Happy Eyes

“Happy the eyes that can close.” --from Cry the Beloved Country

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Insult to Injury

8:30 last night i heard an awful noise coming from Keegen's room. Doug and I both bolted up the stairs to find Keegen vomiting up a storm. Now, this is bad enough. Barf sucks. Having sick kids is hard. BUT, having just bonked his head and been discharged from the ED with a "mild head injury," vomiting was on my list of things to watch for.

And he just couldn't stop. Poor kid. Once he emptied his tummy he would dry heave or just bring up saliva and bile (TMI?). I talked to the on-call doctor at 9PM and she said there's a horrid GI virus going around and since he had a normal head CT and seemed to be acting normal we could just take a "wait-and-see" approach. By midnight, he was still vomiting every 15-30 minutes. She said to take him in just in case.

By the time i'd hung up with the doc, Keegen had fallen asleep on Doug's chest and seemed restful. So I decided to let him sleep until he puked again. After 2 hours, Doug tried to move him to his crib and that just set him off again. Oh, he (Keegs) was so tired. I changed his dipe and jammies before we left and he slept through it. He slept all the way to the hospital and we got there around 3AM.

I took him to the hospital I work at and we didn't have to wait to get a room. We were seen after about 1 1/2. Luckily Keegen slept on me while we waited. At one point though, i took him to the nurse and asked her to hold him since I was "desperate to pee!" She took pity on me. That was actually the worst part of the wait was the burning need to empty my bladder but not wanting to disturb the sleeping child...The ED doc took one look at him and said it was not vomiting due to a head injury which was a relief and he did not suggest getting another CT scan--another relief. I was not excited about exposing him to more radiation. He said he most likely picked up this bug while we were in the ED the other night since we haven't been around any sick people. They gave him one of my favorite drugs, Zofran, and from that point on he kept his liquids down.

We got home and to bed at 6AM (as soon as my head hit my pillow, Bode joined me but luckily slept peacefully til 7:20). Keegen was up at 9 and back to bed from 11-2 and now has a fever but seems relatively happy. I just hope this isn't one of those bugs that travels through the house and back! Uck!

5 comments:

Jenni said...

Whoa, poor little Keegan just can't get a break! I'm so sorry you had to have another hospital trip! Here's hoping the bug doesn't travel around your fam.

Just recently Nina had a doctors appointment and then about a week later got an awful stomach bug. Her ped told me when I took her back that she probably got the bug at that last check-up. I'm going to remember wipe down her hands every 2 minutes at her next check-up! I guess flu season is here again!:(

erin said...

Crimeny. i am dreading this season... with two kids to keep well.................. hope he's feeling better-- and hope you all dodge the bullet!

Cami said...

Oh man. That sounds horrible! That is an amazing amount of vomit. That's so horrible that he got it at the ED! I hope you all don't get it. Good luck.

ashlee said...

well, bode has been throwing up for almost 3 hours now. can't seem to keep the zofran in him! he's such a freakin' trooper.

as for handwashing, i'm totally neurotic about it--especially after being at doctors offices and grody kid places (ie chik-fa-la playplace etc.). good idea to keep in mind as this nasty season arrives! this just seems to be one super nasty bug.

GreenStyleMom said...

oh my goodness, Ashlee! I am so, so sorry. It sounds like that nasty tummy bug that Kate had a few weeks ago. The good news is that it didn't last too long. Big hugs to you!