low. At that point, they were telling us that it may be the onset of juvenile diabetes. The symptoms were right in line for that. Up to this point, I had been preparing myself for an emergency appendectomy. Diabetes was never a consideration! This is the point that I started to really freak. About this time, we heard back about more of the blood tests. His white blood cell count was high as well so we started thinking maybe it was some type of infection.
Next up, was a CT scan. He had to have a rectal and IV contrast done. I will say one thing, I was so incredibly proud of him! Through all the poking and prodding, he was SO brave! He never screamed, cried, or anything, he just laid there. All the nurses were impressed with how well he handled everything. After the CT scan, there was a lot of waiting. Thankfully, he had some relief at this point and was content to watch Max and Ruby on my Kindle. (Side Note: So glad I had the Kindle with me already because, believe it or not, they did not have any kids channels on the TV AT ALL!!) They drew more blood as well. Finally, we had word that the CT scan looked OK. They still had a hard time getting an image of his appendix, but said the portion they did see looked healthy and normal. The second blood test showed that his blood sugar levels had gone down to 110, which is in the normal range (Hallelujah!) and his potassium was up a bit as well. The doctor explained that sometimes, when the body is under stress, the blood sugar can go up like that.
This is just after midnight, after the CT scan. He asked for Camden to lay down with him. The nursethought it was so sweet that he was such a great big brother. She called one of the other nurses in to peek at them cuddled up together. They were a hit for sure!
They were about to send us home when he started complaining that the pain was getting bad again. I called the doctor back in and he poked around his belly some more. Ryker was wincing and moving away as he did it. The doctor talked to the pediatrician in the hospital and decided to admit him. We were finally in a room in the pediatric unit around 3:30 AM. He finally settled down and fell asleep. They decided to let him rest and start treatment in the morning. Robert stayed with him and I took Camden home. I left at 4:15, came home, showered, packed up some things for the next day, and slept for a couple hours. I got up at 7:30, got ready and was up at the hospital again before 9:00. The doctor and his residents came in and said they were treating him for the constipation. He was put on Miralax and an enema every hour. The doctor also said the elevated white blood cell count was likely due to the bacteria from the stool that was stuck in his intestines.
This was in the morning after his first treatment. He was on an all-liquid diet and was just getting IV fluids.
This was around 1:00 when he was finally allowed to eat. He order pancakes and bacon. It was the first thing he'd had since the one bite of bread the night before. He ate a ton!
The nurses were fantastic and rewarded him with treats every time he pooped. He got tons of stickers and bubbles.
Finally, around 6:30, they took another Xray to check on his progress. It looked great! The doctor showed us the before and after. It was amazing to see the difference. The poor kid was backed up all the way up. His intestines were so swollen and full it was crazy. We've always known that this was an issue for Ryker and about 4 weeks ago I started giving him 1/2 a cap-full of Miralax and some probiotics every day. Apparently, it wasn't enough! He is now on 1 cap-full twice a day and continuing with the probiotics. He has to follow up with Dr. Anderson later this week. The key now is just to keep things moving along so this doesn't happen again. We were surprised to learn that constipation is one of the top 5 inpatient pediatric issues. The doctors also said that boys are notorious for it. I'm hoping Camden doesn't follow in Ryker's footsteps! Nana and Papaw came to visit around 6:00 and we were released atound 8:30 PM. It was late, but he still hadn't had any dinner. He requested nachos from McAlister's so we all went there for a late dinner. After having only slept a few hours in the past day and a half, we were all ready for some rest. Camden slept until 9:30 which was a miracle. Ryker didn't wake up until 11:00 and that was only becuase some Boy Scouts came ringing the doorbell.
We are so relieved that this wasn't a worse issue and that the white blood cell count should go down now that the bacteria is out of his system. He was such a big boy and handled things so well. We are so incredibly proud of him and thankful that he is healthy. He's back to his usual self and is glad to be home.
