Sunday, December 5, 2010

The Frustration of Being out of the Hospital only ONE day

So, we have good news....and we have bad news.

Good news is, JACOB CAME HOME A DAY EARLY YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!

Bad news is......he was re-admitted again today (Saturday) evening.

@!#$ @#$%^$%^ $%&^^#%$^ %&*(&)*(&^%*%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Down Right Living: Failure to thrivePlease excuse my mental rant as I stomp up and down, kick scream, throw things and punch holes into my walls....all in my head of course....the kids are sleeping.  I wouldn't want to wake them.  (P.S. - today would NOT be a good day to call me and see how I'm doing - just let it be.
)

It's 4 a.m. and I've just found my way home from the emergency room AGAIN.  One day after bringing Jacob home from the hospital.

He lost his IV again on Friday morning and the Dr's didn't want to have to put another one in him because it was so hard to get in and they only had two more dosages of the antibiotic, plus we're right smack in the middle of cold and flu season and he told me that Jacob would be safer at home than in pediatrics with all the sicks kids.  So, he set up to have us go see our pediatrician for our final dose of antibiotics via deep-muscle shots. 

So Friday I scrambled around, spent 3 hours to get him discharged and brought him home.  He'd been having problems with his feeding for the last 3 weeks, which we assumed was a result of his new medicines - lasiks, digoksin, Vitamin D and Zantac.  The nurses had been 'tweeking' his route of administration - when, how soon before/after feedings, etc of the medicines because he seemed to keep throwing up all of his formula and the only factor that had changed before admission was his medicines.  Before admission he never even spit up. So, we were sent home with suggestions on how we might better be able to keep Jacob's food down at home.  Other than that, he had a clean bill of health.

His first night home, was uneventful albeit restless.  He wound up sleeping on my chest as I rocked him and patted his back in the rocking recliner all night long.  He just couldn't get into a restful sleep so I'd pat him till he fell asleep.  And when I'd fall asleep and quit patting him, he's wake up and start to wiggle again. Thus was my evening.

During the day, it was again uneventful, yet restless, marred by several bouts of vomit.  Finally around 8:00 p.m. KC was feeding Jacob about 2 oz (he used to drink 4 oz at a time, but now he can only stomach 2 if we're lucky) of formula and he threw it all up.  The thing is, he hadn't had any medicines since 5p.m.  there was no reason for him to be sick.  This, plus the fact that he couldn't keep his regular formula down had us worried because now we couldn't blame the meds and now we didn't think he was getting enough formula to stay down to sustain him for very long - he was just constantly hungry.

So, KC called the hospital who told us to call the pediatrician who told us to go back into the emergency room.  They did an ultrasound on his stomach and did X-Rays.  All of them came out clear.  But the doctor decided to admit us anyway because Jacob had only gained 3 oz in the 3 weeks since he'd originally been admitted.

OK, Riddle me this, Batman????  If his weight was such an issues, how the HELL did they discharge us the day before????  They weighed him when he was admitted and they weighed him just before they left.  Why was this weight issue not caught and addressed?  Here we are BACK in the hospital full of sick children, trying to figure out how long THIS visit will be.  And why, oh why, did I have to give all of the doctors and nurses all of Jacob's medical history, medicines, dosages, etc. AGAIN,  and then have to give an explanation of why I was adamantly REFUSING to let them try to put an IV in his little body this morning when I'd just been there for 3 weeks and only left 24 hours before? Why is there such a breakdown of communication?

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  I've got to get some sleep. I'm just getting madder and madder by the second.  Maybe a couple hours under my belt will do me some good.  Maybe, oh maybe, I'll be able to get through the day without punching something or someone over this whole debacle.

Down Right Living: Help us to help others with Down syndrome
Help us to help others with Down syndrome

3 comments:

Patty Cady said...

Oh, Susan. I am soooo sorry about this. Just when your hopes get up you have to start the whole rigamarole (I don't even know if that's a word) all over again.

I wish there was something I could say or do, but all I have is "I love you" and "If you need me for anything...anything at all. Just call and I'll be there in a heartbeat (as long as a heartbeat takes between an hour and forth-five minutes and two hours)."

Honestly, at this point, I could easily cancel any classes or skip any classes. It's dead week and next week is finals. Nothing set in stone I need to do or anywhere I need to be.

I love you!

Brianne said...

Oh Sue! My heart just dropped once again reading your blog. I can't IMAGINE how frustrated you must be. I'm frustrated just reading this and I'm not the mom. Sometimes these dang Dr's and hospitals are a real pain in the butt! I'm so sorry to hear Jacob's not keeping food down. Hopefully they will figure something out, and quick. We will continue praying for him and the rest of you as well. We love you!

-Oh, and I'm glad you go the comment thing fixed on your blog! Yeah!

Chuck said...

All I can say is GRRR!!!!