Breath Away Wednesday

It is Wednesday isn't it?  I've been up all night...it sure seems like Tuesday to me....but, nope, my clock says 4:24am on Wednesday, March 2! 

Emu is wide awake sitting on the computer next to me watching Barney on Netflix, he insists that we stay up until the boys come down for breakfast.  I beg to differ, I mean, after all...Emu can sleep all he wants later today while I on the other hand, will be stuck tending to my duties around here.  I may have to enlist in some help from Cardinal and Hawk.  Every night since last Thursday, I've been up nearly all night...between sick kids and dogs not liking the new rules around here.  I don't know how I am even able to function right now...I am so sleep deprived! 

Tonight, I spent 4 hours in the ER with Emu.  Off and on since Saturday, he has complained of his belly hurting, pinpointing the pain at his belly button.  With the stomach virus we've had going around, I just figured he must be getting that, but after a good two days of complaining and no sight of vomiting or diarrhea, I started wondering if something else could be wrong.  He hasn't been himself, but yet, just laying around and most often when in pain, he just drops to the floor where ever he may be even if it's the cold hard kitchen floor.  His nights have been very restless and he tosses and turns in pain.  Tonight a few hours after he had been in bed, he woke up crying in pain...tossing and turning...you could just see that he was so uncomfortable.  When I asked him where he hurt, again, he pointed directly to his incision from his abdominal surgery a few years ago.  I always wonder about that "weak abdominal wall" and the hernia repairs that never seemed to heal the way it was described that they would.  Maybe I'm just worried about him because his diagnosis day may be just a few days away.  Maybe it's all of the stories of people tragically losing their children that I've been following lately.  Who knows...but something just didn't feel right, so I decided to take him and get him checked out.

The ER doctor was fabulous with my scared little Emu.  As we pulled up to the hospital, he remembered his stay there just two weeks ago.  Immediately, he decided he wanted to get as far away from that place as he could.  But, he wasn't draggin me out near midnight after 4 days of abdominal pain, for me to turn back.  The doctor was amazing and seemed more like a grandpa playing with his grandson, than an ER doctor doing an exam.  Upon the exam, I heard those words again "weak abdominal wall".  The doctors thoughts were that he either had an adhesion that developed from his abdominal surgery or that he could possibly have a tear in his abdominal wall.  So, he ordered 2 different x-rays...both of which came back fine.  So, we left with a diagnosis of "abdominal pain".  Hmmm...that's the very complaint we went in with, gosh, I should have been a doctor.

So, as we were sitting in the hospital flipping through the tv (poor Emu really wanted to watch basketball), we didn't really have any luck finding anything of the sort in the wee hours of the morning.  We ended up watching a St. Jude promo video titled "Fighting to Live".  After watching about 3 heartwrenching stories of children who had lost their battles with Cancer...I couldn't bear to watch anymore.  I kept thinking about a  couple whose blog I have been following since they've tragically lost their precious 4 month old Maddie and I thought of the story of another baby who's story I read just today.  He lost his life to SIDS and their is a big annual fundraiser at out Children's Hospital in his honor. 

As I sat there once again in the hospital with Emu, with him hopelessly in pain and scared about what they were going to do to him.  I worried about his test results, both his X-rays from tonight and his Growth Hormone Test from two weeks ago.  In a weird way, I felt so lucky, after all...unlike all of these tragic stories I've been hearing lately...he was at least smiling, playing with his little firetruck.  It's so hard not knowing what is in store for him...why is he having abdominal pain and what is going to happen when we get all of his test results back.  What is he going to have to go through next.  Why do I keep finding myself sitting in a hospital room with him and why can't they ever find out what's wrong with him.

I almost wish we would have left the hospital tonight with a diagnosis of constipation...at least it would have been an answer.  So, now...once again...we wait and hope that soon, we will have answers.