Many times I wonder how people communicated needs without the blessings of today's technology. This weekend we surely used every facet we had to try to get the word out. Now that our craziness has calmed down a bit, I wanted to write some specific details - both for my records and for our caring friends and family asking about Cohen. Let me start with we are all ok, and Cohen is improving each day, but we could still use your prayers as we still don't know what happened!
If you've kept up with my facebook posts, you'll remember that we thought Cohen had caught some of the cold I had over the weekend. He wasn't sleeping (like up every 1/2 hour to an hour) and generally just fussier than usual. We took him to the pediatrician on Wednesday just to have him checked out and she confirmed he was fine, possibly fighting the cold, but fine.
Thursday night we were supposed to have an impromtu play date with our friend Cristen and Kenleigh. I picked up Cohen from Ms. Susan's house and she mentioned he was just not himself. He was vomiting a bit more than the usual reflux issues, had only eaten 5 ounces, and she wanted me to watch him. Not 10 minutes after getting him home and pulling out groceries to cook, Cohen was vomiting. Everyone told me I would know the difference between reflux/spit-up and vomit, and let me tell you, I knew. We changed his clothes and thought he would be better....until he wasn't. The vomit continued and was turning green. His color was fading to a nice ashy grey as well. By this point it was after hours so we called our pediatrician's line and the nurse told us to go ahead and go to urgent care. Cohen had no other symptoms besides green puke and not eating - no fever, no rash, no weird poops. Fortunately, Cristen was there to reassure me that I should go and that this was probably something a doctor would need to diagnose. Thanks Cristen ;-)
So we go to the urgent care clinic, get checked in, and Cohen pukes in front of the doctor...and it looks like:
To which the doctor responds with, "I can't treat you here and am sending you to the ER." Cue meltdown on my part. She explained that green vomit is bile and in infants can be life-threatening. She suspected he had pyloric stenosis and would need an ultrasound to confirm. If this was the case, we would be scheduled for a surgery to correct it. So we packed up the car and trecked it over to Children's hospital in Plano.
The fabulous staff there put us in a 'well' waiting room as there was TONS of cough/cold/flu/sick kids in the general ER. Since this first doctor had already diagnosed what the issue was, Cohen was really waiting for an ultrasound and not ill (cue 4 hour wait time...grrrr). This is us in our first room. Notice I still have a bit of eyeliner on - that didn't last long ;-(
He looks so tiny on the hospital gurney...
Here is Cohen getting his ultrasound to check for the stenosis. He did great and kept grabbing the cable. The tech, Jeff, was great and said there was no way it was stenosis, that the opening to his stomach was fine and we would need further tests to see what it was. Again, bile flowing the wrong way in infants means there is some sort of intestinal blockage, and we still didn't know what was causing the vomiting.
Watching Mr. Jeff while we took pictures of his tummy (he still hadn't eaten since 7ish). This was around 2 am. Since Cohen hadn't eaten, he didn't repeat the green vomit again....and as of today (Sunday) hasn't vomited green again.
The second test they did were X-rays on his lower GI. They thought it could be intussusception, where part of your large intestine folds over and causes a blockage, but the Xray came back negative....
Cue transfer to Children's hospital downtown to do the final test for a blocked or twisted intestine. Via Ambulance. At 3:30 am. These parents were in TOTAL meltdown at this point. The doctors continued to reassure us that this was going to give us the answer to the cause of the green bile throw up.
Cohen thankfully was resting fairly peacefully although he hadn't eaten in almost 12 hours at this point and the IV fluids were his only source nutrition. He couldn't have any time with mommy on the breast because of the dye test they were planning, and for all tests to ensure they could clearly see any and all issues that were there.
We arrived at Children's downtown at around 3:30am and were told that they were waiting for the attending radiologist as he/she would have to be the ones to read/conduct the flouroscope test. We waited in the small ER room until finally at 8:15am or so the charge nurse came and let us know that radiology would be ready for us in about 30 minutes.
Lo and behold we were able finally able to go back to radiology at about 8:45am where the flouroscope test was done, and all we can tell you is that Patrick and I both pray that no one we know as a parent has to watch their child experience this exam. The doctor and technologist were extrememly kind, gentle, and professional but the test included strapping Cohen to a small backboard with his arms up above his head and his little legs out straight as well. The board was connected to a circular apparatus that allowed the doctor to move Cohen as if he were literally on a barbecue spit. He could turn him sideways so that he could see from different angles where the dye was moving. We learned that they can't anesthetize babies because of their size which made this whole procedure more challenging to witness.
They then send a thin "straw" up Cohen's nose and down his throat to send the dye through his system. We were able to watch the monitor and see what the doctor was looking at as he tracked the dye through Cohen's intestines. To say Cohen was distraught only begins to describe Cohen's reaction. He had that cry that all parents dread from their child, the one that can't be described to someone in words, but as Patrick said it hurts your heart. Patrick and I were able to talk to Cohen, but from a distance which we hoped was some small comfort to Cohen, but throughout the exam we spent most of the time holding each other and sobbing. 15 minutes (but what felt like a day) later we pulled our son off the exam table and calmed him down. The radiologist immediately went through his findings and said he looked fine - that there was no blockage and the three life-threatening things were ruled out.
Off we went back to our ER room to wait on the doctor to tell us what to do next. Cohen's face was a little scratched from the test, and I wanted a good picture of his little IV arm. They wrapped him up in a premie pampers diaper so he wouldn't pull at it.
The orange band-aid where they did blood sugar tests since he wasn't eating and his hospital band were both on the right foot. His left big toe had the heart-rate/oxygen monitor on him. Cohen finally nursed about 10:00 am and kept the milk down, so they felt like he was in the clear.
They discharged us about 11:30 am, around 18 hours after this all began. The ER doctor basically said they don't know what it was, that it could have worked itself out, but that we'd need to monitor him and watch for some specific symptoms. The reason they don't think it was flu/virus is because he had no 'sick' symptoms. Our pediatrician has been great this entire weekend, giving us her cell, and doing some separate research. We will have a follow up appointment at some point this week to figure out where to go from here. For now, we are ok. Cohen is ok. We are recovering from a pretty traumatic event (first one is always the hardest, right?!?) but celebrated today with his baptism. God has a plan and we just have to TRUST that he will take care of our little Cohen.
For now, we have snuggled and loved on him a bit more than usual, and are hoping the worst is past. We appreciate your continued prayers.
Blessings,
