Well our New Years was rather interesting. My last post talked about Austin not feeling well, so against our pediatric phone nurses' advice I decided it was time to take Austin to urgent care. He had had diarrhea since Monday, and now couldn't keep most liquids down. When he woke up from his nap on Friday, he was lethargic, cranky, and just pitiful looking. His poor little eyes were so sunken with black circles and you could start to see his rib bones. Adam was on his way home from Moab, so my parents helped me get him to Children's Urgent Care. Thankfully it wasn't busy at all and they were able to take us back immediately. They took his stats, and he had lost 1.5 lbs in a week. He was a sickly 16.5 lbs fully clothed, no fever, but very very dehydrated. The amazing ER Doctor listened to my concerns and decided that he needed prolonged fluids immediately, so we were admitted to the hospital. During our stay the Doctor also ordered various tests on him. The results showed that his bicarb and potassium levels were very low which is typical of long term diarrhea. Within 30 minutes of being on the IV and nausea meds he started to perk up. They moved us over to our overnight room and he tried to sleep when he could but still being poked by various nurses. By this time Adam was home, and had joined us at the hospital. My parents left to take Noah to their house for a sleepover. That night we were able to catch a stool sample which was sent off to the lab, but we wouldn't get that back for 24-48 hours. The next day he was feeling much better, but still not eating or drinking much. Around noon we got the lab tests back for his stool, and turns out he had contracted C Diff from the hospital the week before during tube surgery. Evidently if a child is on prolonged antibiotics and comes into contact with C Diff, it will run ramp id in their intestines. His poor body was poisoning him. Once we figured out the cause they put him on a different antibiotic to clear the bad bacteria. Within a few hours he was eating, drinking, and acting like a happy baby. Thank god for Doctors that know what they are doing, and Children's hospital. This can be a very serious condition if not caught in time, we were very lucky. That night, New Years Eve Adam, Austin and I shared a spaghetti dinner, and salad to celebrate. Noah got to visit Aunt Dren and the cousins for a NYE party. We didn't have much of a party, but is was still a good night. I was able to breathe knowing that our baby would be okay. They finally sent us home on Sunday, New Years Day. Since getting home Austin can't get enough food. The little guy is so hungry and happy.
Honestly, considering everything we have been through this was the scariest because I blamed myself. If we just would have known that he needed to be on probiotics while on antibiotics, this whole thing could have been avoided. The thing that I thought would cure him, antibiotics, are what caused this life threatening infection and taking him to get tubes is what helped him contract C Diff. I am just very thankful for yet another miracle, and that our little happy boy is back with us again. On the bright side I thankful that he didn't have a seizure, it seems that part of what we are doing is actually helping him get better. His tubes are also healing very nicely, which is a relief because we will not do any sort of antibiotics any time soon.
Lesson learned......put you and your children on a healthy dose of probiotics especially when they are antibiotics to avoid our situation.
The day we went to the hospital, his eyes were so gray. (cell pic)
This is how he slept for most of our stay. (cell pic)
The day we were realeased he was doing much better: (cell pics)
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