Many of you may have been reading the updates about Abram's "condition" on Facebook. As I contemplated putting up the information about what was going on for all the world to see, I have to confess that I was thinking that everyone was going to think I was crazy. "Her kid can't stand up for a day and all of a sudden she's going to the emergency room right at bedtime?" Well, I'm here to justify myself (although I realize there really isn't a need for that, based on the amount of wonderful support I got from people) and tell you a little bit of what I learned - for those of you who might be interested in some medical knowledge you may not have known.
Just so you know, I did not take pictures of this event, so there are none here to see. Pictorial documentation of your child's first ER visit isn't something you think of until after you leave with the assurance that everything is probably going to be ok. Looking back, there was a lot of down time and a surprisingly calm and happy, albeit sleepy, Bug to be captured, but we were so tired and a bit worried, so it didn't even cross my mind.
So here's the story:
After an extensive external examination of his legs yesterday at our pediatrician's office, it was concluded that Abram probably just had a "mild hip sprain". Some other stuff was mentioned about bacterial infections in the hip (serious) or viral inflammation (not too serious), but only if there was fever present. So we left with the instructions that if he started to run a fever we should call. My sister and brother in law (who is an orthopedic surgeon and treats the "serious" one in adults and children) called last night and reconfirmed that if there was any sort of fever, start to worry.
*Now I didn't really understand why this was such a big deal, but I guess the deal is that if it is a bacterial infection in a bone or joint (a Septic Joint or Osteomyelitis), it would mean there was infection in the body and if it wasn't removed, the infection could spread to the blood and that's bad. Really bad. If you don't know how bad, watch an episode of "House"... just kidding, doctors.*
I took Abram's temperature at 6:30 and it was 98.1 (we have low body temps - mine is 96.8). When I was about to put him to bed at 8:30 it had gone up to 100.1. This isn't a fever, technically, but I worried about putting him to bed for the night when it had risen that much in two hours. So I called our wonderful free all night phone nurse line at ARC and was told that with the presence of a limp and even a slight rising fever, we should take him to the ER. I really contemplated this. I mean, it was going to royally mess up our sleeping schedule, he was going to start freaking out at some point and was he really all that bad? I tried to call my sister to get a second opinion, but she didn't answer, so I just decided it was better to be safe than sorry. At least we could get conclusive lab work that would let us know pretty definitively what was happening.
As we were waiting in the waiting room at the Dell Children's ER with a surprising amount of children for 9:30 (in my opinion), my sister called and said that I had done the right thing. She said if it was their kid, that's what they would have done, too. She also told me which labs to make sure they ran. It's nice to have doctors in the family, but poor guys get so many questions about things that they really don't know about. At least this was in the realm of Eric's expertise. I didn't feel as bad as I would if we were asking questions about my pregnancy or something they had only done one rotation in a few years ago.
After an hour and a half in the waiting room, we were finally put into a room and the fun (aka more waiting) began. The most incredible part of all of it was that Abram was so good! There were a few expected melt down moments and we had to hold him for all 4 hours, but he was such a trooper. Most awesome moment: when four people pinned him down to the bed to draw his blood for the first time ever. He just stared at us all like he knew something was happening, but he just needed to be brave. The nurse warned us about the scream that was about to ensue with the needle, but our child did not make one little peep the whole time. He actually hated the blood pressure cuff waaaay more. I found out today that my parents had been praying that he would be calm and cooperative for the whole process and what a great answer to prayer!
As we waited an hour and a half for lab results that they said would take 30 minutes and wished we had food and Abram's pea pod, we sang and watched the Planet Earth marathon on Animal Planet and played peekaboo and tried to get the Bug to lay down on Daddy, on the bed, on our shoulders to no avail. When the doctor finally came in at 12:45 to give us the results, Abram was talking away at him and as happy as could be. Lab results and x-ray came back normal. It was explained to us that it actually isn't that he doesn't want to put weight on his leg, he just didn't want to extend it all the way. The comfy position for an inflamed hip is bent, so that's how he was making sure it stayed. Made sense. Since it was viral, there was nothing that could be done for him (man I hate you, viruses), and we just have to wait three or so days and keep an eye on his temperature still. This was apparently from the last virus he had... if you remember the awesome one that gave him bronchitis and got both Quinn and I sick (can we get rid of you, please?)
All in all, we left with new information, but nothing to be done. I'm glad we got the lab work done before we leave for Idaho and are pretty sure it's not the serious thing. I'd rather have an ER trip at home than in Boise on Christmas, ya know?
Moral of the story: You may think that if you or your child have sudden pain/discomfort in a joint and a slight fever, they are unrelated, but they may not be and you might want to call a doctor. Luckily that was not the case here, but I'm glad I know for future reference.
On a side note: You might also think (as I did) that talking to your infant through a baby monitor would be a bad thing that would confuse them and is not a helpful feature in a monitor. And then you have an instance where your child has been crawling and moving around his crib for an hour and half and had five less hours of sleep the night before, so you say through the monitor. "Go to sleep Abram". Pause to see beady, glassy eyes look into the camera. "Lay down buddy". Pause to see him lay down on his tummy. "Good job". Pause to witness him fall asleep within a few minutes. Huh. Maybe this talk back feature is useful... or maybe it's a tired mommy miracle.
