December was a long month for Dallin. Actually, probably not- he spent at least 75% of it sleeping... but got poked at least 22 times...
7 lab draws/attempted lab draws
14 attempts to start an iv before success
1 flu shot
He really truly is such a trooper with being poked in all of it's various forms- he only got a little impatient with all the iv attempts because he just wanted to get his transfusion already!?!
It started December 5th at bedtime. He said he didn't feel very good... well, good news for him, it was bedtime! I told him he'd feel better in the morning- and he did. Mostly. He drug around for a bit Tuesday morning, but then just got ready for school and went, so I didn't question it. Tuesday evening there were no complaints. Wednesday morning was late start, but he had a follow up appointment with the ENT to recheck his ear from the rupture this summer- we were in such a rush to get out the door, I really didn't look at him- but when we got to the office, he looked pretty crummy. He had a bit of a temp (99.6) and was pretty pale... Dr. Leavitt came in and checked him out (ears were great, YAY!! No skin graft needed!), but I wanted Jace's ears checked since he'd had ear aches the week before- while the Dr. was looking in Jace's ears, Dallin started throwing up in the sink!! Oh my. New level of mom embarrassment definitely achieved *sigh*
Since we had time before I had to get the rest of the kids to school, and we were already in town, we quick went into the lab to get his cbc/retic drawn. They usually always get a good sample in one poke, but the tech blew both ac veins. And she wouldn't poke him again. Awesome. So I brought the rest of the kids to school and then headed back into town to go to another lab for more attempts. After one more missed attempt, they called in the big guns... We went home where Dallin collapsed on the couch and waited for results. His h&h was a little lower than his 'recent' norm (8.6/24.7%) but his retic was high (15.2) which was good- he was making new cells, so we were told to recheck early the following week, based on his symptoms.
For the next day and a half, he ate basically nothing, sipped water (but not in huge amounts) and slept. He only left the couch to go into my room to sleep or occasionally use the restroom. He didn't want to watch tv or play his tablet (huge red flag that something was really wrong). He coughed a little here and there, but didn't have any congestion. Bryson was congested, but no cough, and Hailee had a cough but very little congestion... A few times a day, he'd throw up, but as he wasn't eating anything, only stomach juices came up. I wasn't super alarmed by the vomiting because that's always been Dallin's 'knee-jerk reaction' to not feeling well- plus, he just has a really sensitive gag reflex. I didn't think the vomiting had anything to do with a stomach bug.
Thursday evening, he commented on how white his hands were. And they were... in addition to his ears and gums... so instead of waiting until Monday, we redrew his labs Friday morning. And waited for results.
I had to bring Bryson into town for a winter scout camp out (brrrr!), and as {un}luck would have it, that's when I got the phone call with his results. He'd dropped to 7.4/20.5%, and even though his retic was high (19.7), they said we needed to transfuse. Unfortunately, the heme/onc unit was super busy and his regular doctor was out of town, so we had to do it in the ER...
ER triage was kinda comical. Because, you know, I'm a nurse. But I can NOT wear my mom hat and my nurse hat at the same time! In my mind, we were just there for a transfusion. We didn't need a diagnosis, we just needed blood. Blood would fix him... So the triage nurse brought him back and asked me his symptoms... "he's just lethargic, and pale and we've been following his labs and his h&h are dropping so heme/onc told us to come in for a transfusion", I told her. So she has him stand up to get a weight, upon the course of which Dallin says he thinks he's going to throw up- "oh, and he's been vomiting", I add... and then she takes his temp- it's 99.8- "oh, and he's had a low grade fever", I say sheepishly... and then she listens to this lungs and he starts to cough- "oh, and he's been coughing", oh my gosh, am I a great historian or what?!? Mother AND nurse of the year *sigh*
So we get into our room and, the needle-poke-fest began. Hello dehydration!?! And for some asinine reason, the doctor wouldn't let him drink anything... THAT almost did it for Dallin- he can withstand the pokes, but not being able to drink was pure torture. He was literally fighting back the tears (that he probably didn't even have because he was so dry!) because he was so thirsty. Um, yes, sound reasoning to withhold water from the kid who is so dehydrated no one can get an iv in him. Grrrrr. After a few hours of begging, they finally let him have water.
