Life at Full Speed

Wow, when it rains, it pours. In my case it is a storm! Thankfully things seem to have calmed down for right now.... I am going to enjoy the few moments of respite.

Monday night, Justin said his stomach hurt. Well the flu has been going around and I just figured it was that. When bedtime came, he said it still hurt. So I gave him some Tums, which did not help. He tried to sleep but was unable - he complained he couldn't get comfy. So when he came into the living room and by the look on his face, I could tell he was in real pain. So I let him sit next to me and we cuddled for a while. The whole time he squirmed and complained his stomach hurt so bad and it felt like something inside was poking him and he began crying, clutching his stomach. That raised a major red flag. I asked him if he wanted to go to the ER. He said he did.
Now Justin is a tough kid - aside from his endearingly sweet, sensitive side - and he doesn't generally cry when he is in pain. This is the kid who broke his ankle at school and finished the school day, came home, and just kind of complained that it hurt. So his crying really had me freaking out that his appendix was going to burst. That and he pointed to where it was hurting: right above his belly button... which is a warning sign of appendicitis.
We get to the ER and they whisked us in fast. While waiting for the Dr to see him, he ran to the bathroom and had some "issues." When he came out, he said he felt fine. At this point, I wasn't sure what to do - he said he finally felt better but I didn't want to take him home just in case.
The Dr came in and examined Justin. He was concerned it might be appendicitis but thought it could be something else. So he ordered some blood work and a urine test and told us that he wanted Justin back in the morning to see how he was feeling and if he was worse, they would prep him for surgery. The nurse came and to draw his blood but told him they were going to place a pick line in him so when he came in the morning, if he needed surgery, they already had the IV thing in him. Justin was NOT happy about this, but let the nurse do it anyway. Plus, the nurse was able to draw blood from the pick line as well. The nurse had a hard time getting blood out of him. With Justin not feeling well and being possibly dehydrated, the veins were not cooperating. He got some blood and took it to get the tests run. While the nurse was gone, I gave Justin some water so he could try to pee soon. He went to the bathroom and came back with the pee in the cup, and said, "Here is the sperm." It took everything I possessed to not laugh! I had to explain to him that it was pee not sperm. He just said, "Whatever..." I think he was embarrassed.
Another nurse came in and said that his blood had congealed (or some other technical term) and they needed more blood. Justin whined but let them. This nurse was super nice yet pure evil - she bruised poor Justin's arms. Justin tried soooo hard for soooo long to not cry but after the third place she tried, he couldn't take it. She was rooting all around in his arm and I almost threw up. I am not good with needles. But I held Justin and stroked his hair and tried to get him to lay still and breath deep while she attempted to get blood out of him. When she got a minscule amount, she said she hoped it was enough and sent it off to the lab. She warned us that if it wasn't enough, someone else would come in and try to get more blood. Justin cried and so I suggested we said say a prayer. So I said a prayer and after what seemed like forever, the nurse came back and said it was enough and the lab will let them know of the results when they get them back. We were SO relieved to find out that Justin did not have get poked more.
The Dr came in and told us the urine test came back fine and his blood work showed that he had a high white blood count, which means his body is fighting something. So he let us go and told us to come back in the morning to have his blood drawn again (Justin groaned) to compare the white blood count. They also reminded Justin that if he did have appendicitis and had to go into surgery, that he needed to be ready and couldn't eat anything and could only drink clear liquids. Justin groaned again - even though it was now midnight, he was starving. Plus drinking would rehydrate him and he would have a better chance at giving blood the next day.
We were both so exhausted and didn't want to go to Walmart to get apple juice, so I stopped at the Maverick and got him some. We have plenty of Gaterade at the house because of Rebekah's intestinal problems (I will get to that later).
After we got home, I tucked Justin in on the couch and put in a movie for him. In the morning, he said he felt much better. We got to the ER and they admitted him, took his temperature, felt his stomach, asked him how he felt, and he said he felt fine. They said that he probably just had a horrid stomach bug but told me to bring him right back in if he starting having pain again or threw up or ran a fever. The nurse removed the pick line from his hand (much to Justin's gratefulness) and gave us instructions on what Justin could eat until his stomach felt better. Then we were free to go.
I told Justin that we were going to Walmart to get him some Jell-o and a game for him. He got so excited! We looked around at Walmart and didn't see the game he wanted so we went to Gamestop and found it: Star Wars the Force Unleashed for his PSP. It was the last one left! He was thrilled! Even though he was fine, I kept him home from school the rest of the day because he had a cruddy night and would probably want a nap - which I don't know if he did because during my nap he was playing his PSP.
I hope that even though he went through needle hell, that he won't be afraid to tell me the next time he doesn't feel well. I reminded him that not every time would be like that.

I will update more about our torrential lives.... But even through our storm, I know that there will be a rainbow at the end.... and if I am lucky, a pot of gold! haha