Trip to the E.R.

  Sunday started out as a normal day.  Everyone was feeling pretty good.  Halfway through Primary, Ian came and found me and told me that his stomach hurt.  He was in tears, so John decided to take him home.  When the rest of us got home from church, we ate lunch around 2pm and had a pretty relaxing day.  We watched TV snuggled under a blanket, I worked on my ward newsletter, the kids played.  John started not feeling well (again) and getting a headache and a fever.  About 8:30pm the kids were getting hungry, and as it was almost bedtime and we hadn't done anything about dinner yet, I put Eli in his high chair and was going to whip something up for them to eat real quick.  While I was doing this, John went to the bathroom.  The next thing I heard was a faint bang, and a few seconds after that the kids yelling, "Dad fell!!" I went running into our bedroom to find the lamp knocked off the nightstand, the Kleenex box smashed in the windowsill, and John laying on the floor next to the bed with his head against the wall about 6 inches from the floor.  It seriously took me about 30 seconds to wake him up.  The kids were freaking out, Zander was crying, and after I got everyone calmed down, we got John on the bed.  He said he didn't know what had happened.  He went to the bathroom, started feeling dizzy, so he walked along his sink, the tub, and my sink to the door so he could lay down on the bed.  He thought he had made it there, but apparantly passed out before he got that far.  He kept complaining that his hip hurt, but it wasn't the side I found him on, and I don't think he could have rolled over from where I found him, so we're not sure what happened.  He also had a few scrapes above his left eye, again, not the side he fell on. After making sure he was okay, I asked him if he wanted a blessing.  He said yes, so I called his Dad and a neighbor (thanks, Dale!) to come over.  His mom came with dad, and called Shlisa, John's sister in law,  to come check him out. (She is an EMT) Thomas and Shlisa came and after giving him his blessing and making sure he was okay, Shlisa suggested we take him to the clinic.  He's been having migranes which don't run in his family for about a week and a half, and sometimes he feels lots of pressure behind his right eye and it goes blurry.  She said since we didn't know how hard he hit his head when he fell it would be a good idea.  I called the local P.A. and had him meet us at the clinic.  Being Sunday, they weren't open.  They did a urine sample which came back normal, and a strep test that was negative. (John's throat started feeling really dry that afternoon.)He didn't like that John was only 35, and having 3 or 4 migranes the past week either and was worried about Encephalitis (swelling of the brain). He wanted blood work done and possibly a CT scan.  Since we are rural, if they did the blood work there, they wouldn't get the results until Tuesday and he didn't want to wait that long. They gave John some tylenol, and so, thus came a trip to the ER.  By this time it was almost 10:00pm.  John's dad offered to drive us, and his Mom stayed with the kids and got them to bed. (Thank you both!) 
   We arrived at the ER in Price at 10:45pm and by 11:15 John was admitted and in a bed with an IV and blood samples taken.  Around 11:30 an ambulance came in with a patient that had diabetes, congestive heart failure, and wasn't really coherent.  Of course with our luck as it is, they put him in the bed next to us, so we got to listen to him wail and scream for the entire time we were there.  He wasn't really comunicative with the nurses.  Just kept wailing away. :)  We waited until 1am to see Dr. Perkins.  He came in and did the usual temp, light in the throat, eyes, etc.  He said he could see some puss way back in his right sinus. (where all the pressure, and blurriness is occuring).  He also said he has a virus that is related to Herpes on the roof of his mouth and in his throat.  He had me look at the spots so I could tell if there were any more, or they got bigger after we went home.  They looked like pimples.  Really red with a white head.  He wanted a CT scan done (he was worried about the puss behind his eye and wanted to make sure that everything was okay everywhere else in his head.  The Dr. also told us that they may possibly do a lumbar puncture depending on the results of his bloodwork.
  They took John for his CT scan at 1:30am.  While he was gone, they moved us across the way to a bed that had opened up.  The nurses felt bad we were stuck next to the wailing man.  Although we could still hear him, it was much quieter. :)  They brought John back at 1:36am. 
  At 2:24am Dr. Perkins came back in with the results of the CT scan.  He said his brain was normal, which was what he wanted to see.  John also has some pollups and systs in his sinus' on both sides.  His septum in his nose curves to the right, and we may need to have those things taken care of in the future.  We weren't really surprised to hear this--his mom and his brother have both had surgery to take care of the same thing. John's blood and urine all came back normal, so no lumbar puncture, yea!!   The Dr. said that they usually don't put people on an antibiotic for sinus infections, but since it's been going on for 10-12 days, it was necessary.  To help with the antibiotic (they are hard on your stomach) he told us to get Kefir yogurt to coat his stomach.  He said to drink lots of fluids, and to get lots and lots of rest.  For the virus in his throat he told him to chew sugar free gum like Stride, or Orbit.  There is an ingredient in there that fights the bacteria in those kinds of infections.  We thought that was interesting.
  The nurse came in at 2:44am to take the IV out, gave him his first dose of antibiotic, and released us from the hospital.  We were out of the hospital at 2:55am.  Of course, at that late hour, there was no grocery stores open in Price, so we couldn't get the yogurt, and just came home. 
John's dad stopped for Gas in Wellington and to get a drink.  The clerks were doing shift change and were counting out the till, so we didn't get out of there until almost 3:30am. 
  We made it home around 4:30 and after figuring out how to set the alarm (that's usually John's job), fell into bed.  I got 3 whole hours of sleep. John got a few more as he slept on and off at the hospital.  I had to get the kids up and ready for school, and with two little ones at home, a nap was not in the forcast. I was actually feeling very blessed that I wasn't feeling the effects of my late night.  I was able to care for John and the little boys and even canned a few batches of apple juice.
  John's parents went back to Price to fill John's prescription and get the yogurt and gum for him.  They needed to fill a prescription anyway, and it made my day a lot easier!  Thank you, again!  We could have had the clinic fill the prescription, but they can only dispense once a day at 3:30pm.  We decided we didn't want to wait that long, and our grocery store doesn't carry the yogurt anyway.
  Ian called me from school at 11:30am saying his stomach hurt.  I asked if he wanted me to come get him, and he said he wanted to wait until 1pm so he didn't mess up his perfect attendance record. (He hasn't missed a day of school ever!)  I told him to call me if it got too bad, but I never heard back from him.  John and I decided to take him into the clinic.  He just hasn't been himself.  His appetite was less than half of normal, and he usually doesn't complain unless it's really bad.  After school we ended up at the clinic (2nd time in two days).  The P.A. just shook his head at me. :)  He concluded that he thinks Ian has an ulcer.  (**They are NOT caused by stress.  Just an overproduction of acid in the stomach.  My 10 year old is not worrying himself to death--just thought you should know.)   :)  So Ian is now on an acid reducer as a two week trial to make sure that is really what it is.  He's been on it two days now, and hasn't had a stomach ache, so yea!  That was a fairly easy fix.  The P.A. told us that after a month we could reduce the dose, and after 6 months, reduce it again, and hopefully after that he'll be off of it completely.  Hope it works! :)
So, now that you've read my novel, I hope that it didn't bore anyone too much.  I'm writing it down mostly for myself anyways.  We've had someone sick in our home for more than 3 weeks now.  I'm counting my blessings that everything worked out the way it did, and we got everyone taken care of.  I think we've had our turn--we should be good to go the rest of the winter months. :)  Cross your fingers!