Sunday, March 08, 2009

Late breaking story

We're coming to you live this morning from the local hospital... which incidentally is not as exciting as it sounds. Poor Amelia didn't get along with the latest virus that came calling. She stopped eating in favor of an all-day nap on Thursday. She'd only get up to move from the recliner to the couch or from the couch to the big pillow on the floor. She'd spend her few waking minutes staring vacantly into the middle distance. Friday afternoon she went to the doctor and got some antibiotics for a probable double ear infection. Saturday she decided to give up on drinking too, and when her breath started to smell like nail polish remover, we called her doc, who had us do some checks for dehydration and sent us packing for the ER, sometime around 4:30 yesterday afternoon.

They did a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia (negagtive) and ran some blood work. After what seemed like a very long time, they finally got an IV started. Then she thrashed at the last moment and knocked it out, so we had to do it again on the other side. She didn't even like the blood pressure cuff, the stethoscope, or the thermometer under her arm, so you can imagine how thrilled she was with three different needle sticks. It took three of us to make it happen.

After getting her lab work back and consulting with her pediatrician, they decided to admit her, so I stayed the night with her. She napped for a while once we got back to the room, and then woke up raring to go. As in, "go somewhere other than this godforsaken bed." It's tough when you can't explain to her the necessity of staying put.

Then one of the nurses came by and suggested we unplug the IV stand and take a walk.

Duh...

So we embarked on the inaugural Amelia 500, walking round and round the third floor - presumably looking for the exit. It was the most activity I've seen from her in about 72 hours. After half a dozen laps, it was time for a pit stop back at the room. She was much less upset having checked out her surroundings. They brought us a TV on a stand with a VCR and some decades old children's movies. She stared vaguely in the direction of The Land Before Time II for a while before finally going to sleep sometime after midnight.

And now we sit (well, I sit and Amelia sprawls), uncertain about whether we're going to get to go home later this morning or not. Daylight savings kicked in last night, which I'm choosing to look at as one hour less in the hospital rather than a lost hour of sleep. You lose hours of sleep in the hospital anyway, what with the narrow bed not really built for more than one person, the air mattress that reinflates and readjusts itself every time you move (or breathe too deeply), the occasional beeping machines or medical personnel appearing out of nowhere like ghosts in the night. (In an odd twist, our next-door-neighbor's mom works on this floor. It's always strange to see a familiar face in an unfamiliar context.)

At least they've got free wifi here, even if they do block half the sites on the internet. YouTube? Facebook? Really? Well, maybe it's to keep the staff from wasting too much time online or something. But trust me, even the tiniest opening can be used to waste time. You put me on a cruise ship with a balcony room I'll use it, but if you stick me in steerage with a tiny porthole, I'm still going to stare out it every chance I get...

I mean, let's be honest. I'm not telling this story because it's all that interesting. I'm just trying to pass the time by subjecting you to my boredom.

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11 Comments:

At 3/08/2009 10:08 AM, Blogger e4 said...

Update - I forgot to mention the awesome view of EXHAUST FAN 24 and EXHAUST FAN 25. Plus if we stay, I'm having Roasted Pork Loin with Gravy for dinner.

C'mon admit it. You are jealous.

 
At 3/08/2009 10:41 AM, Blogger Madcap said...

Eesh! I hope she rights herself quickly.

The last time I had to stay overnight in a hospital doing palliative care, I don't think I got more than 20 minutes rest.... Good luck.

 
At 3/08/2009 11:34 AM, Blogger e4 said...

Update #2 - Amelia has discovered the buttons on the bed that raise and lower it, change the channels on TV, turn on the lights, call the nurse, etc.

We're scheduled to go home around dinner time tonight. I might not get that (almost certainly) delicious pork after all.

EXHAST FAN 25, I'll miss you most of all....

 
At 3/08/2009 11:36 AM, Blogger e4 said...

Madcap - thankfully, we both got more than 20 minutes worth of sleep. Much better than the maternity ward. I think we'll both be glad to get back in our own beds tonight though.

 
At 3/08/2009 11:43 AM, Blogger e4 said...

At the risk of setting a record for highest ratio of comments by the post author, I should also like to thank Lori for her service in all of this. I think she had the tougher job, carting supplies over to the hospital and handling the Bad Boys solo through all this. But we'll all be glad to get back to "normal".

 
At 3/08/2009 12:40 PM, Blogger Wendy said...

I hope things square up for you, and while I know you're looking forward to it, I do hope you miss the pork. It's probably CAFO meat anyway ;).

 
At 3/08/2009 4:33 PM, Blogger barefoot gardener said...

Oh, poor Amelia! It is so hard to have a sick little one, especially when they don't understand why they have to allow all the poking and prodding...

Here's hoping you miss out on the pork, and get to have a nice little meal at home with a healthy family...

 
At 3/08/2009 6:12 PM, Blogger Morgan said...

GEEZ you all do have a time of it.

 
At 3/11/2009 8:35 PM, Blogger JBTW said...

I hope everyone is healthy by now! (And the crud didn't pass to each of you one by one.)

 
At 3/14/2009 6:43 PM, Blogger e4 said...

Thanks everybody. Amelia is finally back to her old self. It took her days to really get back on track, but she's now happily stealing jugs from the laundry room and dumping Cheerios on the carpet again.

Of course Owen's got an ear infection now, so he's miserable. But he's 2 days into antibiotics, so hopefully that'll be the end of that.

On to the next minor crisis, I guess.

 
At 3/18/2009 10:13 AM, Blogger d.a. said...

Just now getting caught up on my fave blogs - glad to see that Amelia got better! Hope all in your family are doing well, now.

 

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