Stuck Bread

We solved the mystery of Inara's persistent fever. Shortly after her fever broke she began to exhibit red spots throughout her torso and finally her face. Something a friend had told me earlier stuck out in my mind. It would seem Inara had been suffering from Roseola. After looking up images of the Roseola rash I determined that it was a match. Her illness had been textbook. I was happy to finally have an answer. I missed the opportunity to get a picture of the spotted girl because chaos ensued shortly after the onset of the rash.

Ronan had had a coughing incident Saturday morning. His brother had given him a small piece of bread and he began coughing. His coughing turned to gasping. I'm used to incidents like this so I picked him up and hit his back as the doctors prescribed to do in such cases. Around 15 minutes later the coughing subsided and despite watery eyes he seemed no worse for wear. Since these episodes happen occasionally and he's normally fine I didn't think much of it. He went on the rest of the day and all Sunday acting fine.

Sunday night before bed I was drying him off from his bath and he began making an odd squeaky, gasping sound. He continued on for several minutes. I took him upstairs to have Isaac hear the sound and let Isaac know Ronan might need seen. The weird noise continued and I hooked him up to his pulse-ox. His oxygen was normal and I proceeded to put him to bed. I continued to hear the sound and I kept checking on him. He was sitting straight up with his head tilted back still emitting the strange sound.

My thoughts drifted back to Saturday and I realized the most probable issue. He must have gotten the bread stuck and he once again had an esophageal stricture. His GI doctor had said this would be a big possibility within four months of his last dilation. I decided since he was having so much trouble I would not wait until morning to call his GI doctor for an appointment. I knew the channels this would entail. I would call and they would get us in maybe in two weeks. A swallow study would be ordered which would confirm what I already knew. Then he'd have an endoscopy and dilation. This would all take a few weeks. I knew he couldn't wait as the bread was stuck.

I took control and took him to the ER. After explaining everything to the ER doctor they agreed I was probably right and admitted him to the pediatric unit. I got him to sleep and then I had to return to take care of the other kids. I felt guilty. When Ronan was in the NICU I hated leaving him but I didn't struggle as much because he wasn't old enough to really be used to having me do his care all the time. What I mean is he wouldn't be scared if I was gone for a little while. Now he was old enough to be aware mommy wasn't around. But I had to get home to the other kids.

This morning I got the kids ready for the day. Fed and made sure they were all dressed. Pre-made lunch for everyone so things would be easy on Isaac. I headed to the hospital. Ronan had a few toys in the crib with him. He was laying awake on his tummy. When he saw me, he practically leaped through the crib bars. As I picked him up he laughed and cried at the same time. My mom guilt meter kicked up a few notches. I was snuggling and loving him when two child life specialists walked in.

They told me they had come to check on him. They had been playing with him and loving him all morning. They had taken him down to his test. Apparently he had been a ham. He made fish faces, clapped his hands and regularly laughed. He also distributed hugs to anyone who came close. Here he had been milking the guilt mommy felt when he'd really had a blast in my absence. I heard tales of toy motorcycle riding and playroom fun.

The doctor came in a short time later to tell me about the test. They had done the swallow study and found my suspicions were confirmed and there was bread stuck. They'd gotten the bread out. This meant however that his esophagus had collapsed again. Since the bread was out the immediate danger was gone and he could go home. They scheduled his esophagus surgery for Thursday morning. Until then he is only allowed to have his thickened liquids.

On the way out the nurse forgot he had a hugs tag on. A hugs tag is what they put on babies and small children so they can't be kidnapped from the hospital. As we passed to leave the pediatric unit all the alarms lit up and sounded and the doors locked. Ronan had locked down the hospital. The nurse came running over. "I'm sorry I forgot about his hugs tag." We had to wait for them to call security to confirm that a child was not being kidnapped. Leave it to Ronan to make a dramatic exit.

He's doing ok now and so is Inara. Inara's rash has started to dissipate and I missed the opportunity to get a decent picture of her rash. Ronan's squeaky gasp is gone. The only evidence left of his hospital stay is his skin reaction to the oxygen sticky pads. He looks like he has big welts on each cheek. Overall I'm glad I took him into the ER and got the bread issue resolved. Now we wait for Thursday.