I guess it all really started a week ago - on Daxton's birthday, the 22nd. I laid Dax down for his usual nap and went off to work. Jay called and told me that when he went to check on him, Dax was covered in vomit. He threw up a couple more times that day, but it didn't seem to slow him down. On the 23rd, Dax had his 2 year check up, so I told Dr. Thompson that he had was sick again (he had been sick about a week or so ago). He gave us some medicine for nausea and told us to keep and eye on him. After we got home, you could tell the sickness was starting to kick in because he just wanted to lay on the couch or be held. So I was holding him when all the sudden I felt the urge to vomit, so I ran to the bathroom. I had apparently caught whatever Dax had contracted. The rest of the day Dax and I just laid on the couch relaxing and trying not to throw up. I also caught a small case of diarrhea, but by about 6 that night, the worst was over for me. The medicine eventually started to work on Dax and he seemed to be feeling better too. Talen had been wiggly for several hours that day, so we had gotten behind on his feedings. Around 11 pm or so, we were getting ready to give Talen his last bottle. Just as Jay was going to put the tube in and start, Talen vomited!! He must have caught it too!! We gave him his nausea medicine with the hopes that we would be able to get some food down him. Just our luck, the wiggles started!! He wiggled ALL night long. We took turns trying to get him to stop, but without any success. Finally around noon on the 24th, we decided his body needed to get rest so we gave him his usually dose of .5 ml of lorazapam. Normally, after an hour or so, it would kick in, he would get some sleep, then he would be out for the following 2 days. But, for some reason, it didn't seem to work like normal. He would stop for a little while, then start up again, then start, then stop, then (you get the idea). I knew that he was warmer than normal, but I didn't realize exactly how hot he was until he would stop wiggling. Every time we took his temperature he was somewhere between 103 and 105 degrees. So, we started him on Tylenol and rotated with ibuprofen every 2-3 hours. Around 5 pm we decided that he had to sleep, so we gave him another .25 ml of lorazapam. Still nothing!! The fever and the wiggles continued. I called Dawn, told her what was going on, and asked her opinion. She said that we needed to get him to sleep, so around 10:30 that night, we gave him another .5 ml of lorazapam. After more that double his usual dosage, he was finally able to stop and get some sleep. It wasn't a restful sleep though because every couple hours he would wake up whimpering. So we would give him more tylenol/ibuprofen and once that kicked in, he would go back to sleep. He woke up normal time and the routine started all over again - fever and slight wiggles/twitching. This whole time we were doing our best to give him pedialite during any of his non-wiggly moments. We actually did pretty good too, considering! Anyway, I decided that for my own peace of mind I needed to call Dr. Kaddu and take Talen in. Kaddu called me back and told me to come in around 3:30. I loaded Talen up in the van and off we went. When we got in there, Dr. Kaddu said that it looked like Talen had gingivostomatitis (or in other words - herpes in his mouth). Don't ask me how or who in the world he had gotten it from?!? Either way, apparently it is extremely painful and is accompanied by a high fever. Dr. Kaddu also thought that Talen looked dehydrated so he sent us over to the old hospital to get him some fluids. So for the next 4 1/2 - 5 hours we sat at the hospital pumping Talen with fluids. After he was done, we checked out and got home around 10:30 pm. There was a mix-up at the pharmacy so we were unable to start Talen on his meds for the herpes that night (let's just say, I was not very happy about it!) On the 26th, we finally got things straightened out and started the meds around 1 pm. We were still dealing with fever so we continued to push pedialite instead of Talen's formula. The rest of that day was pretty uneventful, we just tried to keep on top of Talen's feedings and medications. On Saturday, the 27th, it seemed that Talen was making some progress. We were administering the tylenol/ibuprofen further apart and the fever seemed to keep at or below 101 degrees. Around 5 pm, Jay and I were talking and realized that neither one of us had been changing Talen's diapers. I remember changing him once on Friday, but couldn't recall for sure if I had changed it on Saturday. I think, out of habit, that I put a new diaper on him that morning, but I don't think it had hardly any urine in it. So, given all the fluids he had at the hospital and what we had been given him, we figured he should have had more than only 2 wet diapers. So, once again, I called Dawn. She came over as soon as she could and checked him out. She said that if Talen was her son, she would take him back in. Now, Dawn is very conservative, so if she says take him in, that really means you should get your butt in there! Neither Jay nor I were anxious to go back to the hospital, so we second guessed ourselves for another hour or so and finally decided that it was better to be safe than sorry. Jay offered to take him into the ER, so I stayed at home with the other two and waited for his updates. When they got to the ER, they scanned his bladder and decided to give him a catheter. Once it started to drain, they noticed that it was a really dark brown color, so that was some cause for alarm. They also took blood work and gave him and IV for more fluids. After pumping fluids, Talen threw up so they gave him some nausea medicine. The blood work came back showing that his liver was inflamed. I'm not sure what all the numbers mean, but the number on his liver was supposed to be 15-50 and his number was 2526. They got a hold of Dr. Kaddu and he told them to admit