Saturday's Weather Forecast

Saturday's weather forecast for the Oakland, CA area called for sunny skies with temperature's in the mid to high 70's on Saturday. It wasn't that warm at 8 in the morning at Point Isabel where we take our dog for a walk every weekend. Our routine includes Twig in the stroller, since there are lots of dogs, most that are larger than a grown man, running around off-leash chasing balls, sticks, the wind, or other dogs. A thirty pound toddler likely looks like an interactive chew toy for most of these beasts, and I'm a freak, so we require him to be in the stroller for our weekend walks there. He happily watches the dogs play, eats some snacks, and listens to his favorite Sesame Street tunes on the MP3 player. All the while Wood and I walk at a relatively quick clip, throw the ball for the dog, and try to chat a bit.

After we did our normal routine yesterday, we headed over to the El Cerrito TJ's to get some food. Almost as soon as we walked into the store, Twig said his stomach hurt. His face got all contorted, he winced rather loudly, his face turned as white as a ghost, and then he looked like he was going to pass out. This happened several more times over a period of about 10 minutes but the pain turned into full-on screaming and crying followed by this paleness and this looking like he was going to pass out. Wood and I were frightened.

In the car, he fell asleep almost immediately. While we drove home I thought about the morning. What could be making his tummy hurt like this? What did he eat for breakfast? Are there any chemicals out and/or in his reach that he could have gotten into? He had been a grump for the past couple of days, and reportedly had a bad listening day at school on Friday, so for the past day or so I figured he was on his way to getting the same green nose-cold that the rest of the kids at School have. Oh, he's been eating chalk! I called the doctor's office, who referred me to the Poison Control, who said that "chalk is just like Tums, that would make his stomach hurt less, not more". Okay, the chalk isn't going to kill him. Whew!

We decided to run errands while he slept. All of a sudden, he woke up screaming holding his stomach, writhing in pain. This was immediately followed by paleness, sweats, and lethargy. Repeat the earlier scene, just more intense. We were on a busy street with lots of activity. You know, one of those quaint neighborhood streets with lots of stores, restaurants, families, etc. The only thing that piqued a tiny bit of interest was a woman in a power wheelchair who whizzed past us. Otherwise, people with balloons, children squealing with delight, and a woman pandering for money by singing and playing the banjo solicited only a very meek "Mommy, it's music" from him.

I called the Doctor's office again, despite the fact that they were closing in 10 minutes and explained the situation. I was guaranteed a call back by the doc who was working today.

The pain, screaming out loud, and lethargy continued to intensify so without a call back from the doctor's office so 30 minutes later Wood and I decided to go directly to the Emergency Room at Children's Hospital. We got a call back from our doctor's office while we were in the waiting room. She said that the hospital doctors would be better able to help find out what was going on than she would over the phone.

Twig was being seen by a doctor within an hour of our initial arrival at the Emergency Room, having periodic but very intense pain. When being examined, he had severe pain in the upper right side of his abdomen. Otherwise, everything was normal.

The doctor left the room to blow her nose and came back to tell us her preliminary diagnosis: Intussusception - one portion of the bowel slides into the next, much like the pieces of a telescope. When this occurs, it creates an obstruction in the bowel, with the walls of the intestines pressing against one another. This, in turn, leads to swelling, inflammation, and decreased blood flow to the intestines involved. Her plan: they would put an IV in his arm, send us for an ex-ray and ultrasound of his abdomen, and go from there. Wood and I both knew that this was serious but were both trying to being as patient and objective as possible.

In about 10 minutes, the nurse and a helper were in our room to place an IV in Twig's arm. What a trooper this kid is. He chatted up the two nurses (the helper, a very large man named Dave, who was prepped and ready to hold him down should screaming, hitting and kicking ensue) about this great book by Jon Scieszka, school activities, and other niceties. When the most fabulous male nurse was preparing to poke him with the needle the second time - and my son had absolutely no problem with it - it hit me that they were preparing him to be ready in case he needed emergency surgery on his intestines. I excused myself for about 2 minutes to go to the bathroom (read: cry my eyes out in another room so that my son wouldn't see my panic). When I returned, the nurse said that in his 25 years of nursing children, he'd never had a patient so easy to set an IV. Wood and I honestly believe that Dave was genuinely disappointed that he didn't have anything to do. He was grateful to Twig for the story recommendation for his 5 year old, though.

We went for the x-ray and then the ultrasound - where again this two year old kid did everything he was told with absolutely no whining, crying, or refusal of any kind. And while the radiologist did the ultrasound (a blockage was seen on the x-ray) we listened intently to the problem being seen and the possible diagnoses. The colon is thickened and swollen, there are many swollen lymph nodes in the area but the kidneys look good. It could be intussusception (not likely but you never know), there could be bleeding in the intestines which is causing the swelling and thickening of the colon, and/or some bacterial or viral disease process happening. We were sent back to the Emergency Room to talk to the Doctor.

Before the doctor came back, the nurse brought a bag of fluid in and said that Twig needed to have this. We'd have to wait to see the doctor until she heard back from the Radiologist as to the results of the x-ray and ultrasound. Twig was feeling better - no intermittent screaming from the pain for about 2 hours - he wanted to eat and drink and was being a typical two year old turd so being connected to the IV machine was a bit trying.

When the doctor came back (it wasn't the original one), she said that they're not exactly sure what's going on. They don't think that intussusception is an immediate concern and they're going to treat him for the bacterial or viral option (the treatment is IV fluid therapy) and need to do some tests on his stool to try to determine what is going on. We were sent home with a sack to collect some poop from his next bowel movement. We were told to bring back the stool sample as soon as possible after collecting it, to bring him back to the hospital immediately if his pain increases again, he stops peeing, has a high fever (101) for more than 2-3 days, or has diarrhea more than 12 times in 1 day. We are to see our regular doctor Monday or Tuesday for follow up on the results of the stool culture(s). The final diagnosis: inflammation to the intestine.

We went home after 6 hours in the Emergency Room, having missed the glorious weather, but knowing that we made the right decision to follow our instincts and head directly to the hospital. Granted, we're not completely out of the woods on this. But, our son isn't in excruciating pain, screaming, or looking like he's going to pass out. His eyes have those tired bags underneath them, but a little worse than usual this morning (which is always a sign to me that he's sick) even though he slept pretty well last night. But he has only eaten toast and two bites of banana in the last 24 hours. This morning, he's happily watching television. He's usually bored by the end of the first episode of Sesame Street. He's had two already and just started on Charlie and Lola. He can sit there and watch as long as he wants today.