The Crutchfield Family: Henry at CHOA

Sunday, August 9, 2015

Henry at CHOA

While we were at Thornwell Rocky managed to get shampoo in his eye at the groomers (which lucky for us is at a vet) and had a reaction. After seeing an opthomologist and spending the weekend in ICU he ended up having a corneal ulcer. The vet was fabulous! Well this was the start to the down hill for sickness. I brought Henry down to Atlanta to go the pediatrician because he woke up with a baseball in his neck. The worst part was he has gotten continuously bad with car sickness so he had a rough trip home. After a visit to the doctor he was diagnosed with a lymph node infection. The doctor didn't see any reason why we could head back to the lake. So we picked up rocky from the vet and headed back to the lake. Of course he got sick on the way back. That should have been my cue to turn around and stay home. Well Monday he was rough. Tuesday was worse. Wednesday was bad. He had progressively gotten more lethargic and just screamed all the time. So Bob and I rushed to pack and left the older to at the lake. That was the longest two hour ride to CHOA. Children's is an amazing hospital! The wait wasn't long and they just get kids and parents. I thought for sure we would be going home after a bag of fluids and a change in medicine. After an X-ray of his belly which showed he was just constipated! And an ultrasound of his lymph nodes and blood work we waited. Of course we thought of the worst case senarios. All the tests came back fine. It did show he was fighting an infection. We were admitted over night and started on fluids and a stronger medicine. He was one sick kid! Henry is not one to sit still. He didn't move from the hospital bed for 3 days. Thursday he tried to get up and go to the playroom. After 5 minutes he turned pale and we headed back. At around 2 am Friday the tech came in to get vitals. When the thermometer wouldn't read his temp and his BP was bad things got serious. He was so cold to the touch and gray pale looking. The nurse was called in and then the doctor. He wouldn't respond well to us. Come to find out later he was going septic. The way they explained it to me was the clindamycin was pushing so much of the infection into his blood stream that his body couldn't handle it. The doctor came in who was nice and calm ordered a bag of fluid to be set on high. Once the fluid went through him he woke up angry. He managed to pull out his IV. The unfortunate thing was being so cold and dehydrated getting a vein was impossible. He stabilized. After 4 attempts we decided to wait for the IV team who came at 7 am. Henry was not thrilled about this. It is amazing how fast little ones bounce back! The rest of the stay was uneventful. Finally on Saturday the doctor said we could go home. They ended up saying that he had a lymph infection along with staph. The moment we got home Henry swore off TV and headed outside. He is still trying to catch up on sleep a week later but is back to his active self again. Today we finished his antibiotics. We are so thankful for our friends, family, and church family. The love and support helped us remain strong for our little guy!