Yesterday (Tuesday) we took Tyson to SickKids' emerg due to complications after a wicked
gastrointestinal infection. He caught a bug over the weekend, which started
with a headache on Friday and Saturday, then some abdominal pain on Saturday night and by Monday night he was pooping
blood ☹ Sorry for the
gory details, I don’t really know a nice way of saying that! Once we noticed the blood late Monday night, Brian
and I had our age-old debate: do we bring
him to ER late at night and lose an entire night of sleep in the ER? or try to
get some rest at home and bring him in the morning? I absolutely loathe these kinds of
decisions. It’s not the same as deciding
what to do when one of our heart-healthy kids is sick….it’s slightly more complicated
with Tyson. On one hand, being a cardiac kid he needs his
sleep so badly. On the other hand, one wrong decision and we could live with a
lifetime of regrets. After prayer and
deliberation, we decided to try and get some sleep, and that he should sleep in
bed with me where I could keep a close eye on him. Brian was banished to the basement 😉 as he traded beds with Tyson.
Overnight
was not fun as the poor guy was in the bathroom 8-10 times or more and was experiencing
bad abdominal pain. He did sleep for an
hour or so at a time before he tossed and turned and the next round
started. Needless to say, I had a lot of
time to pray and plan what to do. Because
he’s on a blood thinner, things can get very complicated when he gets sick and
because it’s a study drug, we decided to take him straight to SickKids where we
could connect with his thrombosis team and cardiac team. My Mom came with me and we were in and out of
there fairly quickly, within about 4 or 5 hours. I’m still amazed every time at the wonderful
care we receive there. Every single
person who works there really enjoys their job and they do everything they can
to make Tyson comfortable and at ease. Thankfully,
Tyson wasn’t admitted and we got to go home.
They had put in an IV 'just in case' but then decided he was stable
enough to go home because he wasn’t dehydrated at all and his pain was starting
to subside.
We have to watch him closely over the next few days and if the bleeding doesn't
stop, abdominal pain worsens, or if he shows signs of dehydration, we have to
go back right away. He’s also been off his blood thinner for a few days now
because of the bleeding, so that's a little freaky too 😫
There is peace of mind, when he’s on the
medication, that he isn’t likely to have a stroke. But now that he’s been off the med since Monday,
he’s at risk….. I hate that.
On Wednesday the ER Dr called and informed me that Tyson's sample came back positive for 2
bacteria: e-coli and campylobacter. The most common way to catch e-coli is
through food/water contamination or person-to-person contact, so he really could
have picked this up anywhere. We are continuing
to use oregano and tea tree to try and combat the bacteria, but if it doesn’t
clear completely, I’m fairly certain he’ll be prescribed antibiotics. The ER Dr said they try to only prescribe
antibiotics in severe cases. I’d say
Tyson’s case was fairly severe, he sure had a lot of pain and no one else saw
the amount of blood that I saw! But because
he was already going less often on Tuesday, I was comfortable with the decision
too. He only had 1 bm today and while it
did still contain blood, it wasn’t as much as before and he’s only complaining
that his tummy is ‘crampy.’ I’m happy
with the progress he’s making and we’ll see Dr. Murphy for follow-up on Friday morning. I am praying that I don’t see
anymore blood because Tyson is really excited to be performing in a
musical with his school Friday night and Saturday. We will see what Dr. Murphy has to say.
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