What a fun way to start my month!

My apologies (once again) for being a few days late here. It seems month end just always creeps up on me and always throws us some unexpected curve balls. I was actually all ready to post the new block for August by the first, but my 2 yr old son apparently had other plans. This past Saturday started like any other day. A friend from church came by at 7am to head over to the new house with my husband to do some electrical work so we can get utilities turned on. I was to follow later that morning when the kids got up and moving.  I was all ready to go but my youngest still wasnt awake, which is highly unusual for him. We went to wake him up and he stirred but never really woke up. I carried him downstairs, changed his diaper and clothes, and he still wasn't waking up. He couldn't stand, wouldn't even hold his head up.  I knew something was wrong, but not sure what. He was also very sweaty. I immediately put him in the car and headed to a nearby emergency room. My fear was heat exhaustion, even though he hadn't been outside in 3 days. His diaper from overnight had been dry so I also figured he might be dehydrated.

We arrived at the hospital and they got him into triage quickly. He was slightly feverish, but they were more concerned at his listlessness. The doctor guessed that he might have high blood sugar. They started him on a fluid IV and took some blood to run some tests. The doctor quickly came back and told me that his blood sugar was not high, but dangerously low, at 46.  They gave him some juice, crackers, and literally within  minutes he was perking back up. Not quite his normal ball of energy but vastly improved. The doctor advised he wanted to admit Jacob to the hospital for observation and further testing to try and find out what caused his blood sugar to plummet like it had. We gathered our diaper bag, and took a ride in an ambulance from this hospital over to Cook Children's in downtown. Now, in hindsight perhaps I should have went there first, but I have been in their emergency room once before, and it took us 16 hours to be seen, so I didn't go there this time in fear of having to sit with him in the waiting room for hours.

We were taken back into the ER quickly, and briefly looked at, questioned, etc. Then proceeded to sit in a room down there for the next 5 hours, waiting to be transferred to a room upstairs. Finally around 6pm Saturday we were given a room on the Endocrinology floor.  They allowed Jacob to eat dinner, so we watched Cars and Bolt and Toy Story 3 while he ate and cried everytime they came in to stick him for one reason or another. He was given a second IV that evening so they could administer fluids and draw labs at the same time without re-sticking him.

I finally got him to sleep sometime around 11pm, and at midnight the nurses came back in to check his diaper, temperature, and whatever else they do.  At that time I had dosed off and woke up not feeling right. My right side had gone numb. I asked one of the nurses to take my blood pressure and sure enough it was sky high.  I laid back down for another 30 minutes hoping I could get it to go down some, but the numbness turned to dull pain, and it was still high, so they put me in a wheelchair and took me across the street to another hospital ER. When I got there my BP was so high that they took me straight to trauma, but on the way there, a multiple GSW victim came in and they had to work on him instead. The next 5 hours were spent having a battery of tests, IVs labs, and medication administered. Everytime someone came in to do something I reminded them that I had a sick child across the street and I needed to get back there ASAP.

I was finally released and headed back across the street to Jacob's room. When I arrived back the nurses told me he had not been back asleep since I left. He'd watched 2 movies, was on his third, taken a walk around the floor, visited the fish tanks, etc. and generally entertained the nursing staff.  Needless to say we were both exhausted.  We managed a few more hours of sleep before another round of lab work was needed.  Since they were fasting Jacob he started getting hungry and asked the nurses for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a cupcake. (Emphasis on the cupcake). Finally around 3pm they let him eat, and his nurse found him exactly what he asked for. Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich and not one, but 2 cupcakes. I've never seen a cupcake disappear as quickly as I did then!  As soon as he was finished eating we had our discharge papers and were headed home.

Luckily through his fasting he never dropped low like before, but they do not yet know what has caused it. We left with a blood sugar monitor and a list of symptoms to check for while we wait for further labs to come back and follow up with an endocrinologist. We haven't had another episode so I'm thankful. Now to adjust to new medications MY doctor put me on. Thats always fun!  Of course, doctors tell you to eliminate stress...so much easier said than done!