Surprise me.

(I wrote this last week)

You know how one monkey falls off the bed/bumps his head and the rest follow suit? Well that’s kind of how the last week has been…

*Edit: No one has literally fallen of the bed.

A week from last Friday Bennett’s cough had gotten progressively worse, it still hadn’t gone away from having the flu in DECEMBER. I knew 100% he had strep. We took him to the only pediatrician at the regular office who had an opening, not his specific doctor. She swabbed him, negative. He never has a fever with strep, just a distinct cough. She chalked it up to allergies due to the pollen being SO high. We had a low key weekend but spent some time with my brother, his wife and her family. Monday morning I got a call from the pediatrician… “soooo we sent off a throat culture to the lab (protocol) and he actually does have strep”. Great, so we shared those lovely germs with exactly how many people?!!??? (Including baby sister, who we can’t help but kissing her cheeks) Aside from that, I was extremely frustrated due to the fact that he could have been recovering all weekend and be healthy for school for the week. Whatever. Bryan left work to pick him up from school, while I headed home as well so that he could get back to work. Ben took the antibiotics and was excited to spend the day playing with legos…. I mean “resting”. Bryan headed back to work and eventually Bennett went to bed.

Brenna does this lovely thing where she cries for 2-3 hours at night. Did I mention I was under-the-weather too? Any who, around 9:30pm I heard weird sounds coming from my bedroom where Ben is sleeping. He’s puking. I can deal with puke, but add a fussy baby, a sick self and being sleep deprived?? I called Bryan to ask him to come home. I started a bath for Ben. I looked over at him (on the toilet, sorry I will spare the details) and he was pale as a ghost. I told him to come get in the bathtub to clean himself up. He takes a few steps and collapses. Luckily I was able to catch him and lower him to the ground. He was completely out. It felt like an eternity, in reality it was probably about 30 seconds.

Recently someone asked me if I turn my paramedic-brain or mommy-brain on when something happens to my kids. I can tell you the answer to that; mommy-brain. I 100% panicked. I called 911. The dispatcher was amazing at his job, while getting all the necessary information he was still able to calm me down from a full-on panic attack. All the while, Bryan is on his way home. His fire department has an app that sends through addresses of calls dispatched, he saw our address on his screen.

In the 10-12 minutes it took for the fire department and paramedics to get here, Bennett was lethargic and shivering, almost gray in color. The pulse oximeter he uses at home wasn’t registering anything. He started mumbling about Uncle Bub and Jackie Robinson. Two of his favorite people in Heaven. So as if I wasn’t panicking enough already, you can imagine my hysterics.

I can NOT tell you the amount of relief I felt when the firefighters walked through the front door. I’ve never been on this side of the experience, and I’ve never realized how much trust that patient and their family put in you.

While they were helping Ben to the stretcher, Bryan made it home. I quickly told him what happened and we were on our way to Texas Children’s in the Woodlands. Bryan stayed home with Brenna, who was on our bed just looking around and smiling. (Go figure).

I wasn’t allowed to ride in the back with Ben, but I know it was for the best. Ben was so brave. On the way there I called his dad and my mom, they both got there in record time.

Once we got there, the charge nurse took one look at him and pointed to Room 2. This is the room they put REALLY sick kids in, whether it be medical or trauma related. Bennett was very hypotensive and his heart rate was in the 160s. He was FREEZING cold to the touch. I’m doing everything in my power to stay out of the way, but keep him awake in fear that something bad will happen if he falls asleep. One of the many nurses in the room took my hand and placed it on Bennett’s chest. “He’s breathing Mom, he’s okay. Keep your hand here.” Bennett’s little body was shunting his blood to his organs, so that explains why his arms and hands were so cold. My mom drove over to our house so Bryan could come up to the hospital with us.

Bryan saved the day and brought Ben his beloved “black blanket” and some clean clothes for me. Black blanket has been around for about 5 years, and man you can tell.

After an IV, blood work, cultures and swabs, everyone kind of fizzled out. So we sit and wait. What the hell is going on?

While feeling like total crap, Ben still managed to make us laugh. Ben was begging for something to drink. The nurse asked him “yellow or blue Gatorade?” Ben peaked his eyes open and said “just surprise me.”

We waited 6 hours to find out. During those hours his fever spiked. A stomach bug, on top of the strep throat. Literally. Something so common can make my sweet boy so sick. After a few liters of fluid, medications and rest we were free to go home (Tuesday morning).

Ben had a high fever for the rest of Tuesday, along with stomach issues. By Wednesday we concluded that it was in fact a bug, as I was the next victim. I think in the past 10 days there’s been 9 of us that got it. In the midst of all the Coronavirus hysteria, who knew it would be a stomach bug that made us all feel like crap. **knock on wood** Everyone is doing better, as far as I know. Ben followed up with the pediatrician last Friday, who suspected possible pneumonia (secondary to strep). Luckily he was already on the right antibiotics to treat it. She started him on steroids and breathing treatments 4 times a day and it helped drastically!!

Thank you all for always praying for our family and our sweet boy. I personally have been having a hard time getting over seeing Ben like that. My mom will tell me to turn it over to God. I pray and pray and pray some more but I literally lay awake at night just so I can hear him breathe. We have recently been looking for a church to join in our area. We have visited a couple, but nothing that felt like “our” church. So if you live in the Magnolia area, I would love some suggestions.

Hopefully everyone is enjoying their extended Spring Break 😉