It seems like every time we take a major road trip Henry gets sick. Either during the trip but mostly after. It must be that he doesn’t sleep well, doesn’t eat well and doesn’t get enough exercise while on a road trip. If we go to PA, we spend most of the time in the car each day driving back and forth to MD.
Henry started getting Diarrhea (hard one to spell) on Dave’s birthday (all seems to blend together). It got progressively worse when we got home – meaning there weren’t any solids coming out at all only brownish water. On Tuesday he seemed very iffy when he woke up in the morning. I was worried about him. By noon he was extremely fussy and within a half hour he was screaming in pain. I don’t think I have ever seen him like this. He wouldn’t let me get near his tummy or his bottom. He wouldn’t sit down and had been walking very funny all day. When I held him, he would hold those parts away from my body and arm. He wanted to be held but wouldn’t stop screaming. I put him down for a nap hoping it was exhaustion, but he still kept screaming. I was praying the whole time, so extremely worried and not knowing what I could do to help. I tried calling our new doctor but the phone number in the phone book is disconnected. You can imagine my panic rising as I held a one year old who was writhing from pain. I searched the internet for the number and then couldn’t get an answer. I finally rushed out of the house around 2 pm to the emergency room as his screaming got progressively worse. He screamed the whole way there. I didn’t bring anything with me. No coat, no diaper bag. Henry did have a coat on. Thank God the emergency room was empty. This is a first for our area. The intake nurse was able to see us pretty quickly. She was older and not very computer savvy. It took her FOREVER to type one word. I knew she knew I was stressed and wanted Henry to be seen as soon as possible. I knew it was on her mind because she wrote mother since I was the one giving the information and then before finishing the sentence by accident wrote very stressed. We got into the emergency room and the tech was very nice and then another lady came in to help along with the doctor. Henry was still screaming. They took his diaper off and of course it was soiled and I didn’t have a diaper. I felt like the pathetic mother. “Hey, why don’t you try changing your kids diaper before coming to the emergency room?” That’s how I felt but had honestly changed and changed and changed diarrhea diapers. His little bottom was so raw from it burning through his ultra sensitive skin. The tech was told to put aloe on it. It made it worse and the screaming got worse. The other nurse/ tech was a mother of six and she put petroleum jelly on him and after a while, it completely calmed him down. The doctor ordered xrays since he had a history of abdominal issues (when he was sent to Maine Medical over a year ago). He also ordered a blood test which Henry was such a trooper for. It is so hard for them to get blood from a baby. Especially a sick and restless child. He did really well. They had to poke him a few times. Last time I made Dave hold him, but I was there without Dave, so I did it. Thankfully my friend B.j. met me there and was a great encouragement. We waited for the tests and then the results. The doctor asked me to come look at the xray which totally freaked me out. The last time they told me that was when we went to Maine Med. He wanted to show me how constipated Henry was. Well, I never would have guessed from the diarrhea but it made sense since it was only almost transparent liquid. They gave him a glycerin suppository and wrote out some orders for stool softener. This all happened on Tuesday. Henry has been pooping more each day and his bottom is healing (not so much diarrhea). The doctor thought he could have been cramping from his constipation. That seems to be gone the last 24 hours. No more screaming. Praise God. I praised God the first time he pooped after the emergency room.
I think we’ll skip the fast food and bring a treadmill the next road trip.
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