At one point, he had 8 hot packs, covering every surface of his arms, trying to vasodilate him enough to get an iv in...
Finally, SUCCESS!! After 4 hours and 14 attempts by either 8 or 9 nurses... I lost count.
By no means was I upset, it wasn't that they were incompetent or not 'doing it right' he was just THAT dehydrated...
The transfusion finally got going around 10pm.
I was supposed to work the next morning, but seeing as how transfusions take several hours once they start, I was pretty sure I wouldn't be up for working in a few hours.
Dallin has somewhat fond memories of his previous transfusions... playing video games, eating cheeseburgers... and especially feeling so.much.better afterwards that he (and I!!) expected the same this time... shortly after his transfusion started, he asked to play his tablet(!!) Yes!
But it was short lived... after less than 5 minutes, he put it down because he just didn't have the energy.
His transfusion finished Saturday morning around 1 am, and we left the hospital around 1:30... just the time I would have been getting up for work! He said on the way home that he felt better, and I was encouraged. It took almost an hour to get home because of the winter storm that was raging... He slept in my room next to my bed that night and we both slept in.
Saturday he rallied... a little. I was disappointed that he didn't get up and feel great, but he just didn't. His color definitely looked better, and he was drinking better than he had before, but still felt pretty crummy and while he was eating a little, it was barely anything.
And that's how he stayed through the weekend and most of the next week. I really had to encourage him to go to half a day of school on Tuesday- and it pretty much wiped him out the rest of the day. He'd usually rally every day for an hour or so and make me think that he was turning the corner, but then it would completely wipe him out. He wasn't sleeping all day, but he still spent most of the time on the couch- not watching tv or playing video games, just resting. While his cough had worsened, he still had no congestion, and hadn't puked since Sunday- so some progress, but I just felt he had plateaued and wasn't really getting better.
Wednesday night (a week to the day since his ENT appointment and the start of all this), he complained that his ear hurt. I looked in his ear and was a little shocked to see broken blood vessels in the tympanic membrane- from coughing so hard!! And then this happened Thursday:
Ugh. Suffice it to say I had no appetite for the rest of the day.
With his lack of progress, I ended up taking him to the pediatrician later that afternoon.... tahdah! He'd developed pneumonia *sigh* a week and a half of laying around will do that to you.
Honestly though, I was relieved for the diagnosis and accompanying antibiotics. At least there was a reason why he'd plateaued. So because of Jace's ear infection, I had 2 kids on augmentin. *bleh* Jace hated the taste of it, but
surprisingly shockingly, Dallin sucked it right down every time!
By the weekend we were seeing a definite improvement in him. Monday morning we had another follow up appointment with the pediatrician, and then he went to half a day of school afterwards. He and Bryson had a band concert that night, but considering that he hadn't been at band for two weeks, and that I don't even think he would have had the stamina or lung capacity to play the sax for a single song, he stayed home.
He was really excited about going to school Tuesday since they were going to watch a movie and have their Christmas party, but school ended up being cancelled that day- all the kids were bummed they didn't get to have their Christmas parties =(
Fortunately he was feeling pretty darn good when Christmas rolled around *grin*
The Tuesday after Christmas, he finished his antibiotics and we followed up with the pediatrician the following day... three weeks to the day since it all started and he's pretty close to 100%- his lungs are clear and though his cough is still impressive, he only coughs a few times a day. We're so happy to have our healthy boy back! And so thankful for blood donors and modern medicine!
We're also very fortunate that in Dallin's 10 1/2 years, we've only had 4 major issues with his blood disorder.
