Edison had his first real illness. I was awakened in the middle of the night last week with "Mama, Mama, owwww, owwww!" I ran into his room and he was grabbing himself in the front of his diaper area, throwing himself on his mattress, standing up and falling down again and crying - the big crocodile tears! After 2 hours in the middle of a very long night, I loaded him into his car seat and took him to the Emergency Room. Emergency Room copays are way more expensive than a regular office copay but it was only 5:00 a.m. and there was no way I was going to make my baby suffer three more hours before I could even call and talk to a doctor!
We arrived at the ER and was immediately taken into the triage room for assessment. He seemed okay at first and then he had to pee. He started crying, screaming, grabbing himself and saying "owww" while they were trying to take his temperature and his pulse. The first thing they wanted to do once they got him into a room was a catheter. Now, I've had a few catheter's performed in my lifetime and I know from experience how painful they are. I knew it was going to be horrible, but I also knew that it had to be done!
One nurse held his legs, I held his arms and the other nurse inflicted the pain. His blanket was close by and he bit it as hard as he could. He let go and it fell out of his mouth. I leaned down toward his ear to whisper and tell him that I was there and everything would be better in just a little bit. Unbeknownst to me, the tip of my ring finger was nearing his mouth...and yes, you guessed it, he bit my finger so hard, that I started crying. Luckily, the nurse quickly finished and he let go of his clench. My finger was purple on the end for a few hours but I know it was nothing like the pain he experienced.
A Urinary Tract Infection was diagnosed and we were sent home with an antibiotic and orders to "drink plenty of fluids" and "alternate Tylenol and Motrin for pain". Unfortunately, a few days later, he was no better. A urine culture revealed the antibiotic they prescribed was not helping the bacteria he had, so they switched his medication. The new antibiotic is nasty! It looks gross and it tastes horrible. Wasband described the color in two ways: One time he said it looked like "thick, nasty, green snot" and another time he said it looked like it was "radioactive" -- if that is any indication! Regardless, Edison hates it and it was a struggle to get him to take it until my niece, the mother of two, bribed him with candy! I usually do not like to bribe my kids, but this medicine deserves candy!
Now, when we tell Edison that it is time for his medicine, he says, "Canny?" and we say, "as soon as you take your medicine!" We squirt it into his mouth with a syringe but he will only take a little bit at a time. After each little bitty quirt, he starts clapping his hands and saying "Yayyy! Canny?" and we have to keep saying "just a little bit more!" Finally, the medicine is all down, he has a look on his face that will make you think he is going to 'yak' and then he smiles and says, "Canny?" Sometimes he gets a Dum-Dum sucker and other times a chocolate kiss. Each time, he is so excited and then he hugs my leg to say "thank you" and leaves me part of his chocolate kiss on my leg!
He is finally on the mend and I am actually hoping this experience will prepare him for future potty training! I'll probably bring out the "canny" to help get this accomplished too...
10 years ago
