Well this has been quite the December all ready! We arrived back to Florida on December 3, 2012. Thrilled to be back and looking forward to spending the next week checking out all the new “stuff” at the parks. Tuesday the 4th we headed over to Magic Kingdom for a couple of hours, of course as soon as we got there both babies fell asleep. So Pat and I went to the New Fantasyland and got a roasted pork shank and ate while we walked around. Oh we also stopped in Tomorrowland at Auntie Annies and got sundaes too. Yummy! I did get a couple of good pictures, and learned that the Christmas Wreaths were down from Main Street USA because they had been filming in the parks, but that they would be put back up that night.
We left MK and decided to hit Wal Mart, as we needed to get food and household stuff. On the way there, Courtney filled her diaper. Now sitting in the front seat, I could only smell the dirty diaper, but not see what damage was actually done. We park and I grab Courtney out of the car seat and hold her with her back to me as I take her into the store to go change her. I had NO idea how bad the situation was because I just didn’t look. Once inside of the bathroom, I started to assess the situation, and it was BAD. I mean bad in the way that I had diarrhea all down the front of my shirt, her clothes were completely soiled, and Patrick wasn’t anywhere near. I stripped her down and bathed her in the sink, it was the only way to get her clean. Several older ladies decided this was the time to laugh and joke about the situation, yes I can see the humor in it, but really when a mom is covered in poop with a SCREAMING baby in the Wal Mart sink, NOT the time to make jokes and laugh at her. I put her diaper on and Patrick brought me a pair of pj’s to put her in. I then went and grabbed a shirt for me. Looking back, this should have alerted me to the upcoming week, but it didn’t. I had no idea what we were in for. Oh and we didn’t shop this evening, we did the diaper changes and left. I was worn out from all the poo…
We get home from our adventure at Wally World, and go about our evening. Somewhere in the 7 o’clock hour things start to get interesting, Carson throws up. So we scoop him up and put him in the bath, of course Courtney joins him as well. After they are all cleaned, we get jammies on them and set them up with a movie while they play. I then proceed to get on the phone, as I had scheduled to interview Laura Kelly for a feature on Homeketeers. During my call with Laura, I am watching the babies play in front of me, and thinking it must have been a fluke that Carson got sick, he seems fine. Boy was I wrong…. As I am starting to wrap up the interview, Courtney laying on the floor with her doll between the couch and the coffee table, Carson standing over her pushing his car on the coffee table, and slowly I see it start to happen. Carson’s mouth open, he turns to look at me, thus ensuring his head is now directly over his sisters. He then proceeds to puke again, but this time it goes right onto his sister’s head. Yeah I ended up hanging up on Laura (Sorry Laura!) and grabbing babies for another bath.
He continued to throw up, dry heave and have the runs all night, by morning I could tell he was dehydrated, and decided we needed to take him into the ER for some fluids. So we loaded up in the van and headed to the Celebration Florida Hospital. Once we got there, we got right in. Literally no one there! Now I am pleased with the prompt service but not with the medical care we received there. Here is a condensed version with a list of the facts and details:
Wednesday 12/05/2012 (Angel’s 20th B-Day!)
Arrive at ER – Carson’s heart rate 169 – They can’t find a fever on him, even though looking at him, touching him and his vitals all point to he has one (me, a nurse and a dr all make this assessment) – No IV – He was given 4mg of Zofran (An Adult dosage!?!!!?!) – Some Motrin – Two Popsicles – Since his fever was brought down by the Motrin, he was feeling better, so we were sent on our way with a prescription for Zofran at 4mg!!!!!!!!!
About 4 hours later at home Carson spikes a fever to 103 – No more throwing up – Bad Diarrhea – Sleeps for 15 hours straight!
Thursday 12/06/2012
Carson – Still not feeling well, fever, diarrhea all day and throws up twice today – Zofran (1/2 a pill given once)
Courtney – She starts throwing up in the middle of the afternoon, diarrhea starts at the same time (I give her 1/2 a Zofran twice, but it doesn’t stop her throwing up)
Friday 12/07/2012
1 am – I start with the throwing up and diarrhea – I am in bed all day
Carson – spent all day in bed with me, he continued to throw up and have diarrhea
Courtney – Threw up once, bad diarrhea all day and a new cough
by early evening I tell Pat it is time to go back to the Hospital – We load up and head back to the Celebration Florida Hospital Emergency Room
I will say at this point, Pat is quite the trooper, as I am completely miserable, both babies are miserable and he is having to take care of us all. We get checked in, and eventually get back to a room. Of course we forgot to bring any bottles for Courtney in our haste to get out the door. This is how our visit played out:
Me: IV fluids, Zofran, blood work- My blood work came back ok, so after a couple of bags of fluid, I got to be done. Boy did those help too!
Carson: IV Fluids, blood work – Carson’s blood work came back not so good, it showed he was dehydrated and his glucose levels were really low, so he got iv fluids, and a bag of dextrose (I think) and he had to be admitted – more on that below –
Courtney: Fever of 102.6 when we got there, so she got Tylenol and a chest x-ray – x-ray ended up clear, and her fever returned a few hours later, so they gave her Motrin, and then released her. Eventually (5 hours after being there) they brought us a bottle of pedialyte for her.
Saturday 12/08/2012
At 3am an ambulance comes to transport Carson over to the main hospital, as the Celebration branch doesn’t have a pediatrics unit. So Carson and I take a ride in the ambulance over to the Walt Disney Children’s Hospital, inside of the Florida Hospital, while Pat and Courtney follow us in the van. Once we get there, we get put into room 6311. Courtney has a major diarrhea blow out diaper, and now has no pants left to wear. After all the intake questions and vital checks we finally get to go to bed for the night, it is now 4:30 in the morning.
Around 9am, Courtney is up and running a fever again. We ask if they can give us anything for her, or where we can purchase some in the hospital. Yeah, so a lesson learned. On Saturday’s the hospital gift shop is closed. (WTF?!?!?!?) So Patrick looks up the closest WalMart and takes Courtney with him as they head out to get her some medicine and some clothes to wear.
10 am – I get a call from Patrick, Courtney has thrown up everywhere in the van. I tell him to take her back to the ER, but do it at the hospital we are at now.
Carson’s Nurse this day is Michelle – Nice enough, we saw her a few times in the morning and then from around 11am to 7pm we really didn’t see her. Learned that they don’t feed patients automatically. Have to order meals for him, and it takes 45 minutes or more to get it. Food here SUCKS! I had no idea it was possible to make some of things on their menu taste as bad as it does! He has terrible diarrhea all day, I end up covered in it and in Pat’s slicker pants.
Courtney – In the ER, she gets an IV and they do blood work. Her CO2 levels are as bad as Carson’s, but her glucose is good. She gets admitted as well.
7:30 pm – She is put in room 6310 – They have to do a naked weight on her, so of course as soon as I pick her up from that she pees and diarreheas all over me, well there went the last of my clothes, Ben gets me a hospital gown and a pair of paper pants to wear
Carson – a stool sample is taken to test for a few things to see if they can pinpoint what is going on.
I am told that there is a family room, but there are patients (individual patients not another family) in them, but as soon as they open up they will move us.
Carson’s stool sample comes back positive for Rotavirus – we are now no longer allowed to leave the room and Contact precautions are enabled.
Courtney is put on the same precautions- So we have two babies in two separate rooms, that are on contact precautions and not allowed out of their rooms (they did let us take them into each other’s rooms though).
Nurses that evening and night:
Carson – Monica – WONDERFUL!!!!! Very attentive and she has an infectious laugh!
Courtney – Ben – Nice guy, again very attentive and always ready to help!
Sunday 12/09/2012
Carson’s Day Nurse – Michelle – saw her a few times in the morning, but then Courtney’s nurse pretty much took care of both babies all day. She was crying about being chewed out from another patient (a regular in room 6313) from what I heard through the grapevine. Eh don’t care, she was not available for my child and that was what was important to me
Courtney’s Day Nurse – Allison (I think) – I feel bad for not remembering for sure, as she did everything for both babies since Michelle disappeared again around 11am
Spent the day counting diarrhea diapers, and trying to get Carson to drink or eat. Courtney did great with taking in fluids, but her output was more than her input. Pat went back to the condo to get me clothes so I could get out of the paper pants and hospital gown. That was fun watching two babies on IV’s by myself!
Food service SUCKS! I ordered Courtney lunch at 1:25pm, it didn’t get to her until 3:15pm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have never been in a hospital where they don’t automatically feed their patients, but then to make a 1 year old wait 2 hours to get her lunch! It isn’t like they are actually cooking, it is all microwaved frozen foods. No joke. Their “oven roasted turkey” was lunch meat folded in half with instant gravy on it. LUNCH MEAT! I have never in my life been more appalled with food then I was here.
Night Nurses:
Carson: Monica
Courtney: Ben
Thank goodness for them, as they told me that there was a laundry area for patient use on the floor below us, and that they would find out more for me.
Monday 12/10/2012
Day Nurses:
Carson: Chris – Good nurse, our personalities didn’t match, but he is reliable and on it
Courtney: Sarah – Nothing to say about her, as we didn’t see her most of the day
Floor Secretary – Angela – a real BITCH. Bad attitude and unpleasant. She was the start to my bad day.
Chris helped me get access to do our laundry so I could get all the poop out of our clothes. Yeah! Carson had to have a new IV placed, but in the process of his other IV going bad, he got to have many hours without a tube and pole. He LOVED that and actually got down from the bed and played around the room. Courtney on the other hand had a pretty rough day and seemed to be worse.
I did ask the Nurse manager for different nurses tomorrow, Sarah was MIA and while Chris is a fine nurse, there was just a personality conflict and Carson was terrified of him.
Night Nurses:
Carson: Michelle
Courtney: Mackenzie
Both nurses were great and very attentive. Carson got his new IV placed by Mackenzie , and she did a great job!
Tuesday 12/11/2012
Day Nurses:
Carson & Courtney: I can’t remember their names for the life of me…
Floor Secretary: Angela – The BITCH is back, and full of her attitude again. I did end up confronting her. She started my day off bad on Monday and I didn’t want it again. She couldn’t shut up long enough for me to say anything to her, and just pissed me off more. So I went back to my room resigned to the fact that until she was off for the day, I wouldn’t ask for coffee or leave the floor for any reason.
Carson is doing much better, and his poops are pudding consistency! YEAH!!!! Courtney is still having a lot of diarrhea, but is eating better. At this point, I wanted out of there. The family room apparently never came available, or they decided to not move around anyone to put us in it. You would think that a family would take priority over singles for the family room. But hey, we have enjoyed leaving a baby in a room by herself, and running back and forth to check on her. And asking the over worked nurses to watch and listen for her as well. I am completely over this hospital at this point.
Wednesday 12/12/2012
We get to go home! Thank you Lord!!!!!!
After we get the babies home, we let them run around and play. They are so happy to be off IV’s! Since we watched Nemo about 10 times each day, we promied them once they were out of the hospital we would take them to go see Nemo at Epcot. So that evening we headed over to Epcot, and went straight to The Seas where we rode the Nemo ride, looked at the fish and then had dinner at The Land. Both babies fell asleep right after dinner and Pat and I decided to head over to look at the New Test Track and buy a couple of Christmas Gifts. We are so far behind now!
Yesterday, Thursday 12/13/2012, we put up the little pre-lit Christmas Tree that was in the Condo and finally got some groceries in the condo.
As of today, Friday 12/14/2012, both babies are doing great! Carson is 100% better and Courtney is at 90%. I suspect by the end of the weekend they will both be back to their fun selves.
Wow. I’m sorry to hear you went through all this. It makes me thankful our ER at home has a staff dedicated to pediatrics! I hope that’s your last visit to either of those hospitals!
Poor babies – and you!! We ended up there a few years ago after a half marathon when my husband couldn’t stop throwing up and they were awful for us. My husband sat in the lobby throwing up for an hour and in the room the nurses were basically saying it’s your fault for running a half. Actually, it turns out it was the motrin he was taking which he figured out on his own, BUT they were just awful. I hope you are all okay and don’t have to go back!
Oh I hope we never have to go back there either! I still can’t believe they gave my 2 year old an adult dosage of Zofran, and sent him home with a prescription for an adult dosage! Thank Goodness I knew better. We have found another Children’s Hospital in the area that we will go to if we need to again.