What a Week!

Well, I've been trying to catch up on the blog chronologically, but I've just got to jump ahead to the present right now, and blog about this week. Whew, I'm glad it's over!
Last weekend Dawson had a bit of a runny nose, just like many other kids, and we thought nothing of it. Monday night, though, he was real restless as he slept, and finally called out for us around 4:00 a.m. We could tell right away he was having problems breathing. Inhaler at 4:30 did nothing, so we just monitored him closely until 7:30 when we could take him to our pediatrician.
This has happened two other times since the spring, and both times the doctor was able to get it under control, either through breathing treatments or an inhaler. Tuesday morning, however, the doctor tried several different things, to no avail, and sent us directly to be admitted to the hospital. Shocker! I could not believe it! I hadn't even showered yet, and here I was being told we'd be there until Thursday!
Thankfully, Dawson was a great patient, and despite being tethered to a hospital bed by an IV, an oxygen tube, and a pulse ox monitor, he kept a pleasant demeanor for most of the two days we were there! Poor guy even had to endure FIVE ATTEMPTS at placing his IV, but after that, he charmed every employee who came in, with a mischievious grin and a friendly "Hi!"
He enjoyed his deliveries of balloons, snacks and stuffed animals. He received goodie bags of toys and books and food. Friends visited us in the hospital, friends pulled through and kept life going for the other 3 kids, and friends delivered dinner to our home. And we know that friends said many prayers as well! THANK YOU!!!
I took several pictures of Dawson throughout our time there, but I don't know how to get them off my phone onto this blog. I texted them to some people, though, and he is pretty darn cute!
There's much more I could say about our time there, but ulitmately, he had a nasty viral infection that settled in his lungs and caused much inflammation. He has steadily improved, though, and we were actually released late Wednesday night instead of Thursday.
On more story, though, about our discharge. The doctor told us at 7:00 p.m. that we could go home. He said it would take about 45 min. for discharge, so I called Brian to have him and the kids come help us carry everything out of the hospital room. Well, over an hour later we hadn't seen any progress in releasing us, so I called our nurse in to the room. I asked if it would be all right for Brian to take the kids home because it was past bedtime and Dawson was getting really tired and fussy. I said I'd stay and sign the paperwork, and she said "Sure!" Sweet! So about 8:30, Brian and the kids head home. Forty-five minutes later the nurse finally comes back, and asks if she can give Dawson his final dose of medicine. She stopped short, though, and looked around the room for Dawson. "He went home with my husband, remember?" I said. "The patient???" she screamed. "Yes, that's what we asked you!" "I thought you meant your other kids!" she replied. I'm thinking, why would we ask your permission to take home our other kids, who had just arrived in order to take Dawson home???
"OH S--T!" was her response! The woman was freaking out right in front of my eyes! Then she starts talking to herself, saying "okay, okay, well, I did his final assessment, it's going to be allright, yes, it'll be okay", etc. She was probably thinking "I'm gonna get fired!" Finally she left to go get my paperwork. Forty five minutes later she came back in, much calmer, and let me sign the papers. I apologized for the miscommunication, and she was so nice and said she was glad Dawson had gotten to go home to sleep, since discharge had taken 3 hours! ;-)

So, Thursday morning we're all wiped out and exhausted from Dawson's ordeal. The three older kids head off to school and Brian to work. 11:00 comes, and I get a phone call from Peyton's Kindergarten teacher that she had been injured on the way to their field trip to the ASU Petting Zoo! Someone needs to come look at a laceration between her nose and lip. She was riding in a parent's van, and was swinging an unlatched seatbelt from the empty seat next to her. It flew up in her face and cut her! Brian could get there quicker, so he heads over. Yes, she needs to go to the doctor, he decides, so he takes her to an urgent care place nearby. I soon follow with Dawson and her insurance card. And here I go again, making 15 million phone calls trying to get the other kids picked up from school and off to playdates, and notifying the schools. Then the doctor there decides they can't do anything since it crosses down into her lip, and she was afraid they couldn't get it lined up properly with just glue and steri-strips. Of course by then, the ENT's office was closed for lunch! So, we take Peyton out to lunch and wait until they re-open at 1:00. Once we arrived, they were in no hurry to get her seen, which did not please this mama! Did they not understand that her face was split open (slight exaggeration) and was much more serious than all the minor earaches sitting out in the lobby???
Finally the doctor saw her, and he was so good! He explained that either he could inject two numbing shots INTO the laceration and then stitch it up, which usually won't work with children, or we could take her over to the hospital, put her under general anesthesia and stitch her up that way. Peyton heard this discussion, and we talked about it a little more. I reminded her of her Kindergarten shots, which she had not cried about at all, or said they could give her medicine to go to sleep. She said "Gimme the shots!" Wow!
So, the doctor begins, and let me tell you, our little Peyton did not flinch, did not utter a word, did not shed a tear! She held perfectly still while he gave her two shots inside the cut, and then sewed three stitches! He and the nurse were thoroughly shocked and said they had never seen anything like that! Peyton has always been such a tough cookie!
So, here she is, the morning after, with a big fat lip and three stitches! Still cute, though! Swelling is going down, and stitches come out next Thursday. Of course, school pictures are this Tuesday---won't that be a great Kindergarten memory? ;-)
So, we are DONE, let me repeat, D-O-N-E, with doctors and hospitals for the week! Thankfully, we had an uneventful day today, and are looking forward to a fun weekend! Thanks again to all who helped! We love you!