ER VIsit

Ever had those moments as a parent that your gut told you one thing, but your conscience told you another. Well, we had a fabulous weekend. We got a trampoline that the kids absolutely wore themselves out on on Saturday. The weather was beautiful and we were just really enjoying the start of spring. Well, Sunday morning rolled around, and Avery woke up throwing up. What? We just had this 2 weeks ago, how can it be back? We started crediting it with the fact that she had eaten 5 pieces of pizza the night before for dinner and was just sick. Little Caesars does it to Ryan too. Then I started thinking it was heat exhaustion. We had been outside all day, each got a little sunburned, and didn't drink a lot. Could it really show that many hours later? Well, I then realized that Saturday I had picked up this little star off of our floor. It usually was stuck to our fridge as a magnet, and if you twist the back of it it starts lighting up. Well, Saturday when I picked it up off the floor, the back of it was gone. I didn't think anything of it at the time, until Ryan asked if it was possible Avery had swallowed the battery and magnet. No way...she doesn't do that. She never puts things in her mouth. But where was the magnet. We searched hi and low through our house, under the fridge, with flashlights, in toy boxes...we could not find it anywhere. All the while, Avery is still throwing up about every 1/2 hour, sometimes more, and now she has a fever. She isn't eating, drinking, she's totally lethargic. Surely it's just the flu. My gut kept telling me that...but what if? That stupid battery, why can't we find it. We drilled Caden and he had no idea. Avery was the same...couldn't tell us what had happened to it. After talking to our mom's, calling a friend who is an ER doctor and my brother in law Jake, everyone agreed it was potentially serious enough she should be seen. Of course, it's Sunday...these things always happen on Sunday. Dave Johnson called the ER for us and they said it was not busy. So, we headed over.

On the way, Ryan starts feeling sick. He's not nauseated, maybe it's nerves or the fact he hadn't eaten today. It seems to get worse the further we go. He actually wanted to turn around and go back, but I wasn't about to do the ER visit by myself. We finally check in and I just hold Avery on my lap. My poor little girl was so lifeless. It was starting to scare me. Ryan laid himself on the hospital bed, certain he was going to pass out. At this point, he's ready to throw up and I wonder why he didn't' start showing these signs 2 hours earlier...then I would have surely known it was just the flu. Oh well, we're already checked in. The nurse asks Ryan if he needs something to drink, to which Avery catches onto and wants something right then to drink, she just kept crying for something and the nurse said she didn't' think she should. Good thing another nurse came in because he promptly brought her a bottle (they were out of sippy cups) of Pedialyte and apple juice. I've never seen a happier child. She held on to that like it was her best friend and drank her little heart out. Then she wanted more, so we filled it up again and she scarfed that down. Poor little thing was dying of thirst.

The Dr.'s recommendation was to do an x-ray, and check for a urinary tract infection. That had never crossed my mind. I asked how, and he said they would do a catheter since she wasn't potty trained. I was not about to go for that, and told him I didn't think that was necessary. Are they just try to think of ways to make this traumatic for you? She's been throwing up for 10 hours with a fever, you you want to check for a UTI right away. I'd rather wait a few days and see, to which he agreed would be his decision for his own children.

Well, the x-ray went well, not so traumatic, and it came back negative. Of course it did...I knew all along it would, but I couldn't bear the thought of a battery leaking in her stomach and not doing anything about it. Still don't know where the battery is...

BTW, Ryan got worse and worse. The Dr. offered to write a script for anti-nausea. They gave him throw up bags, soda crackers, sympathy...he actually just took the other half of the Zofran they gave Avery. It seemed to hold him over till we got home and then it was a long night for him. Glad to say we're all doing better, hope it never comes back (is that too much to ask), and appreciating our health.