I realize to some that the stomach bug wouldn't cause this much anxiety. It is just some vomit. But I can honestly say after the 2 shunt revision we last experienced, those little vomits in a shunt baby is what the docs call " impressive and better then projectile vomit" it is so impressive It literally will span my entire bed. Mostly because the force they are puking from is from so much head pressure a person could NEVER understand ( even myself) They are literally trying to relieve the pressure they feel in their brains.
After a vomiting episode Ty will lethargically lay there for a while. Literally, lay there. This is where my next *key* point comes into play for checking shunt function. While he is laying how bad are his eyes moving? How fast? Can he focus on ONE object? Can his eyes hold still long enough to not be worrisome. Tyler has a condition called nystagmus. His eyes always move. Constantly moving. Jerking even. The link has a eye that is like Tylers. His moves a lot fast but the idea is the same. Tyler does have periods where his eyes are VERY still. But a shunt malfunction is not one of them. AND a really bad sickness makes his eyes very bad. But I have seen his eyes both ways and I can tell a difference between head pressure and flu pressure. His eyes were not bad yesterday.
We got him to sleep pretty early for him and he did really well till about midnight when he was restless. I thought more puking would instill but it didn't. At around 3 am he woke up and said he was all done ( signing this at 3 am) and he wanted food and a drink. I got him his drink, and offered crackers. And a laptop did wonders for movies. HOORAY!
He was up from 3-5 snacking on crackers, drinking and watching movies to which I finally switched OFF the computer and put him back to sleep. Which we did sleep. Till around 9:45. It was the longest I have seen him sleep in a WHILE. It was not totally rest full to me because he has to sleep touching me and I really needed to roll over :)
Today we pretty much had our kid back. He was jumping on trampolines, throwing numbers and letters, watching Barney and being bored. And no throwing up.
So YES we are thinking bug.
Yes we can over react but I think it is understandable. We have learned to go through our "chain" of commands.
Ty is sick what do WE do:
Call Dr. Marisa, see what they suggest. After asking and answering a few questions from them they will tell me what they "think." Yesterdays was Nancy, if you think that he is broken you will know in a few hours ( its to early to tell either way) take him to PCMC. Call me. We will get things goings if needed. Thanks for not freaking out!( though I think we freak her out sometimes)
Lay there with him. Hug him and love on him. If it is a sickness dang that stinks. If it is a shunt he needs to know that we LOVE him soo much and that we will fix it and as he gets sicker and more pressing to get to the ER, we need to be close to monitor for seizures and those pesky heart rate drops.
And last but not least:
Get a blessing. At the end of the day that was what put him to sleep. A simple and powerful blessing from his dad. Ty had his eyes closed the whole time and opened them simply to say amen.
We love him and hope to make it to Feb. where we reach our one year with a shunt. We can do it. But above all we move on and keep going. Monday we go back to our routine.. a little skinnier and a little more weak but full force forward.
2 comments:
And the longer you go in between the less you are to freak out. I know I freak out a little less than I did right after transplant. I am always on the edge of my seat and it is hard to sit back and relax, but sometimes that is the best thing to do. Not think with your emotions and think with logic and knowledge and from a different vantage point. It is hard when it is your own kid, but I know that you can do it.
Yep. which is why waiting it out a night was what we did... I wish I had a CT machine in our basement :) I forget there isn't much we CAN do until we hit the 24 hour mark or longer. Thank goodness....
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