I spoke too soon...

Sunday night was a different story... Casey was awake all night crying and not feeling very well... Chad's sleep count for Sunday was about 1 hour.

When I got home Monday morning I put Casey in our bed around 8:30 AM hoping to catch a few hours of sleep, my sleep count for Sunday was 0 since I was at work, I had been sleeping about 1 1/2 hours since getting home from work.

It worked, Casey slept until about 10 AM in our bed, when we got up she was not being herself. She was really whiny, and had no energy! I couldn't get her to eat or drink anything! She was just slumped over on the couch... she would only get off the couch if she thought I was going to leave her alone.

By 1 PM, no food, no fluids, no energy and no wet diapers since early that morning I got worried about her and made an appointment. The appointment was for 4 PM, of course we didn't see the Doctor until 5 PM! I love our pediatrician! He has been the doctor for both of our kids and Cameron is almost 12 so I must like him!

The doctor asked me a bunch of questions... examined her carefully... typed some stuff in his notes... looked at her again... asked me more questions... at this point I am getting very nervous about what he is going to tell me. He tells me he thinks she has the stomach flu (I knew that) then he tells me that the flu this year has been know to cause Pneumonia and Diabetes! He said that she is dehydrated and would benefit from a night of IV fluids! At this point I am already so worried about her I just want her to be better!

Chad called right after I left the Doctors because I told him our appointment was at 4 and it was 5:30 and he hadn't heard from us... I was sobbing of course... I told him through all the tears that he wanted to admit Casey for IV fluids and some blood work. He left work immediately and met me at the admitting while I was checking in. I called my mom to call Cameron since he was home by himself waiting for me to take Casey to the doctor.

The picture is what the nurses gave to Casey when we got to our room. A lady bag and a blankie.

It was shift change when we got to the hospital. The off going shift got her vitals and changed her into a little hospital gown complete with ties in the back and some pants. I talked to the resident doctor that would be taking care of her through the night, more questions, more worries. She took a little nap in Daddy's arms while we waited for the nurses to get done with report to come give her the IV.

Then in walks the CHARGE NURSE... another story about her... she and a couple of nurses aides got her IV in, I was only going to give them 1 chance to poke her and then I was calling on some friends from NICU to do her IV. Lucky for them they got it in! I held her while Dad talked to her so she wasn't watching them poke her. Through her sobbing tears she answered all of Dad's questions about where the doggies were and where "guy" and the ferrets were. She was such a trooper! They put a little stick on baggie to try to get a urine sample, the CHARGE NURSE wanted to just cath her, I didn't want her to be more traumatized than she needed to be so I wanted them to use the bag.

IV done we are off to our room where we are staying the night. Chad went home to shower and to pick up Cameron. Her bolus of fluids got done and they gave her some more fluids that had potassium in them... about 300 mL into that bag of fluids and she was a different kid. We were walking in the halls (she associates all walks with my friend Verlynne so she was quite upset that she wasn't there), eating jello and asking the nurses for crackers. With Casey feeling a little better Chad headed home.

I got some urine in the bag, the CHARGE NURSE said it wasn't enough and that she wanted to straight cath her. I talked to the resident about my concerns about that and she agreed to try the bag one more time and if it didn't work to just talk to Dr. Lauret in the morning.

Cameron threw up himself 3 times... didn't know this until Verlynne picked him up after school. He is fine, he ate like 4 pieces of pizza that night. Good to be a boy huh?

My friend Stephanie was working that night so on her lunch break she came over to see us and she brought me some food since all I had for nutrients all day was coffee... thank heaven for coffee... Casey ended up with some pretty bad diarrhea that night which was kind of a set-back. After her 3rd bout of it the nurses came in to draw some blood from her. 3 pokes later and after I had to tell them when they had blown her vein and why they shouldn't use the vein they were digging around in they left us alone for a while. I think it was 4:30 before we got to sleep.

The next day, after breakfast, Dr. Lauret came in to see us. He said the diarrhea was okay, as long as she is getting in more than what is coming out. He was as upset as I was that the CHARGE NURSE said there wasn't enough for the test, he said all he needed was a drop. He decided to let us off the hook for that test but he wanted to check her poop, no problem, she has had diarrhea. Lunch was going to be the test if she can go home. He said she could have regular food because up to this point all she has had is clear liquids and crackers. Her first tray was liquids, then they ordered her a regular tray and I talked to dietary and got her mac and cheese and mashed potatoes. We had 3 trays, she had to eat something, right?

It was slow but she ate, and we walked, and she would eat some more. The resident came in and talked to us and we said we felt good about taking her home. He said he had to page Dr. Lauret before he would let us go. So we walked some more. This time she was actually walking around instead of being carried. We would pass the resident in the hall and I told Casey to ask him if she could go home... dirty pool I know.

(While we were in the hospital we watched hours and hours of blues clues!)

This picture is dark but she was looking at the cars from 4 stories up waiting to be sent home. I guess she is not afraid of heights.

We got home around 4 PM on Tuesday... very long week, month, week, whatever I have lost track. I am so happy she truly is doing better! She ate PIZZA last night for dinner and most of the family was in bed by 9 PM! Now on to Thanksgiving, this year I am thankful that we don't have to spend it in the hospital and we will be able to do family pictures with the Christensen family (all 40 of us).

This is her now, watching her shows and dancing around... whew... what a relief.