Living Raw is when you approach a holiday weekend and birthday celebration and things don’t go as planned.
It’s not how we anticipated the 3-day weekend. We wanted to honor those who served our country, celebrate my sisters birthday, go to the beach, have a nice meal, and go to church. None of that happened. Instead we were confined to the house and then ended up in the ER with my son.
He had gotten terribly sick and we ended up the ER. My husband and I always thought that we would be there for him for something like head trauma, with as much as he plays hard and hits his head or a broken bone, but instead we went due to excessive stomach illness and all that it comes with. We were worried about dehydration and decided not to try to wait through the night. When we got there, it was inundated with people; it had 34 patients, 16 of which were pediatric, and one doctor. My husband was home sick himself coughing up a storm, so I ended up taking him on my own. We actually got checked in and to a room pretty quickly because he worried us all with what he looked and sounded like. He ended up getting an IV to replace fluids and something for the nausea and I felt like things were on the mend. When they came in to check on him, they decided he needed another bag of fluids, but when they started the medicine, they realized the “vein was blown” and he was hurting pretty badly at the IV site. They disconnected it and offered him a popsicle. That perked him up for sure. After the cup of water and popsicle went over well and we stayed for observation for a while, at 2am we got to come home. We slept for about 4 hours and then he got sick again. Talk about an alarm clock. There’s nothing like the sound of your child about to throw up. At that moment, we realized that the pharmacy where the medicine was was not actually open yet, and not only that , but it wasn’t going to open because it was Memorial Day. I hear my husband say, “Oh crap!” and he tells me we have to find a 24 hour Walgreens that we can get to promptly. He ended up driving 25 minutes away to get it, but when he returned, about 6 hours after the last dose of medicine, we started the medicine. That nausea medicine ended up working wonders.
We ended up spending lots of time on the couch, my son asked me to sit with him constantly, and for me to hold his hand. His little body was so weak and tired, but then he finally asked for a slice a pizza and I knew we were on the mend. In fact, he then started asking for chips and salsa, Cane’s chicken, and then more pizza! Thank the Lord for my family, for modern medicine that can help quickly, and for nurses and doctors who care for us and my children (and extra kuddos to those who work nights)
I prayed hard for all those parents and pediatric patients who spend lots of time in the hospital; that was a hard experience and I’ve only had to do it once at this point. I will continue to pray for kids with cancer, those at places like St. Jude’s, kids that have to spend weeks at a time in the hospital and their wonderful parents who have to be so tired and weary. I prayed for healing and God’s will to do be done and for me not to take for granted the health that we are given.
As the weekend went on, my husband began to feel a little better though lost his voice. One of those times where he said he felt better than he sounded. We didn’t get to go to the beach, but my daughter and I went to celebrate my sister for her birthday at a breakfast brunch and swim party, and then we all got to enjoy some much needed rest.
Lessons learned:
-Don’t go to the ER without a good book to read and some snacks. Man, was I hungry, and then impatient, and then hangry, and oh, so tired.
-Ask specific questions to the doctor when you think of them, or write them down because at 1 a.m., you might get dreary.
Thankful for:
-Quality time with my kiddo.
-Modern medicine (especially at times when we need it most) and that it was dissolvable on the tongue.
Verse to Ponder:
Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
