april 16, 2011

Wednesday night I slept in Caris & Canaan's room. Any flu that would take my super-healthy husband and turn him into a slug that quickly was not a flu I was willing to risk!

Thursday and Friday were more of the same. Alif sick on the couch, Alif sick in the bed, Alif taking Tylenol and Motrin and having a fever of 100-101. Pushing fluids, watching him lie there with muscle aches, headaches and just flat-out sick.

I was concerned when several days had gone by and he hadn't improved, and not only that but no one else was sick. It's not normal to have a family of six and only *one* person get a flu.

Saturday rolled around and it was busy. We had soccer games, Grand Prix and mama's hair appointment on top of Daddy Sick On The Couch. I ran the kids all around, leaving one with Alif to make sure he had fluids and anything he might need. I checked in after each event to make sure he was ok. At one point I freaked out on him a little, chastising him for not drinking ANY fluids while I'd been gone for almost three hours. He started crying. Alarms went off in my head. Alif crying about fluids did not seem like a good thing.

The last event of the day was Graham's soccer game. When we got back, Alif said, "I can't do this any more. I have to go." I said, "to the hospital?" He said yes, so I called Lynette, dropped the kids off and took him to the emergency room. I drove on the freeway so I wouldn't have to stop and go so much. It made me think of when I was in labor and how miserable that ride to the hospital always was. When we got there I dropped Alif at the door and told him to just sit down and I'd get him checked in once I parked.

We sat in that emergency waiting room for four long hours. Shortly after we got there he started to complain of abdominal pain. I will admit that I was relieved - I thought, "Oh good! He's got appendicitis! They'll do surgery and he'll be feeling so much better by tomorrow!" I approached the triage nurse three times, begging them to get him in and explaining that he was in excruciating pain. It was absolutely a nightmare watching my husband writhe in pain and being completely incapable of doing a thing to make it better.

They did finally call us back and once they did they acted quickly. The nurse did an ultrasound of his abdomen right at the bedside and said that while his liver enzymes were elevated and his platelets were low, his appendix and gall bladder looked fine. I was disappointed - if not his appendix or gall bladder, then what was causing him so much pain and illness? They gave him some morphine and almost instantly he felt better. Relief!! A couple hours later the doctor said he was going to admit Alif to keep an eye on him. I was so glad that I didn't have to take him home feeling awful and wondering what was wrong.

There was a really quirky and kind nurse that morning. She came in and said to me, "do you want something to eat?" I was beyond exhausted at this point, worried, not thinking clearly. I just stared at her. She said, "A turkey sandwich, maybe? . . . . Turkey? . . . Yummy yummy? . . . . . I'll just go get one." She came back with a full meal. Some people really are cut out to care for others.

After the decision to admit him, we waited for a room to open up. It was well into Sunday when they finally moved him to a room.