Allison's Trip to the ER

After my last post about Allison not wanting to sit still, it was very strange to see her the very next morning SITTING STILL!  In fact, at one point on Thursday, she fell asleep standing at the couch with her head resting on the cushions.  I knew something was wrong.  However, I thought she just had the flu.  Thursday and Friday went by and I thought she was getting better.  She hadn't thrown up since Friday morning, and slept fairly good Friday night.  Saturday morning, however, things began to go down hill.  She couldn't keep anything down, and  by 3:30 was throwing up bile.  I called our pediatrician, and he said he would meet us at the ER.  Unfortunately, just as we arrived at the ER, three ambulances also arrived, and her symptoms were obviously not as serious as those who arrived in them.  So, we waited in the ER for two hours.  During these two hours, she began to have bloody diapers, and appeared to be in more pain than I felt normal for the flu.  We finally got a room, the pediatrician came in, and the rest was a blur.  She had ultrasounds, an IV (it took 1 and a half hours to get one in her!?!?), x-rays, a barium enema with video x-ray (2 hours long with mom holding her to the table!), and many blood tests.  At 11:30 pm the doctors decided we needed to do surgery, and we needed to do it fast.  Allison was diagnosed with intussusception.  

Intussusception occurs when one portion of the bowel slides into the next, much like the pieces of a telescope. When this occurs, it creates an obstruction in the bowel, with the walls of the intestines pressing against one another. This, in turn, leads to swelling, inflammation, and decreased blood flow to the intestines involved.  The longer it continues, the higher the risks become, and the possibility of losing some of the intestines increases. 

Within 30 minutes, I had signed all the papers, the anesthesiologist had been paged and arrived, and Allison was in surgery.   I called Keir (who had left at 8ish to put the boys in bed), and he came back (leaving Conner & Cayden with Brenda - Thanks, Brenda!!!!), and waited with me in the surgery waiting room.  This was the first moment we had to sit and actually think about all that had happened in the last 10 hours.  I cried.  Every time one of our children has to go through something like this, I wish I could do it for them.  And, as circumstance would have it, we have three children, and have had major surgery/general anesthesia experiences with them SIX times!  My poor kids!  Anyway . . . .

They told us the surgery would be about 30 minutes, so of course, at 31 minutes, Keir and I began to get nervous.  Luckily, it was just a couple more minutes when they came to get us, and told us everything went well, and they even took out her appendix - which given our track record, was great, since chances are we would have had to come back for that surgery at some point.  The surgeon was able to pull/massage/push her intestines apart, and back where they belong, AND they were healthy (although swollen, and irritated), meaning they did not have to cut out a section of her intestines.  Great News!!

In the recovery room about 1am.  They let me climb in bed with her.

When she woke up from the general anesthesia, and was put on morphine, she was definitely not herself.  It was hard to watch her.  She would scream, thrash around, kick, and then crash and fall sleep (pictured above in one of her sleep moments), only to start screaming and thrashing again in a couple minutes.  This lasted until about noon on Sunday - almost 12 hours of this.  She eventually damaged her IV line with all the kicking and thrashing, which was horrible given how long it took to get in the first time.  Luckily, her doctor agreed to try oral meds and fluids before trying to stick her again.  I am not sure if it was the IV being taken out, the new meds, or her first bottle (pedialite) in quite a while - but she took a 2 hour nap Sunday afternoon, and is beginning to act a little more like herself.  She drank pedialite all day, and did so well, we were able to try formula this evening.  She has kept it all down, which is actually surprising - they kind of expected her to vomit a little.  She is doing great.  She is currently sound asleep, and I am now going to get some rest as well.  Maybe if she continues to do so well, we can go home soon?