Thanksgiving day, our little man was having a fabulous time with his cousins. We spent the day at Matt and Jenny's and he and Drew had a great time together. After we ate, we headed to Medina. Our first visit to my in-laws new house and a Thanksgiving celebration with the entire Zeoli family.
We started with a tour of the house. It was so pretty. Everything looked perfect. Then they offered us some food. Halle and Ty ate some of Aunt Katie's home made noodles. Not thinking about the ingredients...I let them have as much as they wanted. When Ty ran to the bathroom, I asked Katie how she made them and she said it was just eggs and flour. With Ty's egg allergy, I thought...well, I guess he is just getting it out of his system. Poor little guy. We put them to bed shortly after they ate. They were excited to play the next day and Ryan and I were excited to do some Black Friday shopping.
At 2:00am, Ty woke up screaming. I thought the eggs had gotten to him. I carried him in to the bathroom and he couldn't go. He just kept pointing to his stomach and screaming. This went on for about an hour because Ryan came in around 3:00am and said he thought we needed to go to the hospital. I grabbed Ty's coat and we left. Ed led us to the Medina Hospital. When we walked in they were checking someone in and Ed walked up to her. She told him to step back and then Ty started screaming. Within seconds, we were taken back and we had several nurses looking at him. They started him on an IV and gave him pain meds (something that we now works rather slowly in Ty but eventually works.) Nothing seemed to help. The doctor walked in and said he thought Ty had a bowel obstruction and wanted us to go to Children's. They had the squad there within a few minutes and they were strapping my baby on the stretcher. The nurse started crying. You would think I would get a clue that things were pretty serious when the ER nurse cries. When we got to Children's, I tried to help the EMT but we couldn't get the emergency entrance door open. The woman at the front desk was very rude and wouldn't open it for us. My initial thought was, "Where on earth did they just take my son? This place is horrible." She kept saying something and moving her hands...through thick doors and gusty winds, we heard nothing. Finally, I thought I understood her and punched in 411 to the code box. Ok, now...411 doesn't make sense, but at the time, it did. When I finally realized she said 911, the door opened. They rushed him back. He was given Morphine and finally started to fall asleep (which now I believe his body was starting to shut down.) The doctor sent him in for x-rays. The ER doctor walked in joking and said, "Hey, now that he is relaxing, follow me." He took us to look at the x-ray. He showed us a HUGE gas bubble and tons of black indicated constipation. I remember looking at it and thinking, "You have no idea what the hell you are talking about. You could tell me he has 7 kidneys, point them out and I still wouldn't believe you." Something was telling me not to trust him. He told us that Ty was constipated and the gas was causing his pain. "With a gas bubble that size, how could he not be in pain. I am a firm believer in common things happening commonly. He is constipated."Well, I didn't buy it. I've been constipated. It hurts but not like that, not for Ty. He gave him an enema. He said within a few minutes he should be more comfortable. Now remember, it is Thanksgiving night and everyone wants to go home. 10 minutes go by. Nothing. 20 minutes go by. Nothing still. 30 minutes goes by and the doctor says, "Well, I am going to release him." I was VERY uncomfortable with that and asked what we should do if within a few minutes he was screaming in pain again. He said, "Well, don't bring him back here because we will just give him another enema and send you home. Go to CVS and buy an enema kit and do it at home." I said, "Are you sure?" He said, "Come here, Ty. Jump for me." Ty jumped. "Jump again." Ty jumped again and fell in to my lap. The doctor said the jump test determined if a child would need surgery. If they could jump, he was fine and didn't need anything. The nurse came in to remove his IV. She said she was amazed at how easy it was to get it out. He must have been REALLY tired. Reluctantly, we left the hospital. Ryan felt relieved that it was just constipation and I felt so uncomfortable. Within minutes of being home, Ty was looking really pale. His lips looked blue. I had him on the couch and he kept begging for water. He was chugging it. I've never seen him drink so fast in my life. Then, he threw all of it up. I put him in bed with Ryan and Cathy handed me some cleaner as they walked out the door to go shopping. I quickly cleaned the floor and called the ER back. They said to come in. Hoping to hear something different, I called our pediatrician and they said to go back to the ER too. So, I woke Ryan up and told him what they said. He wasn't convinced. I took Ty out of bed. Ed couldn't get him to smile or do anything. He said he agreed that we should take him back. So, we left. On our way, we received a call from the ER. They said they had overlooked something on the x-ray and that Ty needed to come back. Ryan told him we were already on our way. By the time we got there, they had several people waiting for us. He was rushed into a room and nurses started pushing needles full of liquids into his little body. He wasn't responding. Ryan lost it. He had to walk out of the room several times and just cried. I have no idea why but I just stood there, holding Ty's hand, telling him what a good boy her was. I stood their watching the nurses like they were a well oiled machine. I stood their asking if I was in the way...when you get the response, we will move you if you are, you should get a clue that things are worse than you realize. When people storm into the room and newer nurses are replaced with veterans, you should get a clue. When your child doesn't move while inserting an IV, you should get a clue...some how, I didn't. I just stood there, holding his hand. I guess it is good that I was "strong". Is strong another word for "in denial", "avoiding reality" or "clueless"? How can a mother just watch that and not have a reaction? I felt like I was having an out of body experience. Ryan let himself feel that our baby was so sick but I just felt like he was sleeping. The entire night I knew something was horribly wrong but never, not one time, did I ever think we wouldn't be taking him home. When Dr. Kempf walked in, it was like the doors of heaven opened and he told us...it's not Ty's time and I am here to make sure of that. And thankfully, he did. The nurses listened to him, he ran the right tests and knew exactly what to do. I am forever grateful to the Kempf family. I cannot even imagine how many lives this family has touched.
Ok...more later.
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