Lucky Charms and May Flowers: Our week in the Children's Hospital

First, these pictures are totally out of order. I don't have the patience to fight with Blogger to get them all in right, so I'm going to jump around. Second, this post is FILLED with typos and spelling errors. I typed all of this out quickly, with the intention of spell checking. Well, the spell check isn't working. 3. This is REALLY REALLY long. Our baby Dillon had his first hospital stay. For the last several weeks, he wasn't himself. He had caught a virus a few weeks ago and just seemed to never recover. He was CRANKY. I thought he was having trouble adjusting to the daycare. His cough and runny nose just kept hanging on and I figured it was just a nasty cold that wouldn't go away. After all, we went to the dr when he first came down with the virus. The days passed and Dillon just seemed lethargic and cranky all the time. My mom kept telling me something was not right with him. The weekend of April 17th, my mother took me shopping for my birthday. Tim called me when Dillon woke up from his nap and said that Dillon was really sick. He had diarrhea and was complaining of stomach pain. I told him it was probably yet another daycare bug. Tim called me back after a couple hours and said I should come home. Dillon would be acting fine when he would suddenly stop and grip is tummy, screaming. I went home and didn't like what I saw. We debated calling the dr or taking him to the ER, but figured it was just the stomach bug that was making its rounds. We were up all night with Dillon and his pains and decided to take him to see the dr that day. (Monday) The dr thought it was just stomach pains from diarrhea. I kept stressing that he was acting bizarre and was really in pain. The dr said he would certainly send us down for an x-ray, but that it was probably nothing. We agreed and went home. Dillon continued to have waves of pain and was starting to actually CLAW at his stomach. The poor little guy had scratch marks on his stomach. I called the Dr. the next day and told him he was no better. Dr. Vagal asked how many times Dillon was up that night. I told him at least 10-15 times. He then told us we should rush down to the ER at Baystate in Springfield to be seen by the pediatric emergency room. Luckily, Tim had stayed home from work that day to take care of Dillon while I had the daycare. I called all of my daycare parents and had the kids picked up. Tim and I both thought this was just a virus or a flu and that we would get sent home. We made the 20 minute drive to Baystate (The hospital Dillon was born at) and checked in at the ER. Dr. Vagal had called ahead for us and they brought us right in to the Children's ER. The wait is usually ridiculous. We made the mistake of going once when Dillon was a baby for a fever. We were there from 10pm-5am. Anyway, the dr's examined Dillon and thought he probably had a virus. We met with a pediatric surgeon. They said they'd like to get an ultrasound of his tummy, however, because Dr. Vagal was concerned about Intusseception. Tim and I had never heard of this. The ER dr said that Dillon wasn't showing any of the symptoms other than intermittent stomach pains and that there was a virus going around with severe cramps, but that they wanted to be sure. Dillon had an attack while we were waiting for the Ultrasound and the ER doctor looked concerned, but stressed that he would be surprised if the results came back as positive for Intusseception. We were finally able to go upstairs for our Ultrasound and let me tell you, Dillon did NOT like it. He screamed and howled for the painless ultrasound. After it was done, the tech said she would show the results to the Dr and that he may want to take a look himself. Within five minutes, the Dr. came into the room. I knew from having Ultrasounds for pregnancy that this was not a good sign. The dr somehow got Dillon to allow him to do another Ultrasound. This was hilarious because he had ZERO bedside manner, but for some reason Dillon was very compliant. Then he turned to us and said that the Ultrasound was positive. Dillon had intusseception. If you're like Tim and Me, you're thinking, "What the hell is that?" Intussecepion is usually caused by a virus. During the virus, the lymph nodes on the intestine swell. They swell enough to cause a blockage in the intestine. The intestine continues to work to squeeze food though and actually telescopes into itself. (Google for more info!) The Dr said that Dillon looked EXCELLENT for having had this for a few days. Usually, this condition most common in children under five, presents with a swollen stomach, vomiting, and bloody stool. Dillon had none of that. The Dr. told us that the procedure to fix this problem is called an Air Enema. He said this procedure is 70% effective and if it doesn't work, surgery must be performed to clear the blockage. I got nervous and asked the dr how serious this was. He told me it was very serious and that we must act quickly. I started to cry and then remembered that I couldn't show Dillon this. I had to be strong for him because he was going to be very scared. It's amazing what you can do as a parent. I sucked it up and was brave for Dillon. The procedure was awful. I will skip the details. They gave him morphine and still it took Me, Tim, and two nurses to hold him down. They had the pediatric surgeon in the room the entire time, just in case. Google the air enema procedure if you're really curious. It's so barbaric and we laughed thinking that this will be a procedure they look back on in 20 years and say, "Can you believe we used to do that!?"
After the procedure, we were admitted to the Children's Hospital at Baystate. They had little whiteboards outside each room and when we arrived, Dillon's was all set up:

He wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything and was on IV fluids. Everything seemed fine. We spent the night, and were released the next evening at around 4pm. When we arrived home, Dillon had some stomach pain and then took a nap. When he woke up, he was on fire and I took his temp: 103. Dillon NEVER runs a fever this high. I called the pediatric surgeon and he had us come back to the ER. We went through the entire process of the previous night, ultrasound and all and they told us that Dillon's Intussuception had reoccurred. When the dr looked himself, he said it had corrected by itself and was probably going in and out because of this new virus. We were admitted AGAIN and released the following evening. We went to see our pediatrician the next day as advised and he ran some more tests. More x-rays and blood drawn. He wasn't happy with Dillon's counts and the x-ray photos and we were sent back to the ER. This time we were released at around 11:30om. The final diagnosis was that Dillon's first intussueption was cleared, but that it had happened again with the onset of this second virus. They said that it was going in and out and that we must watch him VERY closely just in case there is another permanent blockage. That weekend, Dillon finally improved and seemed to be getting back to his old self. By Tuesday of this week he was FINE. It's like it never even happened. He is happy and healthy. We are so VERY glad to have our happy little boy back. It had been such a long time.

Baystate Hospital was amazing and our pediatrician was incredible. He called the hospital and kept tabs on everything 24 hours a day. He knew when we ate, slept, and had our procedures. He called us at home during off hours just to see how we were holding up. The Children's Hospital was great. They really do an excellent job making the stay as happy for children as possible. They have a huge playroom with every toy you could ever want. They have every activity a child could THINK of doing. They have wagons and ride on toys that the kids can ride around the wing in. They even have an outdoor deck with swings and tables so the kids can get some fresh air. They have ice cream sundae Thursdays when they bring huge sundaes to the kids. It made me realize how hard some kids have it. Hospital stays and horrific procedures are their norm and it warms my heart that the hospital tries to spoil them and make every moment as happy as it can be. We took some pictures of Dillon in the hospital to document this crazy week. Hopefully, we won't ever have to return to the Children's Hospital. Three times in one week is enough. Tim and I didn't sleep for a good three days. Dillon and I shared the hospital bed. He wouldn't let me leave his side and Tim slept on a cot. The nurses come in every hour to take vitals and we had some crazy roommates. Needless to say, there wasn't much sleep to be had.
This picture was taken during the first visit after he was given the green light to eat and drink! I've never seen him to excited for food:

These two pictures were taken while he was still on IV fluids. He looked so miserable:

Thank goodness we brought "Baby" and Dillon's blanket. They were a huge source of comfort during all of this. We also were able to convince Dillon to put on his hospital gown by giving Baby one too: