ER Hell

Sunday, July 3rd 2011

Oh Joy! The ER.
Treasure had a vomiting spell at 1am – I should say 2 vomiting spells. Meds are NOT doing any good.
In the morning she woke up and just wasn’t herself.
I finally gave in and went out to get her Wendy’s french fries – she’s had Wendy’s fries during the day both nights she hasn’t vomited – I was desperate, but I was too late.
I handed her a few fries on the way home, she just ripped them up, she didn’t feel like eating.
Then as we were passing the high school I heard vomiting, I looked in the rear view to find Treasure slumped over vomiting, eye’s closed, unconscious – still vomiting.
I yelled her name – nothing.
I swerved the truck to the side of the road, Treasures head rolled to the side and her eye’s half opened. I was about 2 minutes from home and I couldn’t do anything there so I hit the gas, ran a light -it wasn’t solid …yet… and got us home as fast as possible. Treas started to come to before we got home and said “ICK” lol I handed her a towel and told her we’d be home very soon.
I gave her a bath, she was hardly able to keep herself upright, I laid her on the couch were she took a little nap before we headed into the ER – that was hell.
They got us in there quick enough – about 1/2 hour – I was thankful, the ER was PACKED!
They started an IV, took a ton of blood, did a CT scan, then we waited FOREVER and finally they came in to tell us – “We can’t find anything wrong.”
Well, I guess that’s good news since the only things they were looking for were life threatening.
Today Treasure eat constantly – I’m hoping for the best – expecting the worse. *sigh*

Small French Fries Small French Fries Potatoes Vegetable…

Small French Fries

Small French Fries
Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (contains one or more of the following oils: canola, soybean, cottonseed, sunflower, corn), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (to maintain natural color). Cooked in Vegetable Oil (soybean oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural flavor [vegetable], citric acid [preservative], dimethylpolysiloxane [anti-foaming agent]). Cooked in the same oil as menu items that contain Wheat, Egg, Milk, and Fish (where available). Seasoned with Sea Salt.
Ketchup
Tomato Concentrate (made from red ripe tomatoes), Distilled Vinegar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Salt, Spice, Onion Powder, Natural Flavoring.
A Word about Trans Fats
In August 2006, Wendy’s switched to an in-store cooking oil containing 0 grams of trans fats which significantly reduced the amount of trans fats in its French fries. This meant Wendy’s was not adding trans fats during the cooking process in our restaurant kitchens.
Additionally, Wendy’s directed its French fry suppliers to create a blend of oils with 0 grams trans fat to be used in the plants that prepare Wendy’s French fries. By 2008 all of Wendy’s French fry suppliers were using an oil blend containing 0 grams of trans fat in processing Wendy’s French fries.
As with all of Wendy’s food products, French fries are individually portioned and variations will exist from restaurant to restaurant. So that our customers can have confidence in our nutritional information, Wendy’s follows a rigorous testing process that follows the recommended procedures of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Samples are taken from Wendy’s suppliers across the country and sent to independent laboratories for analysis.
Wendy’s is proud of its legacy as an innovator in the restaurant industry and our efforts to remove trans fats from our food products are a continuation of that tradition.

I never looked at the screen because I…

I never looked at the screen while filming this because I filmed this while spotting and didn’t want to take my eyes off my nieces.
Some of this may be a view of the sky or the water with the kids completely out of the shot lol
But this is camp! And Papa’s favorite thing is taking kids tubing.