Thank you all for your prayers. Now it's my nap time.
Just so you know, I did not take pictures of this event, so there are none here to see. Pictorial documentation of your child's first ER visit isn't something you think of until after you leave with the assurance that everything is probably going to be ok. Looking back, there was a lot of down time and a surprisingly calm and happy, albeit sleepy, Bug to be captured, but we were so tired and a bit worried, so it didn't even cross my mind.
So here's the story:
After an extensive external examination of his legs yesterday at our pediatrician's office, it was concluded that Abram probably just had a "mild hip sprain". Some other stuff was mentioned about bacterial infections in the hip (serious) or viral inflammation (not too serious), but only if there was fever present. So we left with the instructions that if he started to run a fever we should call. My sister and brother in law (who is an orthopedic surgeon and treats the "serious" one in adults and children) called last night and reconfirmed that if there was any sort of fever, start to worry.
*Now I didn't really understand why this was such a big deal, but I guess the deal is that if it is a bacterial infection in a bone or joint (a Septic Joint or Osteomyelitis), it would mean there was infection in the body and if it wasn't removed, the infection could spread to the blood and that's bad. Really bad. If you don't know how bad, watch an episode of "House"... just kidding, doctors.*
I took Abram's temperature at 6:30 and it was 98.1 (we have low body temps - mine is 96.8). When I was about to put him to bed at 8:30 it had gone up to 100.1. This isn't a fever, technically, but I worried about putting him to bed for the night when it had risen that much in two hours. So I called our wonderful free all night phone nurse line at ARC and was told that with the presence of a limp and even a slight rising fever, we should take him to the ER. I really contemplated this. I mean, it was going to royally mess up our sleeping schedule, he was going to start freaking out at some point and was he really all that bad? I tried to call my sister to get a second opinion, but she didn't answer, so I just decided it was better to be safe than sorry. At least we could get conclusive lab work that would let us know pretty definitively what was happening.
As we were waiting in the waiting room at the Dell Children's ER with a surprising amount of children for 9:30 (in my opinion), my sister called and said that I had done the right thing. She said if it was their kid, that's what they would have done, too. She also told me which labs to make sure they ran. It's nice to have doctors in the family, but poor guys get so many questions about things that they really don't know about. At least this was in the realm of Eric's expertise. I didn't feel as bad as I would if we were asking questions about my pregnancy or something they had only done one rotation in a few years ago.
After an hour and a half in the waiting room, we were finally put into a room and the fun (aka more waiting) began. The most incredible part of all of it was that Abram was so good! There were a few expected melt down moments and we had to hold him for all 4 hours, but he was such a trooper. Most awesome moment: when four people pinned him down to the bed to draw his blood for the first time ever. He just stared at us all like he knew something was happening, but he just needed to be brave. The nurse warned us about the scream that was about to ensue with the needle, but our child did not make one little peep the whole time. He actually hated the blood pressure cuff waaaay more. I found out today that my parents had been praying that he would be calm and cooperative for the whole process and what a great answer to prayer!
As we waited an hour and a half for lab results that they said would take 30 minutes and wished we had food and Abram's pea pod, we sang and watched the Planet Earth marathon on Animal Planet and played peekaboo and tried to get the Bug to lay down on Daddy, on the bed, on our shoulders to no avail. When the doctor finally came in at 12:45 to give us the results, Abram was talking away at him and as happy as could be. Lab results and x-ray came back normal. It was explained to us that it actually isn't that he doesn't want to put weight on his leg, he just didn't want to extend it all the way. The comfy position for an inflamed hip is bent, so that's how he was making sure it stayed. Made sense. Since it was viral, there was nothing that could be done for him (man I hate you, viruses), and we just have to wait three or so days and keep an eye on his temperature still. This was apparently from the last virus he had... if you remember the awesome one that gave him bronchitis and got both Quinn and I sick (can we get rid of you, please?)
All in all, we left with new information, but nothing to be done. I'm glad we got the lab work done before we leave for Idaho and are pretty sure it's not the serious thing. I'd rather have an ER trip at home than in Boise on Christmas, ya know?
Moral of the story: You may think that if you or your child have sudden pain/discomfort in a joint and a slight fever, they are unrelated, but they may not be and you might want to call a doctor. Luckily that was not the case here, but I'm glad I know for future reference.
On a side note: You might also think (as I did) that talking to your infant through a baby monitor would be a bad thing that would confuse them and is not a helpful feature in a monitor. And then you have an instance where your child has been crawling and moving around his crib for an hour and half and had five less hours of sleep the night before, so you say through the monitor. "Go to sleep Abram". Pause to see beady, glassy eyes look into the camera. "Lay down buddy". Pause to see him lay down on his tummy. "Good job". Pause to witness him fall asleep within a few minutes. Huh. Maybe this talk back feature is useful... or maybe it's a tired mommy miracle.
Thank you all for your prayers. Now it's my nap time.
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