Our ER visit on Friday the 19th!

So Shannon texted me on Friday afternoon and told me Aly had fallen and got a scrape/rug burn on her chin, she just wanted to let me know since JV was picking her up that day. Well when I got home I realized that her lips were really swollen and she had a scrape on her tongue. I figured her tooth scraped her tongue when she fell and she had been sucking on her Passy a lot so I figured that was the cause of the swollen lips. Aly isn’t a big passy kid, only usually in the car and for sleeping so to have in in for several hours I thought maybe her mouth just wasn’t use to it. We gave her some Tylenol and Benadryl and put her to bed around 8:00pm. Well at 8:34 she woke up and crying and her lips were huge. JV and I decided we needed to take her to the ER because we were afraid of it being an allergic reaction. I put her in the car and noticed that she wasn’t breathing well and was being lethargic so we decided to go to the fire station first because it was a lot closer.

So we ran into the fire station (me with no shoes on and looking a mess) and they checked her over and said her tongue and lips were swollen and they figured it was an allergic reaction but because her lungs were clear and she was getting good oxygen they were going to let us take her to the ER, so we did. Well on the way the lady from the Egelston call center called me back (I had left a message about 20 mins before) and I told her what the firemen had said and she said to me “how close are you to the hospital?” I told her about 5 or 6 mins. “I think you should pull over and call 911!” Well as you can imagine that scared me pretty good. I felt that we could get there quicker then an ambulance could get to us and back to the hospital so I told JV to drive faster.

I was able to get Aly to give me high fives so she was responding pretty good and after running through 2 parking ticket booths and yelling at 1 attendant that didn’t understand “open the gate now, where is the ER?” we made it.

They took her back immediately and gave her an eppy pin shot and started looking at things. It was organized ciaos for a few mins with two different nurses, one doctor and us. After about 10 mins they put us in a room just to observe her for a bit. They gave her some pain medication and another liquid steroid to help with the lip swelling. She was pretty calm surprisingly but she was really tired. I think it was about 12:00 when they gave us some Maalox and Benadryl to put on her mouth and some applesauce to have her eat (we got there a little after 9:00pm). When she did eat they felt comfortable letting us go home but they still didn’t really know what was wrong at that point. They didn’t think it was an allergic reaction because the only symptom was the swollen lips. They decided that it was a trama from the fall earlier. They gave us a few prescriptions and sent us on our way. Being that we were at Gwinnett Medical they did all for her there that they could and if things got worse then we would have to go to a children’s hospital.

When we got home Aly slept pretty well. We put the pack N Play in our bed room so I could watch her and she slept till about 8:00am after all the meds. Sat went pretty good she had a lot of good moments and a few rough ones but we thought we were doing ok. She wasn’t drinking much because of the scrape on her tongue but was eating ok. Then Saturday night she started not feeling good again so I decided I would take her to the doctor in the morning if we made it through the night with out having to go to the emergency room. I did get her to drink a small glass of Gatorade out of the syringe so I felt better about that.

I went to Snellville peds on Sunday morning and as soon as Mrs. Joiner looked in her mouth she saw a lot of sores which meant Hand foot mouth diseases. It’s a lot of ulcer like sores all around the inside of her mouth, so its pretty painful and she has thrush (a yeast infection in the mouth). I asked the ER doctor specifically if that’s what it was when we were there but she said no its not. So it seemed to be in the beginning stages on Friday and fully developed on Saturday. How she got these we have no idea but they are pretty common in young children. Its a viral disease so there isn't a cure, it just has to heal and we can try and treat the symptoms. Sunday she did ok but still didn’t drink much. Monday morning she did ok and I decided to take her to Shannon’s for a bit so I could go to work for a few hours. In all honesty I needed a break (it was funny b/c she didn't cry when I left, so I think she was tried of me too LOL). She did really well and Shannon got her to drink so fluids so that was GREAT news.

As of today, Tuesday, I’m still really concerned about her fluids and really really hoping she starts drinking soon so we don’t have to go back to the hospital for IV fluids. She doesn’t want anything to do with her milk in the morning and night which is weird for her, she just turns her head and says “no” at the sight of it. Shannon has her today and John and Alice are going to keep her tomorrow so hopefully she will start feeling better soon and get back to her happy self. Last night she woke up a lot between 8:30pm and 1:00am so I brought her back into our room a little after 1:00am and she slept till 5:00, then from about 5:30 till 6:40am so that was good. Some much needed sleep for mommy and daddy too. I think she just doesn’t like being alone when she is sick, she feels better knowing we are right there.

So all in all we were lucky that it wasn’t an allergic reaction and wasn’t more serious then it was. It was so scary. I’m glad to know what it is so we can treat it and make it go away. And even more thankful that it was this weekend and not when we were in Las Vegas!!! Please keep us in your prayers and we hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

We love you!