Levi with his new teddy from the hospital, sleeping in his Ironman costume (of course) and the story of his illness.
On December 10, 2010 on a Friday evening I started to notice that Levi was sounding differently. I thought that maybe he might just be starting to get a cold and I wasn't to worried about it. On Saturday morning he sounded a lot worst and was complaining of his throat hurting so I looked in his throat with a flash light and his tonsils were HUGE with puss patches all over them. I decided to take him into the Primary Health that is near our house on Eagle and HWY 44. I was sitting at the desk up front filling out paper work, when he told me that his tummy wasn't feeling very good. We had luckily brought with us a throw up bag from my surgery a few months ago that the hospital gave to me. Needless to say he ended up throwing up in the bag and thankfully all of it went in the bag. I am so happy that it did because I know that I wouldn't have enjoyed cleaning it up and I am sure that the ladies working that day wouldn't have enjoyed it either. Since Levi throw up out at the front desk they were able to get us in right away, back into a room. The nurse took his temperature and he had a low one at 99.8 degree's F. They ended up swabbing his throat to test it for strep, but they said that it came back negative. The physician ended up giving him a prescription for amoxicillin and sent us home.
I ended up going out with some friends for lunch at the Olive Garden and when I came home I looked at Levi and his neck was HUGE. I told Glen that the swelling had gotten much larger from the time that I left until now. We decided that I would take him into the hospital to be check out. We got in right away. The nurses took his vitals and he seemed to be okay. His temperature was only at 99.1 which wasn't to high, but his throat was really swollen. Since his throat was so swollen they decided that they would need to give him a steroid shot. Before they gave him the shots they gave him a cute cuddly teddy bear, a coloring book and some crayons to help make him feel better. After they gave him his teddy bear he looked up at me and said, "Look mom... they gave me a teddy bear, I have a teddy bear now." He looked at the teddy bear and then gives it a big hug while saying, "I love this teddy bear." He is so sticken cute with some of the phrases that he says and is always so thankful for the things he receives. They ended up dividing the dose into two and giving him two shots one in each of his butt cheeks on his bottom. Needless to say the dose they gave him was the maximum amount that they could give to a four year. He did not like the shots and I had to hold him on my nap facing me while the nurses gave him the shots. They didn't have any band-aids by the bed, but they stopped the bleeding and put his pants and underwear back on. He insisted that he needed a band-aid because then it would make it better. I asked the nurse (Grandma Lue)if she could find him some. She found some normal band-aids and then got some stickers to put on top of the band-aid to make it fun for him. Lets just say that after the bands were on he felt much better and was asleep less than five minutes later. After a little cat nap of maybe 15-20 minutes he woke up screaming about his arm hurting. He just keep on saying, "My arm...it HURTS...IT HURTS...MY ARM....MOMMY MY ARM HURTS!!! It just broke my heart to hear him scream like that. One of the nurses came in to see what was the matter and I told her that his arm is hurting, but that I thought it might have just fallen asleep. She checked his neck and then his back to make sure that he wasn't having an allergic reaction to the steroids. When she was checking him she mention that he was really warm and I asked if they wouldn't mind rechecking his temperature. She checked his temp and it had spiked from 99.1 to 104.4 in less then an hour. As I mother that was scary to me because if his temperature got to high it could be a concern with brain damage. They didn't seem to concerned because he wasn't acting abnormal. I guess that children can have their temperature spike like that. After about three hours of being in the hospital they discharged us and we were able to go home. They wanted Levi to come back if anything had worsen and they wanted to see him on Sunday to make sure that his lymphoids hadn't become infected because of how swollen they were.
When we got home I asked Glen if he could give Levi a blessing, we ended up calling my dad to see if he was available to come and help. When my parents got to our house we got ready for them to give Levi a blessing. Glen asked Levi if he wanted Daddy to give the blessing or Grandpa. Levi said that he wanted Grandpa Lloyd to give it. My dad gave him a nice blessing that I will record later. My parents stayed and visited for a while and we all had hot coco to enjoy together.
