Saturday Night in the ER

Thursday morning both of my boys woke up complaining of head cold-type issues. Michael had a runny nose and was sneezing while Nick was completely stuffed up. Michael has allergies so his complaint was a common one. Nick never gets sick. Truly, even as a baby he was never sick! He didn't have his first ear infection until he was six YEARS old.

So when I left work on Thursday afternoon I went and bought him some Tylenol Severe Head Cold medicine because he had to go to work. We didn't let him call in sick because - as a near adult - there are going to be times when you have to go to work when you don't feel great. And quiet honestly, a stuffy nose is nothing. So he went. He was fine. Friday morning he woke up throwing up. Not a good sign. He said that he was fine and it was just phlegm that came up. He had no fever, we went out, ran errands and he went in to work at 3:00. At 7:00 he called and said that he threw up again and they were sending him home. In the twenty minutes it took to get him and bring him home, he was near delirium. He was sweaty, chilled and had a fever of 103.

Twenty four hours later, he had thrown up about a dozen times and was still running a high fever so we took him to the ER. Now I know there is nothing funny about the ER - EXCEPT when you have a child who has never been sick and you get to watch his reaction to everything around him. You know, most ER's are NOT like the ones on TV. No one is running around, the waiting room is not a dirty, scary place. The Wake Med ER was relatively quiet. They took him in to the Triage and got his vitals and it was near comical. The poor boy had no idea how to get his blood pressure taken and I think it was partly because the fever had him a little coo-coo-for-cocoa-puffs if you know what I mean. By the time they put him in a room, he was convinced he was dying. Surely you wouldn't go to the ER unless he was dying.

We got him in to a hospital gown (now THAT was an experience - "Help me! But don't LOOK at me!) and in to the bed. The nurse came in to give him an IV and the boy squeezed the life out of my hand. He was severely dehydrated and so the IV was necessary. They drew blood, they did a throat culture and a flu culture. Now at this point it's near midnight and we've been there for almost three hours. Michael is with us and we're being told that we're going to be there for another 3-4 hours! NOT. So tucking my boy in we told the nurse that my husband was taking me and our nine year old home and that he would be back in 45 minutes.

Let me just say that I am a HORRIBLE mother when my children are sick because I just want them to be better. I've never really had to deal with Nick sick and so this is all new to me. All day I've been like "Buck up!" "Blow your nose!" "Don't breathe on me!" Horrible, right? Well, when we pulled away from the hospital tonight it was like leaving a piece of my heart behind. My poor boy, who has never been sick or in a hospital is now there all by himself!! I knew we had to get Michael home. I know that I need to be disinfecting everything but I'm telling you, I ache for my child.

Please pray that we've got nothing more than a virus and that he gets well soon. Hug your children a little closer today. I know I will. Well, certainly when he's not so icky and contagious!

Just kidding.