We had our first family trip to the ER on Sunday. Iris has been complaining of intermittent belly pain (always located in the center of the belly or sometimes on the upper right side) for around a month, possibly longer. On Sunday, she vomited three times in the morning, had loose stools and a fever. Maybe it was a stomach bug, but what would explain the intermittent belly pain going on for so long? I've run out of ways to explain it away.
At the ER we started with the least invasive tests. Pushing on her belly in various places showed that nothing was tender to the touch, making the doctors think the appendix was not the issue. We then moved to an x-ray of her belly, which showed a lot of gas and backed up stool. She was a little scared about the pictures but by the last one she said "cheese" and was watching "Daniel Tiger" the whole time (which, by the way, is a great show that teaches kids so much about emotional regulation, adapting to new situations - like new siblings - and teaches parents how to be calm and to diffuse temper tantrums). Then we did an ultrasound to look at her gallbladder and gallstone. Her gallstone doesn't appear to be bigger than when we first discovered it (maybe about a year ago?) and her gallbladder didn't appear to be inflamed or show any backup.
I keep thinking it has to be her gallstone that is causing her pain, or just the gallbladder. It seems like most of the other people with her condition have gallbladder problems, but only a couple of them have had it removed. It's also possible that she has urinary reflux. I'm not sure how that is diagnosed but we know she doesn't have a UTI. (I got her to pee in a cup, which I consider a minor miracle, even though she then resisted going potty for the rest of the time we were at the ER because she was afraid she would have to pee in a cup again and she didn't want to do that.)
Finally we agreed to do some blood work even though I had told Iris we wouldn't do any shots (which remains true - technically, we didn't do shots). This was truly traumatic for her. I hated to have to hold her while they poked her for the blood. Thankfully the medical team called the best nurse they had to do the draw and she got it on the first poke. Previous experience has shown us that it's very difficult to get into Iris's veins.
The blood work all came back normal: no problems with liver function, no elevated white blood cell count. I'm not sure what else they tested, but they said everything looked normal. We gave her Tylenol for her fever and finally went home.
We spent around 12 hours in the ER - from 3pm to 3am. Sibyl was with us and did a good job of being quiet, though both Evan and I wanted to have all our attention on Iris while we were there.
I thought a lot about this reality that we've brought Sibyl into while I was pregnant and while considering whether we'd have a second child. I wish our reality were different, that our baseline didn't involve regular interaction with a battery of medical specialists and that we didn't have more knowledge about Iris's medical condition than most doctors we come into contact with. But spending time wishing for things to be different doesn't help anything, really. It certainly doesn't help us to cope.
Next time I'll plan not to bring Sibyl with us to the ER. I can hardly believe I decided to do it this time. She was barely 10 weeks old and surrounded by germs. I asked one of the nurses about whether they had seen mumps there recently (Denver is having an outbreak). She said they hadn't seen it much. Maybe she was just saying that to make me feel better about bringing a healthy newborn to the ER. Mom-guilt is the best.
Iris was supposed to have an MRI today (Tuesday), but we've had to reschedule it now three times I think because Iris has been sick. The first time was because she had vomited the previous night and I didn't want her to be dehydrated going into the procedure. The second time was because she had had a fever a few days prior, same with this time. You are supposed to have at least 3 weeks of being healthy (no fever/inflammation). So we're now going to try for April. I'll probably leave Sibyl at home or have someone come with us who can watch Sibyl while we attend to Iris.
At the ER we started with the least invasive tests. Pushing on her belly in various places showed that nothing was tender to the touch, making the doctors think the appendix was not the issue. We then moved to an x-ray of her belly, which showed a lot of gas and backed up stool. She was a little scared about the pictures but by the last one she said "cheese" and was watching "Daniel Tiger" the whole time (which, by the way, is a great show that teaches kids so much about emotional regulation, adapting to new situations - like new siblings - and teaches parents how to be calm and to diffuse temper tantrums). Then we did an ultrasound to look at her gallbladder and gallstone. Her gallstone doesn't appear to be bigger than when we first discovered it (maybe about a year ago?) and her gallbladder didn't appear to be inflamed or show any backup.
I keep thinking it has to be her gallstone that is causing her pain, or just the gallbladder. It seems like most of the other people with her condition have gallbladder problems, but only a couple of them have had it removed. It's also possible that she has urinary reflux. I'm not sure how that is diagnosed but we know she doesn't have a UTI. (I got her to pee in a cup, which I consider a minor miracle, even though she then resisted going potty for the rest of the time we were at the ER because she was afraid she would have to pee in a cup again and she didn't want to do that.)
Finally we agreed to do some blood work even though I had told Iris we wouldn't do any shots (which remains true - technically, we didn't do shots). This was truly traumatic for her. I hated to have to hold her while they poked her for the blood. Thankfully the medical team called the best nurse they had to do the draw and she got it on the first poke. Previous experience has shown us that it's very difficult to get into Iris's veins.
The blood work all came back normal: no problems with liver function, no elevated white blood cell count. I'm not sure what else they tested, but they said everything looked normal. We gave her Tylenol for her fever and finally went home.
We spent around 12 hours in the ER - from 3pm to 3am. Sibyl was with us and did a good job of being quiet, though both Evan and I wanted to have all our attention on Iris while we were there.
Next time I'll plan not to bring Sibyl with us to the ER. I can hardly believe I decided to do it this time. She was barely 10 weeks old and surrounded by germs. I asked one of the nurses about whether they had seen mumps there recently (Denver is having an outbreak). She said they hadn't seen it much. Maybe she was just saying that to make me feel better about bringing a healthy newborn to the ER. Mom-guilt is the best.
Iris was supposed to have an MRI today (Tuesday), but we've had to reschedule it now three times I think because Iris has been sick. The first time was because she had vomited the previous night and I didn't want her to be dehydrated going into the procedure. The second time was because she had had a fever a few days prior, same with this time. You are supposed to have at least 3 weeks of being healthy (no fever/inflammation). So we're now going to try for April. I'll probably leave Sibyl at home or have someone come with us who can watch Sibyl while we attend to Iris.
