Surprise Hospital Visit

3 Years, 31 Weeks.



Rewind to last Thursday night:

It was 10:00 and I had just finished talking on the phone with a new client; Tangie had put the children down for the night, helping Madelyn who was still at the peak of her bout with that tenacious bug.  I went downstairs and we spoke about how lethargic and puny Maddy looked, and that since she hadn't kept anything down in two days, that we should take her to the night time pediatrics office.

So we made the decision and I went upstairs to get Maddy while Tangie got herself ready to go.  As soon as I woke her up, she promptly vomited, this time with blood.  As soon as I saw that, all bets were off.  Tangie took her to get checked, me meanwhile staying home with the other two sleeping, wrought with worry.  Tangie kept me updated, but they weren't coming in as frequently as I needed them to.

First stop, pediatric clinic.

Her vital signs were fine, but since we reported that there was blood in the vomit, they ordered Tangie to take Maddy to the hospital, either by driving there herself or by ambulance, although had Maddy's vitals been bad the ambulance would've been the only choice in the matter.  So Tangie drove downtown to the Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital where they sat in the waiting room and then triage for a couple of hours.  I'm still at home, mind you, just waiting by my phone.

Of course, while I was waiting for any news I was online doing my own medical investigations.  Let me just say that the internet is both a blessing and a curse, but at that particular moment it was the latter. Everything I pulled up when entering Maddy's symptoms came back with conditions bad enough to scare any worried parent:  from appendicitis to bacterial infection to E. Coli poisoning.  I was going bonkers.

After what seemed like forever I got a text from Tangie saying that they were finally in a room, and that Maddy was given some nausea medicine and that they were going to give her an IV for dehydration.  Not finding a large enough vein in her left arm after several pricks, they settled on her left foot, the IV bringing much needed fluids.  But that didn't last long as she ended up throwing it all up.  The doctor was concerned that she had had an episode, considering the nausea medicine.  So they decided to take a closer look and ordered an x-ray, while Tangie ordered me to go to bed.  It was 2 AM.

Maddy finally in her room at Arnold Palmer.  

Poor little feet!

Finally fell asleep.

Because of the dehydration her intestinal tract was very obstructed.  Nothing was moving down, which meant that anything she ate came back up.  So they gave her an enema, to help clear her up, and gave her another IV, which she was able to keep down.  The blood in her vomit was from a small tear in her esophagus from all the heaving and lurching.

She was a good sport throughout the whole ordeal, but let me give kudos to Tangie for staying awake and being with her throughout the entire night, and for updating and trying to keep me calm.  She did all this after a full day of work and flying in from Pensacola the night before.  But she was the right parent to go; I would've been a wreck the entire time.

Big sister greeting the girls before heading to school.

Such troopers, both of them!

The girls finally got back home at 7 AM, just before we headed out to take Braelyn to school.  Kohl and I stopped by Publix and Walgreens on our way back to pick up some clear fluid diet food and medication for Madelyn, while she and Tangie slept.  We would see improvement continue throughout the afternoon and evening, me committing to give her water, gatorade, and applesauce every hour on the hour the whole night on Friday.  It was a very long night, but it was the least I could do after Tangie's stint the night before.

Zonked out!

Looked like a drunk kid passed out on water!

We kept it easy the rest of the weekend, to make sure she fully recovered, and to make sure Tangie didn't succumb to the stomach bug/sickness as well, which she hasn't up to this point, knock on wood!


Here was the rest of our week:

• Sabbath we skipped out on church and tried to sleep in somewhat.  Of course that would be wishful thinking.  It was a rainy, overcast day, so it helped what with having to stay indoors.  We did make a trip out to have lunch and then swung by Lake Starke to feed the ducks in the afternoon.  Tangie spent some time that evening doing some baking while the kids watched a movie, me going down the street to get a much needed haircut.

So concerned for his little sister!

Starting to see the old Maddy...

There she is!

Really brave ducks!

Glad to see her disposition improving immensely.  A complete 180º from 2 days before.

Not too short!!  Hoping my Vietnamese barber understood me.

