The Sickies

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Warning: This post is not for the squeamish or those with ADD...it contains some icky details and is LONG!

As is customary for us in the winter, the boys had a couple challenging bouts with asthma and croup...so challenging that they both missed school a number of days and had to be treated with the BIG gun: prednisone. I do wish we didn't have to resort to using prednisone, but I am grateful for how effective it is when we do have to use it.

Once the boys got over their respiratory issues, Li'l J began having of serious tummy troubles. After a few days of bloody stools, Li'l J began vomiting incessantly the morning of Baby A's 6 month check up, so off he went with us to visit the pediatrician. While the pediatrician was very pleased with Baby A's progress, he was stumped by the combination of Li'l J's symptoms: incessant, projectile vomiting with bloody stools rather than bloody diarrhea and no fever. Hmm. The pediatrician (whom, I must say, we like and trust) said that if Li'l J had the last two symptoms he would know exactly what he was dealing with and how to treat it; if all Li'l J had was bloody stools then he would be lead to believe it was an irritated polyp in Li'l J's lower intestine that was the culprit. But as Li'l J had uncontrollable vomiting too, he said Li'l J was a mystery! The pediatrician consulted with a colleague and he too was stumped. One thing was clear, Li'l J was dehydrated and getting worse so...off we were sent to the ER of our local children's hospital--ack!!

I couldn't get a hold of J-rod at work and I had Baby A with me, so I called our good friends the H family for help! K drove out 25 miles from where we live to meet me at the pediatrician. When she arrived, I passed off Baby A to K along with my house keys and asked her to pick M up from school and keep him for the night. Li'l J and I then hurried off another 15 or so miles further to the ER. Eventually I did manage to get a hold of J-rod who ultimately got permission to leave work early and come join us at the hospital. Being far from family, we are so grateful to be surrounded by wonderful friends who step in and help us when we need it--thank you H family for being there and helping us through this!!

Even though the pediatrician had called ahead and the children's hospital was aware that we were coming, once we arrived it was still a waiting game until a room opened up for Li'l J. Li'l J was pretty out of it until we were in his room and the nurses tried to put an IV in his little hand, then all of a sudden boy did he get his strength back! While Li'l J got nicely juiced up with IV fluids, he watched a movie and waited to be taken down for x-rays. The results from the x-rays were inconclusive so he then was sent for an ultrasound. It was determined that the ultrasound was normal, so the cause for the bloody stools and vomiting? After close to eight hours in the ER, the answer we were given was that Li'l J had a stomach bug that more than his little body could handle. Huh? It was after this diagnosis that J-rod and I weren't convinced that the bloody stools and vomiting were necessarily related. Li'l J was discharged and we were sent home with instructions to follow up with the pediatrician in the next day or two.

In the next couple of days both Baby A and M came down with the stomach flu too, but just the vomiting part and Li'l J? The vomiting ceased but the bloody stools didn't so...the pediatrician referred us to a pediatric g.i. who has ordered a colonoscopy for Li'l J because he too feels (as the pediatrician had suspected) that Li'l J may have an irritated polyp. The g.i. also sent us home with orders to stop at the lab and pick up lots of tubes to collect three bloody stool samples...YUCK!

And now we wait for results from the stool samples and look ahead to preparations for a colonoscopy. Poor Li'l J, what a trooper!! We hope to get this figured out asap and bring some comfort to our little monkey!