Our great hospital adventure continues ...
To read part 1, go here.
The ambulance ride was pretty uneventful. Jon, one of the ambulance guys (sorry, I don't know their titles), allowed me to ride in the back with Alex instead of making me ride up front. Alex was pretty shy since he didn't feel well, which is why. It wasn't the most comfortable ride but it went pretty quickly. They wheeled Alex into the ER at Children's, we got taken to a room, and the ambulance guys wished us luck and left.
cell phone photo - a ride in an ambulance - a first for both of us
I wasn't expecting to be in the ER as long as we were, but we ended up hanging out there for about 4 hours. Good thing Doug grabbed me some dinner before we left the other hospital. We went over the story again ... and again ... and again ... with each different doctor or nurse that came in. They looked at the films from the CT scan he had and agreed that he had appendicitis. They weren't positive about whether his appendix was perforated or not, but surgery was scheduled for Sunday.
Many times during our time in Children's ER, Alex asked me to take him to the restroom. I had to carry him like a baby each time since it was so painful for him to walk. Thankfully the restroom was right next door to the room we were in. One particular time, I sat him down on the potty and he vomited all over the floor. I opened the door and asked the staff who were right there to please help. I had nothing for him to throw up in. One of the nurses brought in a bedpan since that was all she could find. But by the time she brought it in, he was all done.
I had to chuckle at the one doctor. He told me not to worry about cleaning it up while he threw some towels down on the floor. I had no intentions of cleaning it up and was very thankful to the housekeeping gentleman who was waiting outside the door to clean up our mess. He didn't look too happy even though I thanked him.
Finally, sometime after 11 p.m. we got moved up to a room. As we got off the elevator and headed toward Ward 6B, it really felt like deja vu. This is the same area that Keira stayed in two years ago. Not the same room though. We were on the other end of the ward. I remember photographing the sun rise one morning while Keira was here. In Alex's room we can watch the sun set.
Anyway, after all the late night visits from various doctors and nurses needing information we were finally able to settle in. Sometime after midnight. They never let you sleep in a hospital. There always seems to be someone coming in to check vitals or administer medication. Or the IV machine is beeping for one reason or another.
Alex slept pretty well, probably due to the morphine they gave him. Early Sunday morning the docs made their rounds and we were told that surgery would be around noon. So we waited. And prayed.
Another already long post and my brain is mush from lack of sleep, so as much as I hate to do this to you, I'm going to continue later. :) Thanks for sticking with me.
4 comments:
Aw, man. Praying for y'all!
That's a heartbreaking photo. God bless you all, and praying Alex will be all better soon!
Oh man...hospitals! I can never understand why if they think there may be a perforation, why do they put the surgery off till the next day? Maybe they started him on antibiotics? He must be home now...I hope he is doing well.
Okay this waiting is killing me and I know it's over with and it's all fine. Sigh.
Hope everything is 100% again!~
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