This morning, Nathan woke up in the hospital with some blood on his pillow. The dr.'s said that he was fine and discharged him.
I'm not kidding, not even 5 minutes after he walked in the house he was bleeding again from his nose and his throat. He also had 2 dirty diapers that were so black. I called the ENT, but they were closed for lunch. An hour later when Nathan was still bleeding, I called again and left a message. After an hour, I called back and demanded to speak with Nathan's dr. He told us to get Nathan back to the hospital ASAP.
He said that when he checked Nathan yesterday morning, he could not find any bleeding and told the ER to watch Nathan for a couple of hours and if there was no bleeding he could go home, and if there was bleeding to call him. He was never notified that they decided to keep Nathan overnight or that he was bleeding this morning.
I drove Nathan back to the ER and they took us back immediately because Nathan was so pale looking. Our ENT's colleague came down right away and checked out Nathan. He was still bleeding but the ENT dr. could not see where it was coming from. He decided that meant that maybe it was coming from the surgical sight where his adenoids were removed and that it might be draining down to his throat. The only way to know for sure was to put Nathan under anesthesia again and go back into surgery.
They started an IV and it was all awful. Since Nathan knew what was coming this time, he really fought us and cried and screamed. While he did all this screaming he started coughing up a lot of blood. They were able to get the IV in his forearm this time so he could still use his hands.
They took some blood and checked his blood count. The ENT dr. came in and said that it was way low. He said that it wasn't dangerous yet, but if we went through with surgery it could become dangerous. He decided that it was best to give Nathan some blood.
I got to stay with Nathan until he went into the OR. He was trying to be such a brave little warrior. I was getting him to smile and we read some books.
But, when the nurse came to wheel him into the OR, he started crying and didn't want to let go of my hand. It was awful.
I kept it all together until he was out of sight and then I just let it all go. It is so hard to see your baby scared and hurting and not understanding why and what is going on.
Mark made it to the hospital a few minutes after Nathan went in to surgery and he helped calm me down.
We waiting for what seemed like forever and finally the ENT dr. came out to talk to us. The surgery went well. He found a very tiny cut on the right side of his tonsils that was bleeding slowly. He said that he must have been bleeding awhile and swallowing the blood. They sucked out about a unit of blood from his stomach.
So, all the blood that he threw up, spit out, had in his diapers, and had pumped out of his stomach - he lost a lot of blood. They had to give him a unit of blood right after surgery.
When we went back to recovery he all ready looked so much better and a lot more pink. He was uncomfortable and whining, but he was awake and ok. He sat up and was able to drink some apple juice. Then they found out they couldn't flush his IV and needed to do a new one. They put the new one in his foot so it wouldn't be away. I let Mark handle him with this IV.
After awhile he was moved to his room. He enjoyed the bed ride and was in a better mood by the time we got to his room.
This is actually a smile from Nathan, the camera just caught it right as he got tired of smiling for me:
We got him all settled in his room. I found some cartoon movies for him and some books to read. Then, I had to leave to come home to the other kids.
Sean went home with his Momo and Lauren is here with me since she has a dr.'s appointment tomorrow morning.
I spoke with Mark when I got home and Nathan is sleeping peacefully. He will not let the nurses remove the first IV from his arm though so he still has both IVs in. He is just so tired of messing with him. Mark said before he fell asleep, anytime someone opened the door Nathan would start crying. Even if they didn't need to touch him.
My poor baby has been through so much. I can't wait for him to come home tomorrow so we can cuddle on the couch and read his books. I pray this is the last time he sees the inside of a hospital.
***ORIGINAL POST***
As you may or may not know, Nathan had surgery 2 weeks ago to have tubes put in his ears and to have his tonsils and adenoids removed.
On Monday morning we found blood on Nathan's pillow. It wasn't much and there wasn't any more bleeding so we just assumed that one of his scabs must have fallen off.
Last night (Tuesday night), Nathan woke up at 10:30pm with blood all over his face, pillow, and bed. I cleaned him up and did not notice any more bleeding and he was back asleep. I called his dr. and we agreed that since there was no more bleeding we could stay home and make an appointment first thing in the morning. At six this morning, Nathan started vomiting blood. It was all over the place. We called for an ambulance and by the time they arrived (which was very fast), Nathan was no longer throwing up and there was no bleeding. They checked him and since we wanted Nathan at the Children's Hospital, they agreed that we could drive him ourself to downtown.
Mark took Nathan to the ER there and they immediately checked him out and he was bleeding in his throat. They decided to do a minor laser surgery to stop the bleeding.
Well, thank God, by the time the ENT arrived to check Nathan and do the surgery, the bleeding had stopped and there was no sign of anything. The ENT decided that they would watch Nathan for a couple of hours and then he could go home on rest and a soft diet.
After awhile, they noticed that Nathan had a rapid heart rate. They said that is the first sign of a low blood count. Once again, thank God, because they checked his blood count and it was only slightly low.
Then Nathan spiked a temp. They said that the rapid heart rate was from the temp and he was also dehydrated. They decided to admit him on a 24-hour observation.
They did a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia since he had the fever, a cough, and his white blood cell count was elevated. Thank God, because the x-ray came out picture (ha!) perfect!
After the x-ray, Nathan was able to eat dinner and he chowed down on some mashed potatoes and green peas like I have never seen. He was a hungry boy!
Mark and I decided that I would come home tonight for a good night's rest and that way we both won't be so tired tomorrow. I will go to the hospital in the morning and let Mark come home to rest. Nathan should be discharged tomorrow afternoon.
I just talked with Mark and Nathan's fever was down to 99.6! Thank God ~ that is the lowest it's been all day! And it's really good since fever is usually always worse at night!
And, with that good news, I am off to bed!
Goodnight everyone!
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