So last night we went on our first (and I would hope the last, though I know it may not be) trip to the emergency room at Valley Children's Hospital. Sean has been dealing with a runny nose off & on for about 2 weeks now and a nasty cough for about 4 days; but yesterday was different. I've been able to tell for the past 2 days that he hasn't been feeling very well and even though he felt hot, the ear thermometer kept giving me a reading that his temp was normal (THAT is now in the trash btw). I started taking his temp with the other thermometer we had by putting it under his arm since he wouldn't put it in his mouth and sure enough he had a fever. Anyhow, around 6pm last night he would started screaming/crying "ow" and would hold his head. =( I gave him more tylenol and a texted a few questions to one of my sister-in-laws who came up with the possibility of Sean having an ear infection. Not wanting to make him wait till Monday to receive treatment, I called my other sister-in-law whom lives near our kids medical center to find out what the Urgent Care hours were - I knew she would know them since she had visited there many times with her kiddos. Come to find out that they won't see children under age 4 and she suggested going to the ER at Valley Children's. She offered to come pick up Jaycie so I accepted her offer and hung up with her to get Jaycie's diaper bag and car seat ready as well as get a diaper bag ready to take with Sean & I and get him ready for our "trip". Steve was working and I didn't want to go to the hospital by myself so I called my Mom to see if she would come along - turns out she just happened to be around the corner from our house already headed over just to say "hi". -- Good timing!! ha... Once Melissa arrived for Jaycie; my mom, Sean & I hopped into my blazer and made the 15 minute drive to the hospital. I fully expected to wait awhile once we arrived but that wasn't the case - YAY! From the time we walked thru the ER doors to the time I was dressing Sean in a little hospital gown was literally 10 minutes. Within the 1st hour we had already seen the nurse, an aide and the doctor - gotten more tylenol (cause apparently the dosing on the bottle was not enough by 1/2 according to the ER dotor), had oxygen levels read, temperature taken twice (100 at pre-er check in & 101 in the er) and were waiting to be taken back to x-ray. I was pretty impressed with how quickly our visit was moving along! Both ears looked good so the ear infection theory was ruled out. X-Rays were ordered to rule out pneumonia hoping to make the diagnosis of a bad cold accompanied with a headache. I went with Sean to x-ray and he did so well! I was a little nervous about it when I saw he had to have his legs & arms strapped down, I thought that would make him scream & upset but he remained calmed and just kept repeating "mommy" while I stood and held his head steady. I soothed him the best I could without being able to cuddle him during the process. We looked at the many painted fairies on the walls & ceilings and talked about how we would tell Daddy all about our "adventure" later. Once we went back to our bed in the ER it was only about another 10 minutes at most before we got the results of the xray which showed a small spot of pneumonia on Sean's left lung. Poor guy! Thank goodness I followed my mommy instincts and got him seen - we caught the pneumonia in the early stages! The whole trip from the time we left home to the time we returned was 2 hours. - MUCH faster than I ever imagined! My sister-in-law met us back at the house with Jaycie and my mom was nice enough to hit up the 24 hour pharmacy at Walgreens to get Sean's presciption filled. I felt bad for my little guy but was so proud on how well he did at the hospital. - I know he was scared but he was so brave during it all.
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