A Night in the ER

The other night when Abraham screamed past midnight and then proceeded on to grump fest 2012 was apparently just the start of things. Friday evening Matthew commented how chunky our youngest's hands were getting. We teased him a bit, gave him some love, and put him down for another restless night. Yesterday morning we woke up to find both his hands and feet red, swollen, and warmer than usual. We thought it a bit odd and attempted to contact two friends in the ward who are both nurses. Neither answered, and since he was acting normal (even happy) we decided to wait and see how the day progressed. Abraham had an average day full of playing with his brother, napping, and fussing. He was, however, insatiably hungry. He ate every chance he got and kept begging for more. He was probably so famished because his food was going straight through him. Just three or four hours after a meal, I'd change a diaper with his lunch looking still very intact: whole green beans, whole raisins, recognizable cheerios, etc. 

His symptoms had not improved, so around 6:30pm I tried my nurse friends again. Both of them said swollen hands and feet are not normal and are indications that something is wrong. Both said he should be seen by a doctor. I called our pediatrician's office and spoke with the off-hours nurse, who suggested the same and gave me the number for the Medicaid 24-hour nurse line. I called them and was, for the fourth time, instructed to take him to Urgent Care. Why these things can't happen at 10am on a Tuesday is beyond me!

Matthew had already made arrangements with his Home Teaching companion to help a family move some furniture. Brother Jensen's wife generously offered to babysit, so while the men went to do some heavy lifting, I dropped Hyrum off and headed across the river with Abraham. The family Matthew was helping live just a few minutes from the hospital so his companion dropped him off when they were done and the timing couldn't have been more perfect as we got there at exactly the same time. 

We checked in at the ER at the IU Arnette hospital around 8pm and Abraham charmed the reception ladies as he toddled around the lobby. We waited maybe 30 or 40 minutes to be called back where we signed some papers and the triage nurse did her thing. Abraham's first traumatic experience involved a thermometer in his bum. We then waited for two and a half hours in a very non-child friendly room. Considering it was well past his bed time before we even got there, Abraham did remarkably well. It took all of mine and Matthew's attention to keep him occupied but he was amazingly happy and didn't start really fussing until 10ish. When the doctor did finally come, she apologized for the wait and was very cordial. Turns out swollen extremities can be a sign of kidney failure or liver problems, and can also indicate heart issues. They took a chest x-ray to rule out the latter. The hospital had this awesome device that can be a bit traumatic for babies, but really helps get good pictures. The child sits on a little bicycle type seat, puts his arms straight up, and is encased in a plexiglass harness with leather straps. It looks a little like a medieval torture device, but works much better than trying to wrestle a squirming baby. They also used a catheter to get a urine sample (trauma #3) and put in an IV (trauma #4) to draw blood. All this  happened in fairly quick succession. We then spent a couple more hours waiting for results. Luckily all the trauma put my poor, tired baby over the top and he finally fell asleep in my lap. Matthew and I watched late night reruns and were reminded why we have no desire to have TV reception. 

All the tests came back negative, which is good. They did use the IV to take a little more blood in order to run a couple more tests, but said we could go home and they'd call us with the results. Since the symptoms are still worrisome and there was no diagnosis, we were instructed to go see our regular doctor tomorrow. The prognosis is likely either a virus or some sort of allergic reaction. After over 6 hours we were cleared to leave a little after 2am. I called the Jensen's when we got close and Hyrum had just gotten up to use the toilet. Since he was awake, we picked him up and took everyone home. Hyrum was still a little excited by his late night play date and took a while to settle down, but by 3am we were all cozy and asleep in our own beds.