H. Pylori

H. Pylori
* starts between meals or during the night
Keira always wants to eat. She’ll be playing or reading with us, jump up, go to the fridge and demand to eat something or drink. This isn’t new, but I never thought it was a symptom of something else.
* briefly stops if you eat or take antacids
Keira has terrible sleeping patterns. But the one constant is that she would wake up crying and go to the table and sit there until I gave her something to eat and drink. She will wrap her hands around her stomach, which I thought she was cold, but now I’m second guessing myself, maybe she was hurting. After she had a little snack she’d usually go back to bed, sometimes she’d just about fall asleep in her chair. We took Keira off milk about 2 months ago and I wonder if that was coating her stomach. I thought I was creating a bad habit by giving her a snack every night, now I’m thinking the food was calming her tummy. If I didn’t give her a snack she’s scream for hours on end – probably in pain – very glad I gave in.
* lasts for minutes to hours
Don’t know how long it lasts she’s non-verbal.
* comes and goes for several days or weeks
It comes and goes.
* weight loss
She has had weight loss now, she’s been vomiting for nights.
* poor appetite
Her appetite has gone down hill. I think she’s eating just enough to make herself feel better. She keeps going to the fridge getting stuff out, but only takes a few bites.
* bloating
I don’t know how I’d know this
* burping
Bad burps lately
* vomiting
Only at night
* feeling sick to your stomach
Don’t know. She must be feeling sick some of the time because she is going to her bed from time to time and just laying there.
* sudden sharp stomach pain that doesn’t go away
I don’t know
* black or bloody stools
Keira does eat a lot of blue berries but recently her stool has looked odd. It’s brown swirled with dark black. I figured it was just the blueberries, but now I’m questioning myself.
* bloody vomit or vomit that looks like coffee grounds
I’ve been wondering if her vomit had blood in it, since she eats blueberries, tomatoes I figured the color of the vomit was probably from what she’s been eating. Sometimes it’s fluorescent pink – other times it looks like a dark purple almost black thick goo. I figured the different color and thickness may have something to do with how long the food had been in her stomach, but now I’m afraid there could be blood. Today we took her off the fruit because of the acid – she’s eating nothing healthy except carrots.
The bacteria most likely spread from person to person through the fecal-oral route (when infected fecal matter comes in contact with hands, food or water) or the oral-oral route (when infected saliva or vomit comes in contact with hands, food or water).
Keira puts everything in her mouth.
The vomiting started when we took her off the anti biotic that Dr MacDonald put her on back on the 18th because they thought she had a UTI. She had 4 doses, she had the last dose on Monday morning, they called me, told me she didn’t have a UTI and to stop the anti biotic, that night around midnight she started vomiting.
Keira also started this spitting thing after we took her off milk. I think the milk was coating her tummy and now that she doesn’t have that I bet she’s trying to spit out that taste.
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/pepticulcers_ez/
http://www.idph.state.il.us/public/hb/hbhylori.htm

BREAKING NEWS The Pity Train has just derailed…

BREAKING NEWS!! The Pity Train has just derailed at the intersection of Suck It Up & Move On, and crashed into We All Have Problems, before coming to a complete stop at Get Over It. Any complaints about how we operate, can be forwarded to 1-800-waa-wah with Dr. Sniffle reporting LIVE from Quitchur Bitchin. If you like this, re-post it. If you don’t, suck it up Buttercup, life doesn’t revolve around you!