• Sunday was pretty much another relaxed day.  We took our time with breakfast; Maddy's appetite had returned so it was nice to see her eat regular again.  I took an hour to do some weeding in the playground and garden while the kids rode their balance bikes outside.  Meanwhile Tangie was finishing up putting some old kid supplies together to bring to the Once Upon A Child Consignment store, to see if they would buy anything from our stash, before donating them to the Salvation Army.  That would be our afternoon excursion, before coming home and getting ourselves ready for another week and capping the evening with a Skype session with Papa and Nana in Denver.  The Broncos game that night would be a big highlight, especially since we beat the previously undefeated Chiefs to take over the #1 spot in the division!  Now on to a road game to Foxborogh, MA to play against some very good friends!  I'm so nervous!

With our consignment haul to sell.

Friendly foam pirates of Joann's.

Maddy doing a belly flop on pillows.

What happens when you leave her to her own devices...

Chatting with fellow Broncos fans!

• The rest of our week:

Took little man on a trip to the library by himself.

Getting into formation.

Happy to have someone to hang out with at last!

Enjoying all the free samples.

Panda attack!!

Waiting to pick big sister up.

Having artichokes!

Working on Daddy's laptop.

Yep, it's mine!

A hipster's bedtime story.

Excited for her field trip to Scott's Corn Maze in Zellwood on Wednesday.

Maddy in a bad mood.

Kohlden's turn.

Much better.  Fun at Costco!

Helping put together our Christmas card mailers.

Eating broccoli and leaving a mess on the floor.

Garden Update:

Flourishing!

Food:

Broccoli soup!

Randoms:

Purple asparagus, who knew??  What will they think of next?

3 bar stools to replace the kid table.

Quotes:

• At the hospital getting her x-rays:

          Tangie:  [to Madelyn] "They are going take pictures of your tummy with this 

                                              camera, just like they took pictures of your teeth at the 

                                              dentist."

          Maddy:  "Can I see it on your phone?"

• Driving to get Brae, Kohl saw a truck on the road and said, "That's a lot of boxes! 

• Brae was enjoying a few pieces of Skittles that she received from her teacher for getting Gymnast of the Month.  She was twirling around, and accidentally dropped the bag, sending Skittles scattering all over the kitchen floor:

          Brae:  "That's okay.  That always happens."

          Me:  "Yeah, that's not a problem.  But you know what we have to do with food 

                  that falls on the floor..."

          Brae:  "We have to throw it away?"

          Kohl:  "But not candy!"

          Me:  "Why not?"

          Kohl:  "Because candy are delicious!"  

• All 3 brushing their teeth one evening, Maddy taking her sweet time:

          Kohl:  [to me]  "Daddy, Braelyn and I are not the slowpokes.  We are the 

                                   fastpokes."

• A few weeks ago Tangie took the kids to the playground.  Maddy noticed a dad talking to his kid:

          Maddy: [really loud]  "He talks in Spanish.  Why does he talk in Spanish?"

          Mommy:  "Yes he is.  Because that's the language he wants to talk in."

          Maddy:  "Dora speaks in Spanish.  Diego speaks in Spanish."

          Mommy:  "That's right!  They speak in Spanish too."

          Very cool she could observe another language on the playground!

• Just like Brae when she was 3 years old, the twins were singing the Bible verse turned kid's song "Do not judge, or you too will be judged" into "Do not touch, or you too will be touched!"

• Brae and I were talking about what country I was from:

          Brae:  "Daddy, where is the Philippines?"

          Me:  "On the other side of the world."

          Brae:  [incredulous]  "What?!"

          Me:  "Yup, it's far away."

          Brae:  "Did you flew over here?"

          Me:  "Yes."

          Brae:  "How many hours did you fly?"

          Me:  "22 hours."

          Brae:  [incredulous again] "What?!"

          Me:  "Yup, it's a pretty long time."

          Brae:  "I didn't know there were airports and airplanes back then."

          Me:  "Back when?"

          Brae:  "When you were a little kid."

          Me:  "I'm not that old!"

          Brae:  [pause]  "...did they have phones?"

Have a great weekend!