Dehydration and "Cool-zants"

As you may remember from my last post, Philip had been dealing with prolonged diarrhea for about 8 weeks. We had been doing a pretty good job of keeping him hydrated but last Monday night he came down with a stomach virus and vomited once right after he fell asleep. He seemed fine, didn't happen again so we thought maybe it was a fluke and we all went to sleep. Woke up the next morning and he had a rash all over his back and slept a lot later than usual til about 11:00am. He was yelling that he had belly pain as well. I called his liver team and they said to bring him to the pediatrician. He wasn't very awake during all this time so I knew we were probably headed for the hospital. I got to the doctor around 12:15 and he barely stayed awake while we were there. She tested for strep, thinking it may be Scarlet Fever because of the rash, but that came back negative. Being that he had only been awake for about 15minutes total that day, she said to head over to the ER.

So off I went with Philip, dreading the wait in the ER. I hate the ER waiting room. disgusting germs everywhere. So we walked in and requested a mask right away for him and after the heard his history, they brought its right back without even being triaged. I was so thankful for that.
This is where it gets a little hairy. He hadn't pee'd either that day yet and it was now around 1:30pm.
Then he vomited again. Luckily my cat like reflexes helped me jumped over our bags, into the cart, grab out a bucket and get it under his mouth just in time! Phew. He was asking for a drink and food at this point but I wasn't allowed to give him anything until they decided what they needed to do.
They were concerned it might be intessuception, which is when a potion of the bowel slides into itself, kind of like a telescope. Kids who have had multiple abdominal surgeries are more prone to it.
So they did an ultrasound and ruled that out. Now the fun really began when trying to get an IV in him. They couldn't...
The nurses tried 3times, then they called in a special team and they tried about 4 times but couldn't as well. He was so dehydrated, they couldn't get an IV in. They were able to get a tiny bit of blood to get labs and His kidney function had suffered a bit and I was starting to panic. Then the nurses mentioned something called hylenex.
They inject the stuff called hylenex into the fat pad between his shoulder blades and deliver fluids subcutaneously under the skin and hopefully he would get enough hydration that way to allow an IV to be placed a few hours later.

And they finally did get one in his foot late that night after another few sticks. One of my least favorite places for an IV because he moves so much and they come out so easily. So he got a few hours of fluids and of course the IV came out overnight. So back to using the hylenex in his back.
Apparently word got around about him and how many times he was stuck and how no one could get n IV in him. So no one wanted to come and try again to do it. Anasthesia had to end up coming to do it. If they couldn't get it, we would have to go with interventional radiology and put him out and place a PICC line. But thankfully, he got it! And it was a good one. So being he was still so far behind with fluids that gave him another bolus and gave him fluids at a higher rate than usual.
Funny enough all this time, NO DIARRHEA! Being he was on contact precaution , we couldn't leave the room. So we played as usually on our window sill.

And of course, the IV stopped working overnight. The nurses tried their best to save it but it wasn't savable. So he went half the night without fluid.
When he woke up, he was so puffy from all the fluids they pushed the day before. He could barely open his eyes. My sister came to visit for a bit and he kept asking where his "cool-zant" was.
We just kept looking at each other and asking him, cool cars?, cool zots?, Is it a toy, What color is it. We kept laughing because he was getting so mad and we had no idea what he was talking about and we just kept asking questions and he was so frustrated. Finally I said is it food?, He said yes! I said fruit snacks? NO! He said you know they one with the thing underneath? Then I realized what he wanted. Every morning I go to the breakfast cart and bring back his breakfast on a little plate.
a CROISSANT!!!! LOL We just about lost it. YES! my Cool Zant! Oops, its in the garbage...
He got over it fast though.

The doctors agreed to give him a chance to drink and eat that day without sticking him again.  The fluid retention went away as the day went on. He did great and they let him come home Thursday evening.
Of course when we came home, the diarrhea returned, so we started him on a medications called Flagyl, and so far so good. I pray it stays this way.
I hate that he gets so sick when he gets a virus. Hopefully with the nicer weather, will bring less viruses. He is happy to be home and his labs improved, although we are chasing his prograf level again as it spikes each time he gets a virus. He can't wait to go back to school since his diarrhea is gone for now. He has an Easter celebration in class tomorrow and I hope he will be ok to attend in the morning.
Hope you all Have a wonderful Easter!