July

Month: July
* National Blueberry Month
* National Anti-Boredom Month
* Unlucky Month for weddings
* National Cell Phone Courtesy Month
* National Hot Dog Month
* National Ice Cream Month
Week Event:
* Week 2 Nude Recreation Week
Individual Days:
1 Canada Day
1 Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day
1 International Joke Day
2 I Forgot Day
2 World UFO Day
3 Build A Scarecrow Day – first Sunday in month
3 Compliment Your Mirror Day
3 Disobedience Day
3 Stay out of the Sun Day
4 Independence Day (U.S.)
4 National Country Music Day
4 Sidewalk Egg Frying Day- Hmmmm, I wonder why!?!
5 Work-a-holics Day – even though everyone is on holiday
6 National Fried Chicken Day
7 Chocolate Day
7 National Strawberry Sundae Day
8 Video Games Day
9 National Sugar Cookie Day
10 Teddy Bear Picnic Day
11 Cheer up the Lonely Day
11 World Population Day
12 Different Colored Eyes Day
12 Pecan Pie Day
13 Barbershop Music Appreciation Day
13 Embrace Your Geekness Day
13 Fool’s Paradise Day
14 Bastille Day
14 Pandemonium Day
14 National Nude Day
15 Tapioca Pudding Day
15 Cow Appreciation Day- Go out and give a cow a hug
16
17 National Ice Cream Day (third Sunday of the month)
17 Peach Ice Cream Day
17 Yellow Pig Day
18 National Caviar Day- something’s fishy here
19 National Raspberry Cake Day
20 Moon Day
20 Ugly Truck Day- it’s a “guy” thing
21 National Junk Food Day
22 Hammock Day
22 Ratcatcher’s Day
23 National Hot Dog Day
23 Vanilla Ice Cream Day
24 Amelia Earhart Day
24 Cousins Day
24 Parent’s Day – fourth Sunday in July
25 Culinarians Day
25 Threading the Needle Day
26 All or Nothing Day
26 Aunt and Uncle Day
Summer Olympics – every 4 years
27 Take Your Pants for a Walk Day
28 National Milk Chocolate Day
29 National Lasagna Day
30 National Cheesecake Day
30 Father-in-Law Day
31 Mutt’s Day
—————————–
Day Observances
* Anti-Boredom Month–July 1-31
* Hitchhiking Month–July 1-31
* Build a Scarecrow Day – July 1 / National Television Heritage Day–July 1
* Hillbilly Day – July 4 / Firecracker Day – July 4 / Workaholics Day – July 5
* Caribbean Day – July 5 / Pleasure Week–July 1-7
* Take Your Webmaster to Lunch Day – July 6
* Don’t Put All Your Eggs in one Omelets Day – July 8
* Sugar Cookie Day – July 9 / Barn Day – Second Sunday in July
* Teddy Bear Picnic Day – July 10 / Don’t Step on a Bee Day – July 10
* The Real Thing Day (Coke Classic Debuted) – July 10
* Cheer up the Lonely Day – July 11 /
* Convenience Store Day (7-11 opened in 1927) – July 11
* All American Pet Photo Day – July 11
* International Town Criers Day – July 11 or 12?
* Eat Your Jello Day (Bill Cosby’s Birthday) – July 12
* Paper Bag Day (Production Machine Patent Issued) – July 12
* National Pecan Pie Day – July 12 / International Puzzle Day – July 13
* Embrace Your Geekiness Day – July 13 / Gruntled Workers Day – July 13
* Pick Blueberries Day – July 14 / Tape Measure Day – July 14 / Corkboard Day – July 14
* Be a Dork Day – July 15 / Gummi Worm Day – July 15 / Woodie Wagon Day – July 15
* Toss Away the “Could Haves” and “Should Haves” Day – July 15
* National Hot Dog Day – July 16 / International Juggling Day – July 16
* National Get Out of the Doghouse Day – July 17 / Wrong Way Day – July 17
* Cow Appreciation Day – July 18 / Sidewalk Frying Day – July 18
* Flitch Day, The Holiday – July 19 / Stick Out Your Tongue Day – July 19
* Ride (Motorcycle) to Work Day – July 19 / Nap Day – July 20 /
* National Lollipop Day – July 20 Ugly Truck Contest–July 20 /
* Cousins Day – July 21 / Monkey Day – July 21
* National Tug-o-War Contest–July 21 / National Junk Food Day – July 21
* Pied Piper of Hamelin Day – July 22 / Rat-catchers Day – July 22
* Ice Cream Cone Introduced (1904) & Vanilla Ice Cream Day
* Mosquito Day – July 23 / Hot Enough For YA Day – July 23 /
* Gorgeous Grandma Day – July 23
* Candles on a Cake Day (First Birthday Cake 55BC) – July 25
* Thread The Neddle Day – July 25 / All or Nothing Day – July 26
* Take Your Houseplants for a Walk Day – July 27 / Walk on Stilts Day – July 27
* National Sleepy Head Day – July 27
* Hamburger Day – July 28 / Gone-ta-pott Day – July 28
* National Lipstick Day – July 29 / I Forgot Day

It sucks when your Doctor is on vacation – a bit of a Problem with Martins Point Health Care.

