To Hell and Back

That is how I think Carter must being feeling right now. After being sick for 9 days and having crying spells in the middle of the night that would last for 30 minutes and sometimes up to an hour, we had decided it was time find out what was going on. The advice nurse told us to bring him in the ER right away so off we went at 6:00 am Tuesday morning. The doctor quickly decided that Carter needed to have every test known to man -- x-ray, straight catheter for urine sample, IV (it took four pokes to get one), and an ultra sound. It was one of the most excruciating things that I have been through as a parent. Carter was screaming the entire time and what he was screaming was "MAMA." I felt helpless!!

The tests reveled what appeared to be something called "intussusception." Intussusception occurs when one portion of the bowel slides into the next, much like the pieces of a telescope. It is very common in children under 3. So the next course of action was to perform a barium enema to both diagnose and treat a suspected intussusception and if that treatment didn't work, perform surgery. However, before they can do this test they needed to give Carter Morphine, which should give you an idea how painful it was. When they did the test, there was no sign of the intussusception, so they think he probably had it and that it resolved it self. That said, the radiologist said that he just thought he was extremely backed-up. So, after that sigh of relief we thought we were going home, but they decided that they wanted to keep him over night to watch him - no food or drink and a big IV - YUCK! I stayed with him last night and he did great, although I didn't get any sleep.

Thankfully, he was back to his normal self this morning and we were discharged from the hospital. I am so thankful that he is feeling better and that 99.9% of the time he is a healthy, happy little boy!