The one with a Penny, Part 3.

Jose was exhausted.  I am super proud of myself for lasting as long as I did.  I maybe got another half hour of sleep off and on, the rest of the time we were there.  I honestly can't remember the last time I was up past 1am.  I am a baby when it comes to my sleep.  I need it to function.  All of it.  So this was all super impressive for me.

Both of our phones were dying at this point, since we didn't anticipate this long we didn't prepare ourselves well enough.  The nurses were all so awesome at trying to find one for us--it can't be that hard to find an iphone charger.  Everyone has them now.  Goodness.  But they never did.  Jose ended up running out to the car and finding a cord, and we just bought a plug in the gift shop down stairs, so we were both able to charge our phones.  I'm sure I could have lasted without one, but I wanted to document the journey, and of course family members needed updates.  So I was glad when we found one.
 

The procedure ended up only taking 21 minutes.  They went in at 7:46 and came out at 8:07.  Beautiful and short for us.  We waited a little bit longer, they said he needed to be awake when we went down, but he was so wiped out and exhausted that he had no plans of waking up soon.  So they let us go to him and help wake him up.  He was so peacefully just sleeping there, but they had to make sure he would wake up, and he could breath on his own before we went back to our room.  So we poked him, and talked to him, and ended up sitting him up to get him to at least open his eyes.

The nurse there called it good, and let us take him back upstairs after that.  They gave him some apple juice and said when he finished half of it he could eat.  All he wanted was a bottle by that point.  But he drank his apple juice so good once we got back to the room.  We snuggled for a bit and then they said he could have a bottle.  He was so ready for one.  He crashed out as soon as he finished it, and slept for a good 2 1/2 hours more--and so did daddy.  I could not.

I ordered him some real food while he slept, mashed potatoes, apple sauce, a banana and some ice cream.  I covered all my bases.  I knew he would eat the ice cream, no questions asked, and then we could move into the others.

We were in room 118 in the R.T.U. (rapid treatment unit).  The nurses were all fabulous, and there were more toys there to play with too.

I wandered around and got a few more delicious things from the vending machines while they slept.

Mom--he has never been a huge "I need my blanket" baby--but while we were here he kept it in his hand, or on him the whole time!  So thank you!

He was so good about keeping his arm straight so the machine didn't beep and beep at us.  His Iv kept getting kinked and so the flow would stop unless his arm was out straight.  Now I am aware he has no idea about that, but he put his arm like that and left it the whole time he slept.  Which made it easier when the techs and nurses came in and out doing more vitals while he slept.

Once he woke up we fed him, and he ended up eating at least half of everything.  Poor kid was probably starving for real food!

That was what the nurses needed to know so we could go home!  So after he ate they got his paperwork started so we could go!  Of course it was still like an hour and half before we actually left, but we did get to go!

Luca really only wanted Jose for this whole time.  He loves his daddy.  They played with this toy, and there was one button that sounded like a dog that Luca just pushed over and over again laughing at it.

I just love his tush hanging out of his gown.

We had to have visitor passes the whole time, and bracelets that said we were the mom and dad so we could prove it when we had him, or had to get him from the OR.  They were thorough at checking them, which is good!

I didn't get a good picture of the hospital that night, and my camera wouldn't hurry up when we left, so that's all I got.

We stopped at crown burger on the way home, starving, and exhausted, and then headed home.  We were all so wiped out, Luca went right down again for another nap, and Jose and I ate and I took a nap.

When we all got up again about an hour and half later, I was still so tired, but I needed to stay up so I would sleep that night.  Staying in the house only made me feel more tired, so Luca and I ran some errands and Jose took another nap.

When we got back, before bed Luca was exploring and playing with his toys, and then he just sat right down on his bear and chilled there for a bit.  I swear this isn't staged.  I don't know what it is about his stuffed animals!   But my land.  I do not want any more huge ones!! This one is PLENTY.  So nobody get him more giant things for his birthday.  Just regular size ones.

Luca slept all night, and woke up at his normal time, I brought him in with us and gave him a bottle and he drank it all and then played a bit.  Then he just crawled right up on my chest and crashed out again.  I had to pee so I slid him over to lay with Jose.  Of course, I couldn't go back to sleep again, so I got up and let the boys sleep until 10.  I think it is safe to say they are all caught up.  I on the other hand, am still attempting that.

