Thursday, March 8, 2007

day (& night) from HELL

I know I've used this title before....anyway, yesterday was a nightmare for Sam. The good news is that his kidneys, bladder and urethra are all doing their jobs and so his UTI was a fluke. Their suggestion was to encourage him to pee more; since he has a bladder of steel he doesn't pee as often as is recommended, so that may have contributed to it. It was such a long, hard day. We left at 8am and got checked in and settled at 9. They did his U/S right away which he thought was fascinating. Then a small wait and the VCUG. MURDER. He flipped out. They used the 'newborn size' catheter and they still had to hold him down. It took about 5 minutes to do the procedure-Xraying the area, injecting fluid into the bladder til it was full, then he had to pee and they took some more Xrays after to see that the fluid wasn't 'refluxing' back into the kidneys. It wasn't, so all was well there, but OH the drama. He didn't stop crying from that moment on. I had to carry him around. We met with the specialist, well, his assistant, which was actually a good thing because it meant the specialist didn't even need to see us. He passed out in the car and woke up when we got to the toy store. I can't believe he chose this drumset. Too funny. It was $25 so I caved, but I really expected him to choose an umbrella or pirate sword. He loves it (so do the others!) Then we got home and the REAL drama began. He hadn't peed since after the procedure around 10am. Around 8pm I started to really worry, not to mention frustrated as I had reached my limit of empathy with him. Just PEE already! I called our practice's on-call doc, who prescribed the same meds he had been on with the UTI, plus he wanted me to call Children's to see if they had any other suggestions. Paul had soccer so he was MIA; luckily we have great neighbors and Michele came up to stay with Ted and Mae while I drove to pick up Sam's meds. Once he had the drugs in him he was still pretty much hysterical, rolling around and crying. I figured taking him back to the ER would be more traumatizing, so I got him in the tub for a while, but he still wouldn't pee. Paul got home around 11 and we traded off holding him til he finally fell asleep on me around 3am. He slept til 9 this morning and while he's still scared to pee, he's not hysterical. He peed in (Mae's) diaper at naptime and seems ok for now. I expect he'll pee again at bedtime. Again, not good since we want him peeing more frequently but for now I just want him to not be afraid of it. He hasn't pooped since Tuesday night either. My head is KILLING me (my standard reaction to stress and lack of sleep.)

In good news, Ted had his 5 year well check today. He weighed in at 41# (50%) and 43 3/4 inches tall (65%). He was a real trooper with the shots (4) and did cry, but didn't struggle or scream or hide (which he did at the flu shot). We took the money G'pa Moeller sent for his bday and he choose 2 really cool Playmobile sets, Bank Robbers and, appropriately enough, a Police Officer. He must be Bionicled out!

2 comments:

Wendy said...

Poor Sam :( And poor Ellen :( :(

(And I think Ted is 43 3/4" tall)

Beth and Shayna said...

Ouch for Sam and you. I hope things start to work for Sam and that he is doing better.