Life Is An Adventure: The Tummy Ache from H-E-L-L

For over 6 months now, Hannah has had these tummy aches that come and go. They cause her great pain, but typically end within a matter of 15-30 minutes, so I have never done much or really thought anything about them. . . until Tuesday morning. . .

I woke at 4am to her screaming on the bathroom floor. I went in and she was laying down sobbing with one of these episodes. She calmed down and I was able to lay her down. 30 minutes later, I again woke to her screaming on the bathroom floor. I calmed her down and put her back in bed. 30 minutes later, the same thing. This time we went to the couch so that we could snuggle. By 8 am, she had 6 attacks and I was on edge, thinking maybe it was her appendix, especially since she had never had more than 1 episode in a day. . .

Mid-morning, she began with an attack and it quickly escalated to a level I had never seen. It was hands down, the absolute worst episode I had ever seen. Seeing her like that truly terrified me. I called daddy and told him we were off to get her looked at. . .

We started out at a place called Crucial Care, had I been thinking and in the right frame of mind, I would have brought her directly to Wolfson Children's Hospital, but I was not. I think I was truly just praying and hoping that it was nothing serious.

Once we got there, they saw how miserable she was and started everything quickly - The doc came in and attempted to examine Hannah, but Hannah would not let the doc even touch her. They drew labs and tried to place an IV (after 2 sticks, they decided to not place the IV), ordered a CT Scan, and ran a urinalysis. The UA came back clean, but her labs were off. Some were high, others were low. Most alarming to this untrained eye was her white blood count, which was 20,400 - normal is 4,000 - 10,000. . .

Shortly after this, the results came in. My brave princess was sent back for her CT, but prior to this, they had to place an IV. They had already stuck her twice and were having no luck, but we HAD to get this line in. Finally, after 3 more attempts and many tears from Hannah, her brothers, and myself, we had a line and she was brought to CT. Initially they were going to give her something to make her a bit drowsy, but I asked if we could hold off as she was SO miserable and was not moving anyhow. They agreed and Hannah did perfectly! Even holding her breath when she was asked!

After the CT was read, we were told what was going on. My sweet girl was dealing with intussusception - basically her small intestines were telescoping in on themselves. This can be incredibly painful, hence everything that I was seeing. With this, the decision was made that we needed to go to the children's hospital for further evaluation as this can be VERY dangerous - resulting in bowel rupture, bowel death, sepsis, and worse. . .

Daddy arrived and picked up the boys and I frantically drove Hannah to the ER hoping and praying that she would be okay. I was scared, but I could not share that. I had to be strong for my baby. . .

When we made it to the ER, I parked, and went as fast as I could. Within minutes, we were through triage and in a room seeing the doctor. Fluids and an ultrasound were ordered. And then she and I just snuggled on that gurney and waited and prayed. I tried to distract her with some TV and, finally, about 7 hours after the attack began, the pain was begining to lessen. About an 90 minutes after we arrived in the ER, we were brought to ultrasound and Praise God, there was no intussusception seen! If they had seen it, Hannah would have been brought into emergency surgery to correct it and figure out WHY it is happening. . .

So, we returned to the ER and then we were sent up to our room. Finally by 3am, the docs had finished coming in and we were set to sleep. Hannah had already been sleeping for many hours, only waking when the MANY docs would so much as touch her tummy. When 4am came, however, the door opened and in walked out nurse. She calmly told me that they would need more labs. . . more sticks for my sweet girl. They tried the IV with no luck, so we went to the treatment room. The first stick was in her wrist, but that one did not work and all of her other 'good' areas were used, so they went with her left ankle and I think this was hands down the most traumatizing event of the entire ordeal! During the midst of her screams however, she clear as day yelled, "GIVE ME FOOD!" Sadly, there was to be no food as she was on a clear food diet :-( But, we all survived it and she even was able to choose from the treasure chest. In typical Hannah fashion, she asked Nurse Jane if she could have 2 treasures; 1 for Wesley and 1 for Robert. We quickly told her 'no', that she had to choose 3! Then Nurse Jane left the treatment room and returned with a pink squeeze ball and a purple and pink silly band for that brave girl!

We returned to the room and waited for more docs. The peds team and surgeon came early and all gave us their opinion, which was that they needed to have the radiology team at this hospital review the ct from Crucial Care as the intussusception is very rare in 4 1/2 year olds. They also put in a referral for GI. . .

We went about our day - spending quality time together. Resting. Doing a craft in the playroom. Attending a MOSH experiment on the 5th floor. Playing games. Reading. Coloring. Making the most out of our hospital time!

Finally around 2:30p, the GI doc came in. She was very kind and confirmed that Hannah DID have an intussusception episode the day prior. Obviously, it had resolved by this point, but we now have to figure out why this is happening, as it is not normal in kiddos over age 2. From what we described, the doc said it sounds like a Meckel's Diverticulum. This occurs in about 2% of the population, is seen mainly in males, and is congenital. After an exam, she agreed that Hannah was stable and doing well. That the attack was over at this point. The doc left our room to speak with the rest of Hannah's team as to what the next step should be. . .

After a bit, our room phone rang and it was our peds team. They were at St. Vincent's and preparing to deliver a baby, so could not come over, but they wanted to speak with us before we went home. I was completely uneasy about leaving with no answers and a new found fear of the what ifs, but again, Praise God for allowing a wonderful friend there during this time to sit with me and hear my frustrations (thank you SO much, Wendi!) Before we left, however, they wanted to gather a stool sample (not an easy task for someone who has not eaten in 2 days) and get more labs. They also talked to me about d/c instructions and all of that good stuff!

Hannah absolutely lost it when I told her that they needed to draw more blood and with huge eyes told me that she NEVER EVER wants 8 shots again. Followed by her tummy does not hurt so why do they have to hurt her. With that, I lost it! She was again, SO brave!

After the blood draw, we started pumping her full of apple juice so that we could leave. As we were about to walk to the playroom, the surgeon came back in to talk to me. He wanted to go over the plan in person and talk to me about what all of this means. Basically, we all agree that this has been going on for quite some time. And each attack, her intestines are becoming more involved raising the risk for problems and complications, major complications that scare me just thinking about them. He wrote down his cell and told me that when she has another attack, because if this is a Meckel's like they think, she will have another, to call him immediately. He will meet us in the ER and perform an ultrasound. If they see the intussusception on the ultrasound, they will take her immediately to the OR to get a good look as to why. After speaking with him, I felt MUCH better. I at least knew that he understood - he even hugged me before he left, which meant a great deal to me.

After 2 hours, Hannah did what she needed and we left. When we arrived home, Daddy had taken the boys to CCD class which gave Hannah and I time to clean up and just snuggle. She was so ready to see her brothers as she missed them SO much. When they finally arrived home, there was so much screaming in the house, that I am sure the neighbors heard us! The boys gave her the ICEE they picked up for her and Hannah gave them their silly bands. They were just all full of giggles and smiles and everyone went to bed incredibly happy!