Tyler goes to the hospital - a long one!

Last Friday, Tyler complained of an earache in the morning. I gave him Motrin and he seemed fine with that but did not want to go to school! I sent him to "Grandma's" the local babysitter, since I was subbing. I got a call around 2 that his ear was still hurting, he was running a fever, and now his neck was hurting. I brought him home and called the Dr. who couldn't see us until Saturday morning. It was a LONG afternoon, evening, and night, he would sleep about 20 minutes and wake up screaming in pain. Finally it was Saturday morning and off to the Dr. Tyler and I went, thinking he had an ear infection or strep throat. When I put him on the examining table, I noticed his neck on the right side was really swollen. The Dr. came in, took one look, and went out to find another Dr. I began to get a little nervous! They tried to open his mouth and he just screamed in pain. They asked me to take him directly to Fairfax Hospital, they really didn't know what was wrong, but something definitely was and he would probably need "specialized" care. So, off we go to the Hospital, he asked for a sprite along the way and that was about it. We arrived and were taken right into the ER room, it wasn't long and they knew he was really sick and in lots of pain. They put in an IV (once again, this boy never even noticed) so they could take blood and administer morphine, which put him in a nice sleep for several hours! The blood test came back that he had a bacterial infection and then they ordered a CAT scan of his neck. That reveled a collection of bacteria around the glands in his neck. His nurse came back in and said, "You'll be admitted soon, we're just waiting for a room to open up!" I was going a little crazy because my cell phone had limited coverage in the ER, Tim was at a soccer game for Lukas, Isaak needed to be at a birthday party and Tim really didn't know any of the plan! I could only call local numbers from the hospital phone so a few of our good friends, who have local cell phone numbers, got a call from me, begging for help! Poor Tim, he got calls and visits from people who knew more about the situation than he did! We got to his room about 4 and he woke up, talking non-stop. Tim, Isaak, and Lukas came to visit that afternoon, Tyler was pretty content to stay in his bed. That was a LOOOONG night, every hour a nurse came in to check on him, plus he was hooked up to 3 heart monitors and the IV, which kept beeping. I saw the clock a lot that night from my "bed," the convertible chair into a bed thing I got to sleep on, plus I was still in my clothes, never thought to ask Tim for something to wear to bed! The worst was the ENT Dr. didn't want him to eat or drink after mid-night in case they had to take him to the OR to drain the mass that had gathered near his airway. Try explaining that to a kid that "just wants a drink!" Sunday, the Dr. who sent him to the Hospital came to check on him and was happy with his progress, but hinted that he might be in the hospital a few more days..... His heart was doing funny things most of Sunday, very slow, and irregular, so the monitors kept beeping along with the IV machine. Tim, Isaak, and Lukas came back in and Tyler was so happy to see them! I had Tim bring me clothes and my hairbrush, I'm not a big fan of sleeping in a straight jean skirt! They left and Grammie came, bringing more stuff for me and Chitty Chitty bang bang for Tyler to read. He soon was sleeping and a few more visitors came. By then his heart was going really crazy slow so his nurse ordered an EKG. The lady came, waking him out of a sleep to stick these sticky, cold things all over him and he was not pleased. In fact, he was MAD and the EKG showed a fast beating heart! When that finished, his girlfriend, Chelsea, arrived with the biggest sprinkled donut, his favorite. (In the middle of the night, we were watching TV to pass the time and saw a commercial for Dunkin Donuts showing a big box of donuts, boy did that look good to a boy who couldn't eat or drink!) He calmed down finally and enjoyed seeing Chelsea and eating his part of his donut! Grammie entertained Tyler so I could take a shower, go for a little walk to the cafeteria, and take a nap. Sunday night was pretty calm, they turned the beeping monitors off in his room so that we could "sleep" a little better. At 6, Monday morning, his IV machine started beeping and I got up, after calling the nurse, to see if I could "fix" it! I touched the bed and it was all wet. Thinking he had wet the bed, I turned the light on and discovered a pool of blood. Well, I got a little excited, and yelled "BLOOD" and boy did the nurses and Dr's come running! His IV had fallen out between 5 AM and 6 AM and the blood was from the injection site on his arm. The nurses so kindly cleaned him and the bed up. I noticed that the room started spinning a little too quickly. I was sitting, thank goodness, and just passed out. When I came too, I was sure my sugar was low!!! But no, just a little too excited about the blood from my poor boy apparently! We got back into our beds and tried to go to sleep when a nurse came in and said he really should have that IV put back in. We've had such "good" luck with the other IV's that I didn't think it would be a big deal. So off to the procedure room to get this done. Well, it wasn't like any other time. His veins kept rolling every time they would try. Finally, a specialist was called in and she got the job done after many tears shed by Tyler and mom! Back to the room and Tyler slept most of the day. The ordered more blood work and a visit from the pediatric cardiologist, who doesn't think there is a major problem, just a slow irregular heartbeat that could be from the medication. Lab work came back, with numbers still high, but working their way down from Saturday. Tuesday, he saw his Dr. again and she cleared us to go home. Tyler did not want that IV to come out, he hates the 10 miles of tape ripped off his arm. He kept sleeping and finally I told him that I was going home, was he coming with me or not? He called for the nurse and said to take it out! He still had high blood pressure, but they thought trying to return to "normal" might help that. We had an uneventful ride home and Tyler slept most of the day and all night. He's still pretty worn out, but the sparkle is coming back in his eyes. He is on an oral antibiotic for 2 weeks and has to stay home till the weekend. Friday we see his Dr for a follow up. Thank you so much for all your calls, e-mails, visits, and prayers!