What a night...

I have spent way too much time with doctors this winter with my kids. I don't think I remembered to blog that my daughter fractured her middle finger in January. Was in a splint for 6 weeks (and couldn't play the viola all that time!), but all is well with her now.

Well, tonight I just got home from the ER. My son has not been able to hold down food since Monday, and has been off school all week. So tonight I took him to the urgent care center ('cause regular doctor office hours suck when you're a working single parent). Urgent care doctor found tenderness in the lower right abdominal quadrant. Said it was still quite possible that it was a virus... but given the location of the worst tenderness, appendicitis was enough of a possibility that he wanted me to take him in to the ER to get checked. Tonight.

So I went home and got my daughter, 'cause she doesn't like being at home alone at night (understandably).

And we were there until 1 freaking 30 am. To find that, of course (but thank heavens) it was NOT appendicitis.

Fun things from the evening: My son's veins SUCK. They couldn't get the IV in the left hand. Couldn't get it in the right. Finally got a blood draw out of the right, but then the vein moved and they couldn't keep that in. Eventually they called someone with mucho experience who could find veins that are a) buried too deep in b) way too thick skin (inherits from his father) and c) tried to slide around when finally found. And finally got it in. This in a kid who has the (what at least I've found is a) typical guy response to needles. At least he didn't faint.

Then, he couldn't give them a urine sample for ages, 'cause, well, he hasn't been holding stuff down, so as much as I've tried to keep him hydrated, he probably wasn't very much so, and, he has 'bashful bladder' when he tries to do things like that anyway. FINALLY got that part taken care of.

Then got the CT scan, after two hours of waiting (apparently, it takes that long for whatever fun concoction they make you drink to get through your system. Plus, they were very, very busy there tonight).

Found after all that that that it -wasn't- appendicitis, or at least, the CT scan looked normal and the white blood cell count was normal... they did warn me to keep an eye on him 'cause apparently appendicitis doesn't always present 'by the book'. Got a script for an anti nauseant (suppository. They asked if *I* was going to insert them. He's 14 1/2 and 5'10". Heck no I'm not going to; he can poke on his own butt!!! :) )

Then they took the IV (well, the heparin lock) out, to his great delight, and I left the room so he could change... and heard a 'MOM!!!' through the door. And rushed back in... and found that where they had taken the IV out was bleeding. A LOT.

So I grabbed paper towels, elevated, applied pressure, and yelled for my daughter to grab a nurse RIGHT NOW.

The nurses got there, put on gloves, and added more pressure (since I'd grabbed it originally, at least I was the one with the blood all over my hands - and when it's my kid, it's NOT a biohazard, unlike what the nurses would have had to deal with) and then it finally stopped, and was fine. Assuming it was just a last-minute gift of the ol' heparin.

So now I'm finally home, and the load of laundry that desperately needed to be done is now done, and I am going to BED.

What a night.