Hospital Relay Race

Sunday: Annie puked at Aunt Moira's house (sorry about the rug!).

Monday: Annie woke up covered in vomit. Her bed was crusted over. Gave her a bath, scrubbed her down, and she still smelled like puke. After puking all day (sorry Eugenia...) and not peeing for 6 hours, I took her to the ER. They gave her anti-vomit meds. Some Pedialyte. Asked if she was usually so lethargic...um no, but usually she hasn't been puking all day and it's not 10pm. So they sent us home.

Tuesday: Cindy was at our house (sleeping there since Annie and I were at the hospital) and had to leave at 5am to get down to U of C Hospital for our dad's pacemaker replacement surgery. I went to U of C at about 10am, spent the day, and got home right after Annie had puked again. Our dad's surgery ended up taking 13 hours. That's what happens when you get an infection and let it fester for 6 months...

Wednesday: Annie decided she liked this hospital-relay-race, and wanted to expand it to include more hospitals. So she puked. Twice. And off to Children's Memorial we went. Her blood sugar was too low (53). Her bicarbonate was too low (16.6). So they needed to give her and IV and get her to drink juice. Giving her the IV was a fucking nightmare. The ER nurses wrapped her up like a burrito with 1 arm sticking out, and repeatedly tried to get the IV into her arm or hand. Two nurses tried. After 3 attempts, and Annie screaming and crying (mind you, these are the ER nurses at CHILDREN'S...WTF??) I stepped between the nurses and Annie and picked her up and then we both cried. The nurses left. The doctor came back in, said Annie really needs the IV, and called the special IV team. NOTE TO ALL PARENTS: ASK TO START WITH THE IV TEAM! They came with toys, and something to light up her veins, and they sang, and let me hold Annie while they got the IV in -- after only 1 attempt.

So she got her saline, and managed to drink some juice from a syringe between long naps.

Blood sugar went up to 80, and we were allowed to leave.

Thursday: Morning puke. Visit to the doctor. Doc said Annie was mostly likely feeling like she was hit by a truck, but that she seemed on the mend. Then at dinner, she ate! And smiled! Such a nice thing to see! She had energy for about 15 minutes. This was her first time holding up her head to look around since MONDAY!

Friday: Fingers crossed....