Our Primary Care Physician is the most beautiful caring woman you’ll ever meet. And she has this nurse who is equally as beautiful, kind and patient. The nurse is no nonsense, where our physician will come in blowing bubbles in a kids face – they are the perfect pair and we couldn’t love them more.
This week our physician is on vacation, a well deserved vacation. How do I know this? Because as much as we lover her – so does everyone else! She is impossible to see, you must schedule your illness 3 months in advance. So unless you are critical, you will end up seeing one of her associates.
AND THAT IS WHERE THE PROBLEM BEGAN!
The first associate is a male doctor who is a bit of an old lady. I love him, he worries about everything. You always feel as if he’s just as nervous about whatever it is as you are, but he has the know how to get stuff done. He’s Richard Kind in every bumbling role – he knows just who you should see and talk to even thou he appears somewhat fumbling.
Then there is the Nurse Practitioner – she likes to “wait and see.”
This is where my story begins.

My newly 4 year old Autistic daughter started vomiting every night, just days before her 4th birthday. She has NO OTHER SYMPTOMS. She wakes up some time after 12:30am, vomits almost the complete contents of her stomach, falls back to sleep, only to awake a half hour later to empty her remaining stomach content. Then my little Treasure will fall back to sleep, wake up in the morning fully rested and ready for preschool – LIKE NOTHING EVER HAPPENED! Night after night!
At first I thought it was a change in her schedule, but it just kept getting worse. Earlier that month we thought she’d had a UTI, but that tested negative and now this.
I called the office to be informed that our Primary was on vacation, but we could see either the NP (Nurse Practitioner) OR DR Fumbling. Knowing the NP’s “wait and see” attitude, I chose wisely – Dr Fumbling.
We went in, saw the nurse, saw the doctor, he ordered another urine – it amazes me how a UTI causes babies, toddlers and old folks to move into the crazy zone to such an extreme. The doctor told me “I want to run another urine to make sure it‘s not a UTI, before I put her on medication. If it‘s not a UTI, it‘s probably Acid Reflux.” Ok, we had a plan, fingers crossed, get the pee, get the pee back to the lab, and pray for a better night.
We did not have a better night. We had the absolute worst night ever. My poor little Treasure vomited until she went completely limp. She finally stopped long enough where I felt I could change out of vomit ridden PJ into some kind of acceptable clothing to rush her into the ER.
I left Treasure on the couch, ran into the bed room and by the time I had dug yesterdays bra out from the hamper I could hear her giggling on the couch. It was over. I couldn’t bring her to the ER now, they’d think me nuts!
I walked slowly out to the living room expecting to see nothing short of the Exodus and there sat my little girl playing with her toes. Treasure is autistic so she doesn’t communicate much even thou she talks almost obsessively at home. With a BIG old smile on her face she started singing “If you‘re happy and you know it”
I pulled the second strap over my shoulder, picked up my daughter and brought her back to bed, both of us laughing and giggling, with big hugs and even a good night kiss. I left her in room to play/sleep/giggle (that‘s another story) and I went back to bed. She sang for 3 hours before drifting back off. The next morning up she was just as chipper and energetic as ever.
I brought her to school, dropped the ’sample’ off at the lab, gave them what I felt was an adequate amount of time to look at said sample before calling the office to see if they found anything floating in her pee that would explain what the hell cause the demon possession I witnessed in the wee hours of the morning.
I explained to the ‘other’ nurse, that my daughter’s one symptom had become dramatically worse. Vomiting so violently that she had gone limp, unable to even keep her head up.
The ’other’ nurse spoke with the NP and called me back and I was told this: “the ‘covering’ Doctor who saw Treasure yesterday isn’t in today so the NP doesn’t want to do anything until Treasure sees DR Fumbling tomorrow – if it happens tonight take her to the ER. ” {Oh Yeah? LIKE HELL!}

