Bear's Scare

I think most everyone has probably heard the story about Bear's awful week last week but just to truly get things down in black and white, here's what happened.

Sunday April 18

I wake up very sick around 430 in the morning. Stayed home with flu-like symptoms all day. I won't give you any other specifics...you don't want to know. Woke up pretty normal the next day.

Thursday April 22

Sam comes home late at night from his parents with flu-like symptoms....the works. Stays home from work the next day and on by Saturday morning is feeling back to normal.

Monday April 26

Bear seems pretty normal at breakfast and then around 1030 in the morning starts in with the more disgusting flu-like symptoms all over me and my new carpet. He seems very lethargic all day and slept for most of the day, while having other flu-like symptoms all day. By the time Sam gets home he is very pale and has bluish lips.

We decide to take him to the doctor immediately and they do a strep test, and say that he's very dehydrated. Strep test comes back positive. We head to the Mountain West Medical Center Emergency Room. Sam drops me and Bear off while getting his parents to watch Connor for awhile.

After taking FOREVER to get him ready to get an IV in, they poke him about 12 times before they actually get the IV in his vein in his foot. He was really dehydrated. He didn't even flinch or cry when they poked him a zillion times. It was really sad to watch. They drew blood several times and even got a urine sample with a catheter. They decided that the strep test was actually negative. And his potassium levels were really high.

Just in case you are wondering, a normal potassium level is about a 4. His were at 7.8 and the highest they got were 8.3. The dangers of having potassium this high is that your heart can start having irregular beating patterns which can lead to heart failure and other complications.

Tuesday April 27

We stayed the night and they gave him antibiotics through his IV because they decided he had a Urinary Tract Infection. In the morning when his potassium levels hadn't dropped at all, they decided to transfer us via ambulance up to Primary Children's Medical Center.

After arriving in the ER he was poked a bajillion more times to make sure that all the labs that were done the night before were done accurately. And so when they all came back the same, they double checked them and then sent us to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, lovingly nicknamed the PICU(Pick-You).

I'm kind of skipping a lot of things.....They drew blood every 4 hours at least. They also put in another place for an IV in addition to his foot. They also had heart, oxygen and all kinds of other monitors on his chest. In addition to x-rays, 2 EKG's(Heart monitor tests), an ultrasound, and the realization that my baby's kidneys had stopped functioning which means that his creatinine(sp) and some other levels were too high(which can be toxic and require dialasis of his kidneys) He had what is called Acute Renal Failure which is basically temporary kidney failure.

Wed April 28

Luckily, after one night in the PICU, his potassium level finally came down to a 4.1 and although his kidneys weren't functioning quite right, we were able to move to the regular hospital floor. However, after the move they realized that his potassium levels were still dropping and had dropped too far. And now, there was blood in his stool to add to all the other worries.

So we spent the next three days in the hospital running tests on his stool and blood trying to get his potassium levels up to a normal range and his kidney hormone levels back to normal.

Saturday May 1

Finally, on Saturday, they said that if it was above a 2.5 without any intervention, we could go home and give him potassium supplements at home. His tests came back at a 2.8 and home we came!

Wed May 5

We went back to Primary Children's on Wed to have follow up bloodwork done and his potassium came back at 5.1...a bit high. We went back on Thurs and it came back exactly the same without any supplements. At least it's stable...... We go back Wednesday this week to have more bloodwork done. So the saga will continue for a little while longer.

But on a happier note, Bear has been the happiest he has been in MONTHS since he's been home. So I'm not sure if there was a problem before that we just didn't know about that was bothering him and now it's fixed or what but, I love having my happy baby back. He is such a joy to have around.

I just couldn't bear to take pictures of him when he was at his worst in the hospital so here are some from about mid way through his visit. He's looking so much better here than when we first brought him in but you can see all the wires....well, some of them anyway. This is few compared to what it was like in the PICU. The poor guy could barely move.

Playing with the balloon that Auntie Emily sent.

Playing with the Stethoscope.

The white brace on his hand was to keep him from moving too much so the IV would stay in.