Our Easter, Not What We Expected!

So here's the short story:

We spent Easter at the children's hospital with Cannon because he had intussusception.

Here's the long story:

A few days ago Cannon started complaining about his tummy hurting. I figured it was gas or something. Last night (Saturday night) Ryan put him to bed and he woke up crying with a stomachache at 10pm. Ryan got him some water and rubbed his belly and he went back to sleep. Then he woke up at 1am, but was in a lot of pain. It would come and go and he was on the floor crying and scrunched up. At that point I didn't think it was anything too serious and I had Ryan give him a blessing. Immediately after the blessing, he started to vomit and scream with pain. Then we knew it was serious. I felt around his belly and didn't think it was an appendicitis.

We went to All Children's Hospital which is about 30 minutes from our house. Cannon had pain attacks about every five minutes and after each one he would vomit. Luckily the hospital was super slow that night and he was taken straight back. They immediately ordered an ultrasound and an x-ray, all of which happened in a relatively short amount of time.

After all that was finished they took us back to our room to start an IV on him. That was probably the worst part for Cannon. The nurse couldn't get it in the first hand, so she had to try it in the other. I was able to semi cradle him and hold his head close to me for the entire time. I think that helped him.

After the IV was in, the doctor already had a diagnosis of intussusception. The way they explained it to me was that his intestine "telescoped" or collapsed into itself which cut off the blood supply to that area and caused an obstruction (which gave him the stomach pains). It is a pretty serious diagnosis, but luckily it is easily fixed. The specialist that can do the procedure to fix this lives about an hour away, so we had to wait for him.

In order to get the intestine back to normal they had to puff air in the intestine (an air enema). We couldn't stay with Cannon during this procedure, but it was only 15 minutes long. He had bonded with two nurses (they had brought him toys) and they stayed with him. They said he did really well and was more concerned about getting back to watching Toy Story. After they wheeled him back I could tell that he felt relief.

I sent Ryan home to sleep since he was supposed to leave for a work trip this evening and he had to drive for five hours. They moved us to another unit and had a "bed" set up for me. We finally were able to go to sleep around 6am this morning (Sunday). Cannon only slept for a couple of hours, but I could tell that he was already feeling much better. They had given him Zofran for his vomiting, so they started him on clear liquids before he could eat anything. Once the doctor gave the approval for food we ordered our breakfast. Cannon was thrilled to have pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream. He ate everything!

For the next several hours we watched movies and walked around. I asked to take him to the playroom, but they wouldn't let us leave our unit. I had brought a couple of trains for him and they gave him some toys he could take home. Since it was Easter, all the patients got Easter baskets! They were so nice! Cannon got a bucket (which he used as a hat), a blue bunny (he carried it around the whole time), a book, a Little People car with a guy, and a homemade blanket with frogs (really cute!). I couldn't believe how nice it was!

I was bummed that I didn't get to take him to the playroom since that used to be my thing. But he had some good play in our room and in an empty waiting room in our unit. I was worried about him being a little traumatized by everything (which is one reason why I wanted him to have some good time in the playroom), but his resiliency amazed me! He loved our nurses and really felt special that he got to watch so much TV (he only watches TV once or twice a week at home).

Originally we were supposed to stay at the hospital one more night and leave Monday morning. They said they like to observe the kids for 24 hours to make sure the intestine doesn't collapse again. But the doctor we had only made us stay until 4:00 this afternoon. He said Cannon would rest better being at home, but we are to take him immediately back to the ER with any stomach pains or vomiting. We were sure glad to get home!

Cannon is feeling so much better! I am happy that everything worked out in a timely matter and that Cannon issues were able to be resolved quickly and with minimal invasion. I felt like we had a great medical team and received quality care. Ryan is driving to Ft. Lauderdale right now. I wish he didn't have to leave, but Cannon and I have train tickets to meet him on Wednesday.


He loved his new "helmet!"


Here is with all his new stuff. This was close before we left so he was feeling back to his normal self.


He was so wiped out and fell asleep in the car on the way home.