Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Well, Max was not just a little sick. He was very sick. But he's better now.

I took him to his appointment on Monday to follow up on why he still had a high fever even though he'd been on antibiotics for his ear infection for four days. They did a little blood work and the doctor called me and said to tell me to go up to the ER at the other hospital since they're more equipped. Max's white blood cell count was through the roof. I packed us an overnight bag, had hubby rush home from the gym, and off we went.

Max's fever broke all on its own around 8pm, after we'd been at the ER for about an hour. He'd had some gastrointestinal distress and every time they pressed on his belly he screamed so they did a sonogram and found some fluid buildup around his appendix and it looked a little inflamed but wasn't giving off "heat" (as in, no extra blood flow). That night one of the surgical residents came through and Max was so tired he didn't scream when she touched his belly. The next morning the head pediatric surgeon came through (and he must be some sort of baby whisperer, because Max liked him immediately) and poked around his belly, and again no screaming. So, the screaming wasn't due to belly pain when they touched it but due to strangers touching his belly. Which is totally understandable. Fluid can apparently build up in the abdomen when there's an infection in the body, and it was just coincidence that it built up around his appendix. Thank goodness.

So, secondary infection is the official diagnosis (ear infection was the primary infection). He was dehydrated from the fever and lack of appetite (he didn't want to eat or drink for days, and trying to get him to do either was like pulling teeth) so they gave him an IV bag which did wonders. He fell asleep around midnight (during the sonogram) and hubby and I got to sleep around 4:15am. Of course nurses and residents were in and out constantly, so "sleep" is a relative term. Hubby was in the next room and I let him sleep so at least one of us would be functioning.

My mom came by the next morning to help us, which was a lifesaver. Max woke up in a fantastic mood, full of energy, he thought the crib was awesome (it has a plastic dome over the top so we called it a spaceship), he ate a late breakfast (and wanted to eat!) and played with noisy toys and yelled and acted like himself. He took a two hour nap on grammy's lap and they were able to examine him and remove the IV bag while he was asleep. After he woke up they declared him ready to go home and removed the IV tube. We got home around 4, just under 24 hours later.

Max had to go through every single toy and make sure they were all there. He was ecstatic to be home, that's for sure! Hubby and I were more subdued, but just as happy to be home with our little boy. Max is back at daycare for a short day today, I'm back at work for a short day, and his follow up at his doctor's is on Friday.

And let's hope that's the last of it.