Tuesday, May 19, 2009

I'm not not sure if it was a long night or a short night...

We are seriously needing some sleep here at the Doyle household...

Tucker woke up last night around 11:30 and came into our bed complaining of a stomach ache. He said it hurt around his belly button area and was constant (in answer to my questions). His stomach and abdomen were really hard. He didn't have to poop or throw up but he started crying. At that point, I wasn't sure if he was dreaming because he does have a history of night terrors. Nope this was the real thing and he cried hysterically for an hour. We tried ginger ale; it didn't help. Nothing would calm him down. We were both plenty scared by this point because he was so upset and in obvious pain.

We decided to bring him to the ER figuring the pediatrician's answering service would just tell us to to do that anyway. At 12:30, we headed to the hospital.
We were there a good hour and a half before we even went into to a room and only saw the nurse. Tucker was still crying and very uncomfortable. At 2, the nurse came in to tell us we were next to be seen. At 2:30, Tucker fell asleep, from exhaustion, I'm sure. At 3, I told Michael to go tell the desk we were leaving and I was going to the pediatrician in the morning (I may have said tomorrow) which in both cases, it already was. A doctor came back in with Michael and "examined" Tucker, if you can even call it that. She barely touched his belly, said it didn't seem to be appendicitis, said to follow up with the pediatrician, and left, saying the nurse would be in with the discharge instructions. For what? I wondered since they hadn't done anything but I was too exhausted to say anything. We were home and in bed by 3:30.

When the alarm went off at 7, I called the pediatrician's office and got their answering service. They called back at 8 and we went in at 10:30. We didn't see Tucker's actual doctor but another one in the practice. She was somewhat angry that they didn't even take an x-ray to see if there was a blockage or anything. She was pretty sure it was constipation and sent us for an x-ray just to be sure. That way she can tell us what we should do if it happens again.

Tucker was really good about the whole thing, other than the initial "I'm not going to school?" fit. I explained he would be going in late which just made him more upset...I guess it's good that he likes school! He also doesn't like to stand out, so walking in by himself would be a big deal. I walked him down to his class and spoke to his teacher for a few minutes to update her. He was just in time for recess and then lunch follows that. He also did really good with the x-ray and I was very impressed that we were literally in and out of there in maybe 10 minutes! He had a lot of questions and the lady was really patient and even showed him his x-ray afterwards.

He's feeling fine now and I'm waiting to hear from the doctor to make sure everything was okay with the x-ray, which I'm pretty sure it was.

I'm sorry if this seems all over the place but having only 3.5 hours of sleep will do that to a person, I guess! Also keep in mind that I still don't feel well and had considered calling in sick myself today!

3 comments:

Julie said...

It's so draining being a mother sometimes, isn't it?

Glad it's all turned out OK.

Aliceson said...

There seems to be a lot of sick kids lately. I know the feeling of no sleep and sick with worry over a sick kid (my daughter just got out of the hospital yesterday) not a fun feeling for a mom.

So glad that he's feeling better, but irritating that the ER doc didn't so anything. I'm sure they'll be very prompt with the bill though... ugh!

Mari said...

What a night! It's frustrating you'll have to pay for that poor service too. Glad he is feeling better though!