They sent us home with the penny for a souvenir--and we have plans to frame that guy.  Luca made it all shiny and clean.  Which is gross.

They sent it in this bio-hazard bag, which just made me laugh.

Now Luca has battle wounds, that will more than likely scar.  The top of his hand from their first IV attempt was all bruised the next day, and he has marks from the needles.  They are more noticeable than in these pictures.

We are so glad to be home, and Luca is back to his normal self, eating everything in sight!

I am so grateful to have the gift of the holy ghost in my life, that guides and directs me to keep my children safe.  That is the hardest thing as a mom, to know when something is really wrong, and I for one am so glad that I have this gift in my life so that I don't have to worry all the time.  As long as I listen to those promptings I know my children will be taken care of.

By the end of this hospital stay I realized how common this situation is.  I now know it has nothing to do with my mothering skills people.  But man you can't help but blame yourself in a situation like that!  So many nurses and doctors told us how many times they had seen this happen, and that made me feel better.  Things that are so tiny and shouldn't be in little peoples mouths shouldn't be shiny and cool looking!!

I am sure my child will land himself in the ER more than once in his life, I for one am glad this one is over.

The one with a Penny, Part 2.

So off we went to Primary Children's.  We just sat in the waiting room for a few minutes, and Luca enjoyed the toys and fishes.  However, he hated that bracelet.  Anytime it touched him he flipped out.  And of course the thing hung off him a ton, so it always touched him.  We ended up tucking it into his jams for most of the night so he would relax.

Then they brought us back to our "temporary" room.  I put that in quotations because we spent a solid 4 hours in there.  Fern Gully and The Smurfs 2 played all the way through while we were in there.  There was this tiny skinny bed, and a hard bench and one chair in here, and the doctors stool.  We entertained Luca as much as we could, but in the end it was a battle lost.  The kid wouldn't sleep--we were in this room from 1-4am.  He was hungry, but of course not allowed to eat, and so tired that he couldn't sleep, so neither did we.  We tried to rest and close our eyes but it was useless.

They took his vitals when we got back there, and it was a battle.  Luca hated when the nurses or doctors would touch him.  He would stop immediately as soon as they stopped and stepped away.

The nurse brought in some toys to help keep Luca entertained, Jose and he blew bubbles and played with the little alphabet barn thing quite a bit.

Then they came to put his IV in.  That was horrrrrrrrible.  My land.  2 nurses and Jose and I all had to hold the poor child down and completely still.  He apparently has mommies hard to find veins.  So they poked him once, and couldn't find it, and had to use their light thing in the dark to find one.  They also ended up having to do it in the exact spot I always get mine in now too.  Right on the side of my wrist.

It took him a bit to get used to his misshapen claw, but he did it sooner than I expected him too.  After less than an hour he was banging on the toys again and occupying himself by turning on and off the lights.

We tried so hard to get a little bit of sleep in, but man were those chairs hard.  It was just impossible.  And to only help matters, Luca was so not about to sleep.

Then around 4:15 they finally put us in a real room.  With a crib for Luca, a bed and a rocking chair.  Jose took the first shift to get Luca to sleep, which he of course fought for another half hourish, and I got the bed to attempt to sleep.  Once Luca was finally out I slept for about an hour.  Then the nurses came back in and took some vitals--which Luca did not even wake up for--thankfully, and Jose and I switched spots.  I didn't get much more sleep, I woke up to every beep, voice, snore or movement anyone made.  But it was restful to lay in the dark.

I also have to say--I happened to bring one of Luca's blankets from home--and I am so glad I did, since it took so long--but I noticed that there was a handmade quilt in Luca's crib for him to use.  That was so beautiful.  I have never really thought twice about those blankets, or charity's or groups of people that make them, but it really is a wonderful feeling when you are in that situation!

Then at 7 the nurses came back and did one more vitals test, and told me that they were just waiting for the surgeon and he should be ready to take Luca soon.  They came back at 7:30 to tell us the surgeon was ready to roll.  We got Luca changed into a hospital gown and followed a nurse up to the OR.  We met with the anesthesiologist and OR nurse and they explained what they would do.  They had to sedate him, and then put in a breathing tube, then send their scope down to find the penny, pull it out, and then check the esophagus to make sure there weren't and lacerations.  It usually takes 15-40 minutes to do this, so that's all we had to wait.

A lot of times they can just push the penny into the stomach and let it pass naturally, but since his had been in there so long, they had to take it back up.

