Wow, that was a doozy!

I don't normally use words like doozy, but I can't really describe the last few days any other way.  I'll put it this way:  having a really sick little toddler is NOT fun.

Our poor guy, every time we thought he was better this weekend he would have a relapse.  Between the spew, the poo, and the lack of sleep my man and I were feeling it big time by Sunday.  In fact, Kevin found himself in the bathroom riding things out on a blanket with a magazine.  Poor guy. I think it was because he was the one constantly handling the messed towels and blankets and such.  He took one for the team there.

Rusty was, well, a puzzling case.  On Sunday we were almost sure he was back to himself, but we couldn't return him to daycare until his systems "were go."  That meant a day at home for us yesterday.  I came down with some nausea myself yesterday and by last night I found myself standing in the kitchen with tears streaming down my face.  I had had it.  I was tired, I was queasy, I was dehydrated, and I just couldn't take another minute. 

We got Rusty ready for bed, hoping that the next day would be better.  Just as he was almost ready to go down, suddenly he was puking in the kitchen.  It had been over 24 hours since he had done that, and I just wanted to lose it!  I stood there, staring, so sad for my little guy that he was going through that again.  Once we got him cleaned up and changed, though, he seemed back to normal.  He was even giggling.  Thinking all was ok, we put him to bed and I followed shortly after. 

I woke at 10:15 to a screaming child.  When I say screaming, I mean it.  I don't think I have heard him scream like that, ever.  Even when he gets hurt and cries it isn't like that.  I took him and tried to calm him, but nothing was working.  The guy was just writhing around in pain.  He would calm for a millisecond and then let out a scream again.  We tried cuddling, we tried giving him water, we tried turning on Dora...nothing worked.  Finally, his little body stiffened up and he let out another shrill cry and that was it.  I turned to Kevin and said, "I'm taking him in!"  Of course Kevin went along and off we went to our local hospital. 

One thing we are thankful of since moving to our new neighborhood is that we are now closer to the big hospital, the one where Rusty was born and that has a peds emergency unit.  Even though it took us forever to get in, it was at least nice to know our boy was actually seeing doctors trained as pediatricians.  Man is there a difference.  They are so reassuring to parents and to the children.  Their entire manner is just so gentle and kind and Rusty always responds to doctors like this better than others-although you wouldn't have known it in the waiting room!  We had told him we had to take him to the doctor to make sure he was ok and he cried all the way to the hospital, followed by more crying in the waiting room and him screaming, "I can't go to doctor!  I can't go to doctor!"  Once he got into the peds room it was a bit better and I was able to lie on the bed with him and rub his back.  An hour later we had finally been seen and he was basically diagnosed as having issues with his bowels working properly due to the illness and dehydration.  Poor guy. 

Today Kevin is home with him, while I stumbled off to work, half asleep-thanks to a 2 a.m. bedtime.  I have had updates from my guys and Rusty is doing great.  He ate quite a bit at breakfast, and again at lunch and even had a lot to drink.  Hopefully tonight he will sleep well, have no more "issues" and be back at daycare tomorrow.  He misses them!  Yesterday he was asking about playing with his teacher, and today Kev stopped by the daycare briefly so he could say hello.  Our sweet, little social butterfly has made a lot of good friends there in the past month. 

As for me?  I'm hoping we are turning a corner.  That me that thought I had everything together now has a house in shambles, a sore throat, extreme exhaustion, no groceries, and piles upon piles of marking to catch up on.  I am, however, surrounded by prayer and good friends, so what more can we ask for?

As we were going through all of this, something came to my mind.  I don't know why, but I kept thinking of parents that have to deal with children with cancer.  They have to make choices on whether or not their child should receive treatments that they hope will cure the cancer, but will inevitably make their child sicker than Rusty has been this weekend.  My heart simply broke.  I spent time that I was rocking Rusty in the night praying for these parents and children, people that I don't know, but that I care for anyway.  It made me wonder if there is something I can do to help them.  How can I get involved?  What can I do? 

Another thing that came to my mind is how absolutely thankful I am for Rusty's health on a normal basis.  When we went in last night and the front desk clerk was questioning us one of her questions was, "He is a normally healthy child?"  I thought about what it would be like to say no, to have a midnight trip to the hospital to be routine rather than the exception and I knew in that instant that even though we were exhausted and sad and worried, we were blessed.

How are you blessed?  What are you thankful for?