~Hospital Scary Time~

So we got hospitalized for the first time a couple of weeks ago…I knew that it would happen sooner rather then later but it didn’t make it any less scary for Ethan, Randy or I…

He choked on a piece of a Nutragrain Bar and it got stuck in his esophagus…I’m sure you can piece together the rest of how that went.  So he couldn’t eat anything and everything came up that we tried to give him.  So after 6 hours of nothing being able to go down I took him to the emergency room to get checked out.  They consulted with our specialists at the Stollery Childrens’ Hospital and decided to hospitalize us for observation.  If it worsened then we would be transported to Edmonton…

So we checked into room 329, right outside the nurses station, and settled in for the weekend.  We found the play room and the movies and the little kitchenette and got comfortable with our little environment.  They put Ethan on an IV and took blood to check him for infections and did Xrays to see if they could see anything stuck.  None of which were easy or fun for Ethan or I.  He was traumatized by the whole experience and it broke my heart to watch him have to go through it…

I stayed at the hospital with Ethan;  Randy came back and forth with the coffee and food for me…

It took until Saturday night until Ethan was able to eat anything and that was a Danino yogurt.  We were so happy!  From there we switched his hospital diet to a puree diet which he ate for two meals, then we switched him to a minced diet which he ate without problem the rest of the time we were there. 

We met with the Paediatrician on Saturday followed by the surgeons from Grande Prairie.  They all thought that he had suffered something being stuck and that it was likely now swollen or bruised and thereby difficult to eat.  The surgeons told me that they could do a scope to see what is going on but I told them that I would rather be sent to Edmonton where they deal with paediatrics if that was the course of action…

Long story short, he made a good recovery and we got discharged on Monday morning after meeting with our family doctor.  They made us an appt at the Stollery for Thursday for a check up and meeting with the specialist.

I had to fly to Saskatoon on Tuesday for work and Randy and Ethan headed to his Moms’ house in Vegreville until the appointment.  My boss (in my DREAM JOB) let me change my flight to stop in Edmonton so that I could be with Ethan during his tests.  Unfortunately my flight didn’t get in until 10:20am and his test was at 8:45am and I missed it…but I did get to go to the appt with the specialist in the afternoon.  

I have to say that it was the best meeting we have had so far with a specialist in regards to Ethan's’ care.    He gave us concrete “what to do in this scenario” actions and how to deal with different situations.  I’m very happy with the information that he gave us and feel better about what we can do when he chokes…that being said, we are going to get in touch with someone in GP who can teach us children's’ first aid.  It is time to educate ourselves…

We are all home now and Ethan is doing okay…we are cautious and keeping his diet pretty simple…I’m hoping that we gradually aren’t scared and feel okay with feeding him normal again…but I’m not rushing it!

So that was our excitement/scary time with Ethan…poor little guy!  Thank goodness the hospital had 1 Max & Ruby VHS tape, it kept us sane when Ethan was tied to an IV and couldn’t run around the playroom!