Sick little girl...

Emma has always been very sickly, but lately it has gotten worse. Every few weeks, she will get a fever or be vomiting for several days in a row. She is extremely lethargic and pale. We have been watching her closely, trying to see what triggers her "attacks" since it doesn't seem to be a flu bug or anything.

Last Sunday, she started out the same old pattern - lethargic, pale, throwing up by 10 pm. She has been like this for most of the week - with a fever here and there (for extra fun)...She was in the ER on Monday night (they didn't do anything), the doctor Tuesday morning, and has been out of school all but one day this week.

Sooo - this morning, I decided that I'd better get her into the on call doctor and try to get her some help (we suspected that she was dehydrated). They did bloodwork, urinalysis, and an x-ray - gave us sips of water that she had to keep down before leaving, then sent us on our way. An hour later, she was puking in the parking lot at Panera bread - all water that she had just had at the doctor's office. Called the on call nurse again...the worthless bag of rocks that she is - and tried to get the doctor to call us back (he said that he would admit her if she had thrown up at his office, gave her a phenergan, and told us that she was definitely dehydrated, so we thought he would go ahead and admit her). The nurse REFUSED to get the doctor for us - told us to go to the ER instead, that the doctor didn't need to call us back, that they were just on call, not actually available. ???????? WHAT? I am so confused as to why the heck they are even called "on call" if you can't reach them on the weekend?

Anyway, Emma looked like a walking cadaver by this point, so Dad and Adam gave her a blessing in the Sam's Club parking lot, and off I went - back to the ER. This time, we got a doctor who listened to me - tried to get in touch with the on call pediatrician for us - and put her on an IV because she was obviously dehydrated. Mom and Dad stopped by to give us some moral support (Thanks, Mom and Dad - and Happy 34th Anniversary! Sorry you had to spend several hours with us in the hospital, but glad you were there!).

They decided to admit her to hydrate her overnight, so I am now sitting on an Oh, so comfortable cot with my laptop (thank heavens for laptops). Emma is already looking so much better - her little face is filling out again, her eyes aren't all sunken in, and she is resting comfortably.

We will most likely be released tomorrow if all goes well - and then we will see a GI specialist next week, hopefully to find the cause of her frequent tummy maladies.

I am so tired - I could sleep for a week...and I miss my other kids - spent all of today doing the doctor thing...