Knock on wood...ya right

The more I say it, the more chance of higher the chance of something bad happening. It seems like lately, I've been telling LOTS of people, "He's GREAT!!!" "No surgery for a year!" "Haven't been to an ER in ages." The increase is probably due to back to school and catching up with people from the summer. But I really need to say, "He's fine." And leave it at that.

Last week, I had a cold, and this week, Parker and Jack, and now Emma came down with it. Jack, well, he gets bad...fast. Last year, he ended up in the hospital for 3 days, from a cold. So I've been watching him close, waiting for the fever spike, which he is so good at. And we all know, I'm always on shunt alert.

He took a LONG nap yesterday, over 3 hours, but he's sick. No big deal. Then last night around 9:00, he started getting fussy. Now sure all two yr olds are fussy. Not him. The fussiness turned into whimpering, and grabbing his head, rubbing his forehead, and cold sweats. I'd say, "Does your tummy hurt? Does you head hurt? Do your ears hurt?" A whimpered "YA", to all but ears, that one got a no. He went on for about an hour, crying, and whimpering, squinting his eyes, like it hurt to open them.

So I had Daddy ask him what was wrong. Maybe he could get more information. Now he's telling us, his elbow and knees hurt. Um...maybe it's time to stop asking. So after about an hour an a half of this, I decided to take him in. So now is the dilemma, drive across the street, or 20 min to the hospital that takes care of children. *sigh*

I headed to PCMC, but had the most sickening feeling, I should stay close to home. I didn't WANT to go to the "BIG hospital". I wanted a CT scan-they don't have one for kids, with the little papoose board, to snuggle them in. They don't know I'm not a hysterical mother, and I actually know what I'm talking about. They won't have "KID STUFF" readily available. These are the things that have been going through my mind for the last hour. But it was 11:00 at night. PCMC is FAR away at 11:00 at night, even further in the middle of the night, when we are done. And the BIG hospital, I can see from my driveway. I can read the sign on top of it. So I followed my gut, turned around, and drove 3 minutes to the BIG hospital.

He's still a little whimpery, but better. They ask me what's going on, and I say, "It's either a sinus infection, or his shunt is failing." *rolling eyes* They got us right back, we never even sat in the waiting room. Luckily, there was noone there. Of course he charmed the pants off everyone in triage. :) He was told at least 3 times last night, you are the BEST patient I've had ALL DAY!! heehee

Fortunatly, they realized RIGHT away, ;) I knew what I was talking about, and did everything I asked them to do. The Dr even said, "What do you want us to do?" YIPPEE!!!! The imaging guy, was BLOWN away at how good Jack was. Duh...They all were really. Oh how I love those moments. What I really love is the way people melt when Jack tells them "thank you" in sign. Seriously, the cutest thing you ever saw.

The Ct scan was of course in a HUGE machine! Nothing to snuggle my little bug, but he did GREAT! Such a trooper! Just laid there and smiled. The tech was running around trying to figure out how to get the best pictures. Cuz ya know, it was an adult machine. But we got it all figured out.

So...shunt it fine, YA! But, as the radiologist, and Dr said, "He has an impressive Sinus infection." Now I'm not sure, if they don't see many kids with clefts, or kids at all for that matter, but in any case, every sinus passage he has, is filled with crap.

One other cool thing, the guy who checked us in, came back, and said, "So now I know what a VP shunt is." Apparently he didn't know, and had googled it. Then we let him feel is on his head, and since he got his hair cut, you can see the tubing. This guy thought it was the coolest thing. The guy works in the ER of the largest hospital in Utah. Crazy.

So I'm REALLY glad we went across the street for a sinus infection. Besides, I figured, if it WAS his shunt, maybe we could have gotten a ride, to PCMC. Ambulance rides are cheaper then gas right???