On Sunday morning Levi seemed to be doing better. His throat was still swollen, and he had a low temp, but was up being active and playing. One of the nurses called from the ER to see how Levi was doing and I told her that he was doing better and that we probably wouldn't be coming in. She told me to call if anything changed. Later that evening after I gave Levi some amoxicillin his eyes started to water really bad, he just keep wiping them and complaining about them stinging. The his lips started to swell, he ears got really red, and he started to get blotchy red patch's on his neck. I called the ER and informed them of what was going on and they told me that I should bring him in right away. We called a friend to see if we could drop Kimberly off and she said that was fine. We ended up dropping Kimmi off at a good friends house Kara Stiek. When we got to the hospital they took his vitals, his heart rate was pretty high and his temperature was at 100.4. They ended up wanting to do an x-ray of his neck to make sure that there wasn't a mass that was pushing on his tonsils to make them swell more. As we were waiting to be taking back our nurse Mike put on the movie Racing Stripes for Levi. (He had started it yesterday, so he wanted to start the movie were we left off the night before) We watched the movie for about 20 minutes before they wheeled him off. I was able to stay in the room with a shield on while the technician took x-ray pictures of Levi's neck. Levi did a really good job standing very still while he took the pictures. We then went back to the room to wait for the results. While we had been at the hospital Levi eyes were draining so much that he had gone through a complete whole role of toilet paper to wipes his eyes and nose. He was able to enjoy a Popsicles, and a can of apple juice while we waited for the results from the x-ray. We had a couple of nurses come in and check Levi's vitals a couple of times. His fever had gone up to 101.8. One of the female nurses came in to tell us that she was going to need to put in an IV to get some blood from Levi because they needed to test him for mono and they wanted it there just in case they needed to give him some more meds. We finished watching Racing Strips and then we started it again so that Glen could see it from the beginning.
It soon came time for the nurses to prep Levi for the IV and they put some numbing cream on his arm and then put a clear medical tape on top of it, that Levi pocked at for a little bit. It was a squishy feeling that Levi though was cool to play with. I remember Levi laying down in the medical bed and then turning back to look at me, he then said, "Mom I had a surgery on my butt, just like YOU, one right here (as he gently pats his left butt cheek) and one over here (as he pats his right butt cheek)and now I just had one right here on my arm, just like you mom. He hadn't yet gotten the IV in, but the way he said that was so stinken cute!! I couldn't help but to chuckle a little and tell Glen what we said. We just let him think that the shots that he got the day before was his own little surgery. The nurses came in, turned on the light, we stopped the movie and I think that Levi could sense that something was going on because as they sat down and told him to was time to take the tape off he started to get a little bit scared. They took the tape off and then when they started to wipe off the cream he really started to freak out. He keep saying, "NOOOO....I DON'T WANT IT!!!! NOOOO!!! (little tears just came racing down his little red cheeks and face, as he tried his hardest to let them know that he did not want the IV) NOOOO!!!, HE SCREAMED...."PLEASE DON'T DO THAT .....PLEASE I DON'T WANT THAT....NOOOO....MOMMY....PLEASE.....NOOO!!!!" He turned his back to them and just held on to his little arm for dear life. He didn't want them to touch him at ALL!! He then laded on his stomach gripping his arm as tight as he could. Glen and I tired our best to reassure him that everything was going to be okay and that the nurses knew what they were doing. I told Levi to look at me and then said, "Mommy and Daddy are right here and everything is going to be okay. You need to turn over so the nurses can help you." "No, Mom I don't want too." It took everything I had to fight back the tears from streaming down my face because of the reaction from my son. I needed to be strong and I wished that I could take his place but I knew that he needed the IV. I told him that I was going to turn him over, but that I was there. I picked him up and turned him onto his back. One of the nurses grabbed his arm as the nurse putting the IV got ready. I told Levi to look at me and a second later it was in. They drew he blood that they needed and then he looked down at the IV and told the nurses that he wanted a band-aid to put on it. Everyone in the room kind of chuckled, because he wasn't concerned with the IV in his arm he was concerned about a band-aid. They ended up putting on a bright green wrap around the IV and his arm. After all of that he asked if he could have another Popsicle. They told him that he could have all of the Popsicles that he wanted, that he did a great job and was a brave little boy. After about an hour of waiting Dr. Wyatt came into the room and informed us that Levi was positive for Mono. They gave him a dose of steroids through the IV and then discussed with us that we needed to see Dr. Garner to have further treatment for his throat. We were discharged soon after. He was given a couple of prescriptions and we were told that he was to stop taking the amoxicillian. He has an appointment for tomorrow morning with Dr. Garner and we'll see what he says about the swelling in his throat. He has been resting pretty much the whole day. I haven't seen him sleep this long since he was a baby. I know that this isn't that most positive entry, but it is one that I felt I needed to record. I guess that Mono can last up to 50 days being contagious and that we just need to be extremely careful with him. One of the things that I won't forget about is Levi referring to his shots and IV as a "surgery". I just laugh every time that I think about it and the way that he said it with his little muffled voiced, just brings a smile to my face. I took a couple of pictures of him sleeping and you can see his eyes are still a little red, but they are much better from last night. I will definitely keep this situation updated with entries. The doctors and physicians that we saw have been absolutely wonderful!! Grandma Lue called this morning to see how Levi was doing today. I really appreciate their care and concern for him. I feel that they have been extremely professional and sensitive with our situation. I know that with prayers, faith and rest he will get better soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment