Wednesday, April 8, 2009

ER trip avoided

Last night, shortly after dinner, Athan began to run a fever. It was obvious that he did not feel well and mostly he just wanted to be held. To make a long story short, he was unable to keep down his oral meds for the evening (which allow his body to produce sugar). He threw up twice over a period of 3 hours between midnight and 3am. During that time his blood sugar dropped from 95 to 55. His fever remained high and we could not get him to eat much. His lethargy was apparant and we began to gather things to make a hospital trip just in case. Meanwhile, I got on the phone with Pediatric Endocrinology at UK. The Dr. on call was Dr. Smith, who is a colleague of Dr. Irene. He knows Athan and his situation, so I explained to him what was going on. I told him I was preparing to give Athan his emergency intramuscular shot (of cortef, the med he had been unable to keep down) and asked about bringing him in. Once he found out we could give the shot here, he advised us to do that and then wait half an hour or so and see if Athan stabilized. So, I gave the IM shot around 3:45am. By 4:00 his sugar level was back up around 75 and then 95 again by 4:30. Thankfully, that got us out of the "endocrine crisis" woods this time. The shot ended up serving the same function as an IV would have in the hospital. Athan's fever was still over 102 (under arm), but it had leveled off. Mama took the next tough shift until his fever broke a few hours ago. It's now my turn again, and after Athan agreed to a small breakfast he was more than ready to sack out for a while. All in all, it was a long night; the good news is that we're not writing the post from the ER this time.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Whew...close one! Praying that he gets better soon!!!!

erin crisp said...

Wow Amberly. What a night. There is definitely a stomach virus going around. Yours in the 4th family I've heard of with this thing- but oh so much scarier for you all. Glad little man is doing well today.

Sarah said...

I am glad that you were able to avoid the ER. I will be praying for Athan. Hopefully you all can get some rest soon. Long nights can lead into long days especially with no sleep. Thinking of you.

*K. Grace said...

Eve & I are reading your post together. Hopefully you guys are sleeping right now - we'll call later but just know that we're thinking and praying for you. You all are persevering with courage - a tough feat in the middle of the night. Another crisis you've been able to come through.

~ kelly & eve

Alana said...

I hope that Athan is having a better day. I also hope that you two are able to get some rest after a scary night. We'll be thinking about you.