{sarcasm} The next time I call, I’m going to inform the ‘other’ nurse, that before she relays anything stupid, that I am an Orange Belt and breaking boards with my bare feet is my specialty – imagine what I could do to someone’s ass with my sandals on 🙂 SMILEYS!! {/sarcasm}
But I digress. I didn’t know if I was going to Cry or Kick something. It wasn’t a matter of IF but WHEN.
I called back and told the ‘other’ nurse that allowing my poor baby to suffer through another night of agony because the NP wasn’t willing to see my daughter was UNACCEPTABLE. I would NOT allow her to suffer through another night after DR Fumbling had already told me that if her urine was clean he was going to put her meds for acid reflux. I was only calling in to see what and how much I should give her.
The ‘other’ nurse felt she had a sound argument when she informed me that “The medication probably wouldn‘t work immediately anyway” To me that sounded like a reason to start pumping them into her sooner than later.
I told the ‘other’ nurse that there is an entire wing of pediatrician on the other end of the build and that they must schedule there patients differently because there is always someone available and low and behold there was!
The Pediatrician we saw was amazing – she set up blood work, scheduled an MRI, and explained the possibilities – many of them are not pleasant. We’re hoping it’s simple reflux, but there is a possibility of seizures. As much as we hate to hear what she has to say, it’s a relief that someone is actually doing something.
It kills me to remove Treasure from our primaries care, but with Treasure’s inability to communicate I need someone who I can see on demand in cases like this one. I can’t gamble that my baby may have to see the “Suffer through it – Wait and See” Nurse Practitioner.
I called to have Treasure transferred and I already feel a great relief, I just hope our Primary will forgive me!

I find it ridiculous that I have to…

I find it ridiculous that I have to complete a MaineCare/Food Supplement form so Keira can be rejected before I can apply to get her other benefits. Who comes up with this? One would think one could say “My husband works his butt off to support us, lets just skip this part.”

Facebook Posts Today I showed remarkable restrain in…

Facebook Posts:
Today I showed remarkable restrain in not using my new found kicking skills to put a nurse practitioner through a wall.
My Statement: My daughter was vomiting so violently she went limp.
Her response: the Doctor who saw her yesterday isn’t in today so we’re not going to do anything until she sees him tomorrow – if it happens tonight take her to the ER.
Lot’s of information from the wonderful doctor who saw us.
Some good, some scary, but far less scary now we’re doing something.
Blood work done – got to see the new parking garage at MMC – the ceiling is a good 3 inches higher than my truck! That was frightening.
MRI in the process of being scheduled. They are also finding us a neurologist (spelling). We have meds (well most of them anyway) IN Keira.
I have NO IDEA why all this time they’ve been looking at her PEE!
This doctor is on the ball – missing our primary, but she’ll be back from vacation soon.
They still don’t know what’s going on, it could be anything, so they are checking everything. No healthy 4 year old she wake up every night and vomit until she practically passes out – then be perfectly fine the other 22 hours of the day.

Far to tired to type out the day…

Far to tired to type out the day. This is the letter I sent to Keira’s teachers:
Oh what a day!
Last night Keira had the most violent attack of vomiting I’ve ever seen. She went completely limp. I was about to take her to the ER when she started to perk up and then spent 3 hours playing in her room and keeping us all up with her singing. {I wouldn‘t complain if you removed “if you‘re happy and you know it” from your class song collection}
So after dropping Keira off at school, I took her urine in for yet another analyses, gave them a little time to look at it, then called.
The short story is, after explaining to the nurse that my daughter was vomiting so violently she went limp. I was told that “the ‘covering’ Doctor who saw Keira yesterday isn’t in today so we’re not going to do anything until she sees him tomorrow – if it happens tonight take her to the ER. ”
The next time I call, I’m going to inform the nurse, that before she said anything stupid, that I am an Orange Belt and breaking boards with my bare feet is my specialty – imagine what I could do to her ass with my sandals on.
But I digress. I pitched a fit, told them I was coming in and they very quickly set me up with another doctor. I can’t wait until our doctor gets back from vacation.
The doctor we saw today was amazing – she set up blood work for Keira, scheduled an MRI, and explained the possibilities – many of them are not pleasant. We’re hoping it’s simple reflux, but there is a possibility of seizures.
As much as we hate to hear it, it’s a relief that someone is actually doing something.
*sigh*
I’m off to give my brave little trooper a tubby.
Talk soon,