Trip to the ER

This morning, Bryce and I spent a few hours in the ER. On Christmas day he began running a slight fever. About 2 AM Saturday morning I checked on him and he felt very warm. He was running a fever of 104. John noticed that his heart was beating very fast. We immediately went to work trying to get the fever down. We got him some medicine, put cool towels on him, and John gave him a blessing. We considered taking him to the ER right then, but his fever began to come down a little bit, and we felt that he would be OK until morning. Throughout the day his fever hovered around 100 degrees. He whimpered a little and wanted to be held more than normal, but otherwise didn't seem too uncomfortable. Then during the night, Bryce's fever was back up over 104.5 and even with Motrin in his system it was still at 102 at 6:30 this morning. I called his Dr and a friend of ours who used to work as a nurse. Both agreed that I should take him in and have him seen. I'm so glad that I did. I gave him more medicine at 7:30 and headed up to the Gilbert hospital on Power Rd. By the time we got to the hospital his fever was back up to 104. The ER doctor walked through the door and said "Oh, I can hear that from here, we're going to need a chest x-ray." He then came over and checked Bryce's ears. He even let me look into them which I've never done before and I could see how red and swollen the inner ear was. They immediately put numbing drops into his ears for the pain and gave him Tylenol to help bring down the fever. He then got a chest x-ray and within a few minutes the doctor was back and said that he had severe ear infections in both ears and the beginnings of pneumonia. He explained that there was some "gunk" (I love it when doctors talk my language!) in his left lung and that if I had waited another day or two to bring him in, it would have been full on pneumonia, which would have most likely landed Bryce in the hospital. They gave him a shot of penicillin in each leg and had us wait there for about an hour to make sure that Bryce was responding to the medicine. At that point they took his temperature again and it was down to 101 degrees, so we were able to come home.

Bryce fell asleep on the way home so I put him into bed as soon as we got here. Already I could tell that he was breathing better and seemed so much more comfortable. Since John and the other kids were all at church, I decided to lie down next to Bryce and take a nap as well. We both ended up sleeping very well. He slept for about 5 and a half hours and I slept for about 4, which is more in one sitting than I usually get, even during the night. It felt great!!! The only problem was that when John left for church he grabbed the keys for the other van and that key ring did not have a house key on it. Well, when they got home from church I guess they knocked on the door, rang the doorbell, called our home phone and my cell phone and I continued to sleep right through all of that. I must have been really sound asleep!!! They ended up going over to the Pickens house, some people from our ward and hanging out with them until they were able to call again a couple of hours later and I woke up. Oops!

Tonight Bryce seems to be doing a little bit better and is doing a lot of sleeping which I think is a good sign. Poor little guy. I feel so bad for him. It is so sad that he is not able to tell me when he hurts. I am so thankful that he is home with us tonight! I am so thankful for the wonderful staff at the Gilbert Hospital. I had heard really great things about that place and it was all true. We didn't have to wait at all and the Doctors and nurses were all very friendly and attentive, to both me and Bryce. It makes a big difference to me when people treat my children with respect even if they may not understand everything they are saying to them. The staff there all fell in love with Bryce of course! I don't enjoy going to the hospital, but if we ever have to go to the ER again, I would definitely go back to this one. Everyone we worked with there was amazing.

Also, a huge thanks to everyone who helped us out! To Valeen for your advice both Saturday and Sunday, to Heather, Laurie, and everyone else at church who helped John with the kids. To everyone for your prayers, phone calls to check up on us, and well wishes. They really do make a difference! And again thanks to Heather for entertaining and feeding my family while I slept! =) It was wonderful! I owe you!!!