On Thursday night, Vivi was complaining that her stomach really hurt. I tried to distract her, because I thought it was just that she didn't want to go to bed. The whole time we were reading books, she kept saying how her tummy hurt. Then I told the kids they could have some yogurt (that is our "midnight snack" sometimes before we go to bed), and she was curled up in the fetal position saying she couldn't walk over to the table because something was broken inside.
She really seemed like she was in pain, so after talking to the pediatrician I decided to take her to the emergency room around 9pm. For the next 3 hours she was screaming an
d crying in pain as we gave blood and urine samples, and 4 men holding her down could not get the catheter in. It was the worst experience of her little life:(. So here we are, exhausted, it's 12:30, and the dr. says we have to transfer (by ambulance) to a different hospital that could better help us because Vivi's white blood cell count was 29 (which apparently is higher than normal). We went in the ambulance and Vivi handled it well strapped in the gurney with me in the front seat calling back to her. At the new hospital we had more urine tests, and she was still in a lot of pain. The surgeon and several doctors all thought that she had something called intussusception (yes I had to google that to spell it correctly). What they told me is that part of your intestine gets pulled into itself (which they kept calling "telescoping") and then it is blocked and causes severe abdominal pain. Because they thought Vivi had this, they had to do a barium enema. This scary and uncomfortable procedure was even worse at 3am while being velcroed onto a board, your legs taped down. I think one of the worst experiences for a parent is watching your child in pain and not being able to do anything to help them- she was screaming "Mommy, please, make them stop! They're hurting me! Mommy don't let them hurt me! Please mommy! This hurts! Leave me alone!" (and many more desperate attempts during the 20 minute ordeal). Poor, poor baby:(. It was so hard for me to explain that I know it really hurt, but we had to let the doctors try to "fix" her owie.
d crying in pain as we gave blood and urine samples, and 4 men holding her down could not get the catheter in. It was the worst experience of her little life:(. So here we are, exhausted, it's 12:30, and the dr. says we have to transfer (by ambulance) to a different hospital that could better help us because Vivi's white blood cell count was 29 (which apparently is higher than normal). We went in the ambulance and Vivi handled it well strapped in the gurney with me in the front seat calling back to her. At the new hospital we had more urine tests, and she was still in a lot of pain. The surgeon and several doctors all thought that she had something called intussusception (yes I had to google that to spell it correctly). What they told me is that part of your intestine gets pulled into itself (which they kept calling "telescoping") and then it is blocked and causes severe abdominal pain. Because they thought Vivi had this, they had to do a barium enema. This scary and uncomfortable procedure was even worse at 3am while being velcroed onto a board, your legs taped down. I think one of the worst experiences for a parent is watching your child in pain and not being able to do anything to help them- she was screaming "Mommy, please, make them stop! They're hurting me! Mommy don't let them hurt me! Please mommy! This hurts! Leave me alone!" (and many more desperate attempts during the 20 minute ordeal). Poor, poor baby:(. It was so hard for me to explain that I know it really hurt, but we had to let the doctors try to "fix" her owie. In the end they ruled out the very dangerous intussusception and appendicitis, thank goodness. They think she had a really bad viral stomach flu, although I think that was just a guess. We stayed an additional day and night and she was definitely feeling better by the time we went home on Saturday. It was an exhausting, frightening experience and we are so relieved that Vivi is ok!!! We will add this to her list of ER visits (stitches in her head, burning her palm on a popcorn popper, and one time we thought she had pneumonia). My little owie girl! I am so glad she is herself again.
3 comments:
poor vivi! glad she's feeling better!
Oh my I am so glad she is feeling better-what a rough experience for Vivi and Mommy!!!!
I remember trying to put Acer's hernia back in - it took four of us, twice, while we were still 'new' in China. ooh, what a horrible day & I imagine yours was just as bad and scary.
Heather BT
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