Wednesday, May 28, 2010 - Joe to ER last night

We are finding out that when the boys have a virus it is hard to keep it away from Joe...and with a cancer patient in the mix it ultimately means a trip to the ER. Our 2 1/2 year old, Caleb, started with a virus this past weekend, which spread to Ben yesterday morning and to Joe by the afternoon. Despite all our handwashing, wipe down precautions, and isolation, we were unsuccessful in keeping Joe free from the germs. Along with vomiting, Joe's fever rose above the 101.1 threshold, which is a mandatory trip to the ER. Although we were fairly certain it was just a virus from the other boys and not an infection from his port or elsewhere, we still had to go. About the same time I was leaving with Joe for the hospital, Will started getting a headache and very soon after a fever. Kevin stayed home to take care of the 3 sick boys and I drove Joe to Cook Children's ER around 6 pm. Since this was our 2nd trip to the ER since Joe's diagnosis, I knew exactly where to go. The hospital allows us to enter through the ambulance entrance and go directly to a room to avoid any unnecessary exposure to germs...this is very appreciated! I have also learned to grab my bag with Joe's medical binder of all the important information I need regarding medicines, recent blood counts and phone numbers. In addition, I now make sure I bring along my phone charger, a sweatshirt, blanket for Joe, DS with fun games, snacks and one of Joe's favorite Webkinz. All this stuff makes the trip go a little smoother, except it is a lot to carry by myself when Joe doesn't feel like walking in to the hospital or is half asleep on the way out of the hospital. I think I will add a stroller to my list of things I should grab on the way to the ER next time! At the hospital they accessed his port which unfortunately this time was one of the most traumatic events yet. The nurses in ER don't have quite as much experience with the ports as the H/O Clinic nurses so the first and second attempts were unsuccessful and Joe became frantic at this point. After I was praying ferverently for the third attempt and trying to calm Joe down, it was successful. Thank you, Lord! Joe was given some anti-nausea medicine through the IV as we waited for the blood test results and given some Tylenol for his fever. Once it was all said and done, Joe's blood counts looked great and we were sent home around 11:00 pm. This virus will probably run its course in the next 24 hours and I will continue to give him Tylenol every 4 hours for fever. Due to Joe's loss of one kidney, I can only give him Tylenol and no Ibuprofen as a precaution to avoid damaging his good kidney. The boys are all home resting on the couches today. Caleb is feeling 100 percent better so he is terrorizing the other 3 boys as they try to rest. There is never a dull moment around here with 4 active boys. Even though we had to go through this drill at the ER, I am extremely thankful that Joe has been doing so well and has high blood counts to be able to fight off this virus.

Joe

Ben

Will

Caleb...looking a little mischevious...

On another note, before all of this happened yesterday, we had a lovely visit from Caroline, our nanny from last summer. The boys wanted to run around playing flashlight tag and sardines with her but they were happy to take it a little easier and play Electric Monopoly and watch "March of the Penguins" instead.