Talen to the hospital. So, Talen and Jay were transported from the ER at the new hospital over to the Pediatrics ward at the old hospital. Cathy came to our house and sat with the kids while Cory drove me to the hospital so I could pick up the van and meet Jay at the old hospital. We got him all checked in and filled out the paperwork. They decided to keep running fluids through him so he stayed hooked up to the IV all night. Jay decided to stay overnight so that I could go home and get some much needed rest (too bad I toss and turn all night, because I would have really enjoyed that!) We asked Robin to come over the next morning, Sunday the 28th, so that I could be there when Dr. Gessel (one of the doctors in Kaddu's office) came in to give us a game plan. Dr. Gessel was very nice and seemed to have a good handle on things. After pumping fluids all night, his urine appeared lighter in color, so we decided to remove the catheter. The number that was previously 2526 had decreased to 1470 so it looked like things were headed in the right direction. They wanted to keep giving him fluids to see if we could get him to pee. So, we pumped and waited. . . . and waited . . . and waited. They decided to bolus his as well. They bolused over a litter of fluids and, I must admit, I was starting to get a bit nervous. Finally around 3 pm he had a wet diaper and we breathed a sigh of relief. Jay decided that things were turning around and he was ready to get out of the hospital. So, I agreed to spend that night at the hospital and he went home to relieve his mom from our kids. There was one more slightly wet diaper around 5:30 and then the diarrhea started. Talen exploded!! There was poo everywhere!! We had to get him in a wagon and stroll him down to a room where they had a tub so we could give him a bath. The nurses changed his bedding while I gave him his bath. After he was comfortably back in his bed, he filled his diaper about every 20-30 minutes. It was bad!! I spent the rest of the night resting and changing diapers. Talen and I finally went to sleep around 1 am. I woke up whenever the nurses came it, but I was so tired that I let them just handle everything with Talen. We woke up at 6 am when the nurse came in to draw blood so that she could re-run the tests. Around 7, another nurse came in and told me that Dr. Kaddu wanted to have an EKG and a chest x-ray done before he came in at 8. She wasn't sure why he wanted them done, but I was ok with it because I've wanted to have his heart checked because of all the wiggling that he does. I asked her if she had the results from the blood work and she said that the liver number was now down to 919. So, I was thinking that things are looking really good and I was hoping Kaddu would tell us we could go home. A little after 8 I could hear Dr. Kaddu out talking to the nurses, but I couldn't tell what he was saying. He stayed out there for about 15 minutes before he made his way into our room. The very first thing he says when we walks into the room is, "Talen must have someone watching out for him." Then he says, "Now, Dr. Gessel is a great doctor and she is very competent, but she missed something. Something pretty big." Then he shows me the paper that has all Talen's lab results on it. He asked me to read a number. It said less than 296. He said that this is what Talen’s CK number
should be – less than 296.
Then he
showed me another number. It was Talen’s
CK number when we checked him into the ER – it was 106,878!!!! Now I’m not a doctor and I wasn’t really sure
what it meant, but I knew it was bad. He
then said that had they (I assume he meant the doctors at the ER and/or Dr. Gessel)
noticed this, Talen would have been life-flighted to Primary Childrens. He said that Talen has rhabdomyolysis. This is when muscle tissue gets severely
damaged and substances from inside the muscle cells leak out into the
blood. This can lead to serious problems
in the body including kidney damage and in severe cases (which Talen was) it is
life-threatening. The symptoms for
rhabdbomyolysis are muscle pain and/or urine that is red or brown (remember the
brown urine at the ER). The cause of
rhabdomyolysis is certain kinds of infections (we no longer believe that Talen
has herpes in his mouth, but it is an infections – Strike #1), very intense
exercise (Talen had the wiggles like crazy those couple days earlier – Strike #2),
and muscle problems that some people are born with (Strike #3). Those mixed with whatever flu bug that Daxton
and I gave him started the landslide.
Dr. Kaddu said that he believes that Talen’s kidneys did shut down, but
by some miracle, they started working again.
And once again he told me that Talen must have someone watching out for
him. So, we will be staying at least one more night
while we continue to keep a close eye on Talen’s input/output.
Now,
as I sit here in the hospital, I know that we are still not completely out of
the woods. But I also believe that there
must be something here on Earth that Talen still needs to do, because this
whole situation could have very easily had a very drastically different
outcome. I know that the Lord has a plan
for each one of us. It may not be the
most fun or desirable plan, but if we continue to have Faith in our Savior, it
is the plan that will turn us into the best possible people we can be. I know that Talen has had many angels
watching out and protecting him and that, by the grace of God, I have been
allowed to keep my little angel for at least a little longer. I am so grateful for the comfort that I receive
from the Holy Ghost in times of trial. I
know that I am a daughter of God and he loves and cares for me just as much as
I love and care for each one of my children.
I am so thankful for the power of prayer. I know there are many family and friends that
have had Talen and our family in their thoughts and prayers. I don’t know what I could have ever done to
be given so much, but I truly am blessed!!
