Cullens First Hospital Stay

 

Cullen was not feeling recently. After a couple days or an increasing cough, I called the doctor and made an appt. we went in on Tues. She said that his RSV had come back and that he had an ear infection. So she prescribed and antibiotic and nebulizer treatments and a follow up for the next week. Then on Thursday night Cullen could not sleep. His nose was runny and he whined and could not get comfortable in our bed with us and he was running a slight temp at 4am. So Friday morning we woke up and I fed him his breakfast which he threw up. He had thrown up on Thursday as well which i thought was just because he was too full. So i again called the doctor and they decided to bring him in before the weekend so we went in and she said that because he was throwing up and not being able to keep the antibiotics in him, the best thing to do was to admit him to the hospital next door for 24 hours. So off we went. I had to have john drop off my nanny kid o his parents because children under the age of 12 are not allowed into the hospital rooms of the patients. He was given an IV which took the nurses 3 tries to get in him.... I was so sad and getting frustrated. The nurse who was attempting the IV kept saying things like "i cant see and my glasses are fogging up" and "nope i didn't get it, I shoulda went with the one i could see". Meanwhile my child is screaming and wondering why he is being poked and prodded and why mommy isn't picking him up. So they finally got a tiny bit of blood out and the IV in and we were sent to our room. John then showed up and there we stayed. Lab techs would come in and take his blood but they definitely were not pediatric lab techs because they missed his vein and kept moving the needle around til they struck blood. Causing bruises by the way! He received his antibiotic Rocefin (sp) in his IV and his steroids (albuterol and Pulmicort) in a nebulizer every 3 hours.

 

Cullens Pulse Ox was taken all day with a monitor on his foot attached to a machine. It would beep if his level went under a certain number. While he was sleeping it did drop into the 80's so they decided to put him on oxygen. As Cullen started to feel better, he began to move alot more and he was stuck in a little hospital room as he moved alot on the bed with me and so as luck would have it, he pulled out his IV slightly. the nurse adjusted it but told us if his hands start to sweal to let them know.... later Cullen began to scream and could not be comforted. we looked at his hand and his wrist was swollen. we called the nurse and she took the IV out. We asked if we could rest a little before attempting another IV. They said yes. While we were waiting for the swelling to go down, a pediatrician came in and said that he would need to stay until he was off oxygen for 24 hours. he was taken off at 11am sat morning. John, being the genius he is, asked her if there was any other way to administer the meds. she said he could get the steroid through a shot and the antibiotics by mouth. The shots burned his muscles for a few minutes which of course broke our hearts.
So I found a sub for primary chorister since there was no way we were getting out before church and we hunkered down for another night in the hospital. We were finally discharged at 5 on Sunday night because the on-call pediatrician apparently has weird hours on the weekends and comes in late on Sundays... I still don't understand it. Anyway, we are so glad to be home and hope to never repeat this experience again. If we do it will be at the children's hospital...

We were there all weekend and nobody noticed they were a year behind!!!