Then Luca headed off with the pregnant OR nurse, he didn't cry or even look back, he was good and distracted.

Jose and I headed to the waiting room, and had some snacks. We had basically been up all night and were starving, but there were only vending machines around, so that is what we ate.  

The one with a Penny, Part 1.

This little thing. Who knew it could case so much drama and sleep deprivation? It started it all. 

We put Luca to bed at his normal bedtime, went down and watched once upon a time and came back up to check on him. He had been a bum and not gone to sleep and yelled at us for a bit before falling asleep. 

We always go in and check on him before we go to bed, to make sure he is covered and no limbs are sticking out of his bars--that has been the case far too often. 

Jose went in this night and came to get me to show me this. 

Blood. From what we didn't know. He has, as I've said not been feeling well at all the past week, and we thought it was just his sinus infection his pediatrician said he had. 

So worried that he coughed it up, but hopeful he just had a bloody nose or something we woke him up to check. You can imagine his delight. 

We couldn't see anything in his nose, but there was blood smeared across his cheeks like he rubbed his face in it. The only thing we could think of was that he coughed it up. 

Jose called the ER by us and asked what they thought, they said he was probably fine and it was up to us if we wanted to bring him in. 

By this time it was 9:45pm. I didn't want to go anywhere. So we were still on the fence trying to decide what to do. Luca was happily playing and all over the place again, not the least bit tired. 

We decided to just wait till morning, and I would take him to his doctor. So I called their office to leave a message, and heard the option to "speak to the on call doctor" but didn't want to be that annoying person that called late on a Sunday night for something that wasn't an emergency, so I just left a message. 

As I was leaving the message at the office I just kept getting the thought back to call the on call doctor. I brushed it off a few times again, really not wanting to be annoying. I hung up after leaving the message and did a few things and just kept thinking I needed to call that on call Dr. 

So I finally did. I called him, and when he called me back I explained everything that had been going on in the last week. The first thing he said to me was, "I'm more worried about something other than the blood, I'm worried something is lodged in his throat, like a coin or a small toy." That made me feel like an awesome mom. 

He told us to take him into the ER by the next morning at the very latest to be xrayed, so we just left then and headed to our nearest ER. If I had been thinking I would have asked which hospital to go to, and we would have cut out this middle man between primary childrens hospital and this one in bountiful. 

We got to Lakeview hospital, with grandpa in tow and waited for quite a while. The doctor finally came in, and I explained why we were there, and he laughed at me. He totally didn't believe me, and went on to say he wanted to do some breathing treatments because he thought that was all it was. 

A sweet nurse came in to do the first set of vitals of the next 16 hours. Luca was fine for them, but never again. 

 

He watched her hook everything up and watched the lights. 

After she did the vitals we waited for the X-ray tech to come. It felt so long while we were there, but looking back it was super quick compared to what we did at primary's. 

Jose blew up a glove to entertain Luca--while we waited. But he did not appreciate that. He just pushed it away over and over again. 

Then the X-ray tech got there--and Luca had his first melt down of the night. They had to hold him down, and his arms to get it done. 

Then another nurse brought in a breathing treatment/torture treatment. Second meltdown commenced. Again we had to hold him down and hold the mask over his face so he would breath it all in. Of course doing nothing for him except ticking him off. 

After we finished with that, and calmed Luca down, who at this point is just crying from exhaustion we waited some more. 

The nurse and doctor finally came back from waiting for the X-rays--laughed and told me to get my camera ready because I would want a picture of them. 

 

Sure enough. Just like the on call doctor said, there was a coin stuck in his eating tube. They guessed by the size that it was a nickel. But they aren't children specialists so we let that go. Of course as we would later find out, it's always a penny. And it surely was. 

We could only guess as to when he swallowed the thing based on the other symptoms--not being able to keep any solids down, and a painful cough. We pegged it for the Saturday before last. 8 days my poor child had a penny in his throat. 

They told us we needed to go to primary childrens hospital so they could sedate him and remove it. So they called them to figure out when we should go. They said to go right then so they could get it done and we wouldn't have to worry about being pushed aside when it got busy in the morning. 

So we dropped grandpa back off at home and headed to Primary's. 

Only anticipating it would be a few more hours and we could go home we had nothing with us, no phone chargers, no clothes nothing. Little did we know we still had over 12 hours at the hospital of fun.