Hannah Update

We went to the Dr. Friday for a f/u on Hannah. All the tests they ran in the ER on Tuesday came back negative, so I guess that's a good thing. But it still doesn't explain any of it. She hasn't had any vomit since then, but up until yesterday she was on anti-nausea medicine. So we'll continue to keep her on a bland diet & hope that things improve. He said that the flora in her stool was nice & healthy... which is good, but once again what is up with the vomit & diarrhea?? I don't get it, I like answers & explanations... not medical mysteries. Hehe. We are scheduled to go back on the 28th for another f/u, he wants to make sure there has been an improvement with the diarrhea, along with some weight gain.

Well all day Friday she seemed to be doing a lot better that day & we fed her a little more (but still a bland diet, toast, bananas, oatmeal) & she had a huge increase in appetite. We too were optimistic that we were on the mend. We did as the doctor suggested & still didn't give her any phenergan for the nausea (which was the 2nd nice & she really didn't seem to need it.)

After her bath I could tell she wasn't doing well & I just knew that she was going to throw up that night.. if not right away. Well the was confirmed when she refused to get into bed & wanted to continue rocking. She kept taking deep breathes. Well after about 45 minutes I finally told her if she had any "throw-ups" in her we should just get them out now so she'll feel better. I barely had enough time to get the bucket to her mouth before she filled the thing! I freaked, I was at the end of my rope. Let me go back & mention that at this point the last 36 hours she seemed to be doing better, but had a HUGE decrease in her desire to drink & I had battled with her to try to stay hydrated. So that was my big concern now, if we weren't on the mend & she wasn't drinking for me, I just knew in my gut that we wouldn't make it through the weekend w/o an ER visit for dehydration.

So I phoned the Dr. on-call & he agreed that it was going to be a long hard weekend & suggested going back to the ER, but to a different one (I didn't know until now that the one we previously went to wasn't the best choice.) We live so close to 3 or 4 different hospitals & there is a children's hospital downtown. We opted for Children's, because she is such a stinker with Dr's & I figured they would be the best with the looks of IV fluids. So after a friend came over to aid in giving her a blessing we were off to Children's Hospital, & arrived at 9 PM. (Something else we didn't know about this hospital is the never ending wait in the waiting room!!)

There weren't that many people in the waiting room, but between all the ambulances coming in through the back & the fact that anything more serious that came in after us would get bumped to top priority, the wait began. At 1:30 AM we were finally called back (yes, 4 1/2 hours!!! After 3 we considered leaving, but I new the new the end had to be near & I couldn't give up!) After going through the details of our last 3 weeks, & including the last ER visit info including tests & results, they agreed she was dehydrated (luckily not too bad yet!) They also wanted to get some X-Rays, blood work & a urine sample. They did the X-Rays first & she was not very cooperative! So you can imagine having to have a catheter to get the urine sample & the IV were even less pleasant than the simple X-Rays. It didn't help that this was all happening in the middle of the night. So she got hydrated as we waited for results! Finally around 5:00 or 5:30 they came to inform me that everything came back normal. I felt like an evil mom when I was so bitter at the results! It's frustrating to have test after test run & to be told that everything is normal, when in fact everything is not normal! Between lack of sleep, hormones & the results it was all I could do to not burst into tears & fall on the ground begging or even demanding them to make her better! Thank goodness I was still sane enough to avoid such an embarrassing situation! I did however state my frustration to the Dr. that we have just gone full circle again & I am back to the same place, being sent home with no answers. She told me she was very sorry & despite the fact that these tests didn't show anything, she agrees that something is seriously wrong! But there was nothing more the ER could do & we would need to get into our pediatrician on Monday & have him refer us to a GI specialist. Shortly after 6:00 we were discharged & on our way home.

That morning also happened to be a baby shower my friends were throwing for me. Part of me wanted to cancel & the other part really needed the distraction. So I was able to get about 45 minutes of sleep before needing to get ready for my shower. It was just the distraction that I needed, even if it was only for a couple of hours. By the time we got home we all crashed for a few hours.

We have spent the rest of the weekend keeping Hannah well hydrated & trying to catch up on sleep. We are also going to keep her on the phenergan in hopes to allow some of what she eats to be absorbed before it is quickly discarded via diarrhea. And since we tried the no food & the insanely bland I am concerned with the weight loss, the lack of energy & lack of nutrition. So I am trying to give her a little protein, because it doesn't matter what she eats, the results are the same. This has been the longest weekend & I have cried way too many tears. I have to keep reminding myself to take it easy, crying won't make her better, & I need to stay calm & hydrated so that this baby doesn't come before we have this problem solved!!