Cody

For those of you finding about this through reading this post, I apologize. Know that we have been on a roller coaster for the past 48 hours and did not call everyone.

Cody has been admitted to the hospital for a small bowel obstruction. He began having some problems late Saturday. I took him to the ER early Sunday morning. After tests and lab work, he was diagnosed with food poisoning and we were sent home. He did well during the day on Sunday. Monday morning he woke up feeling a little sore and worn out. He stayed at home from school. Around 10:30 I received a phone call from him that he was starting to have more abdominal pain. I took him to my clinic and had a doctor there reevaluate him and his labs. She didn't find anything different than the ER doctor, and also thought his symptoms were consistent with food poisoning. Around 2:30 Monday afternoon, Cody came out of my bedroom crying and begging me to call an ambulance, that something was seriously wrong. I made the decision to drive him myself to the ER. After 8 hours, numerous tests, a CT, and a gallbladder ultrasound, it was discovered that Cody has a small bowl obstruction.

The surgeon that was called in to consult explained to us that more than likely this obstruction was caused by scar tissue from the appendectomy. This scar tissue has adhered to part of Cody's small bowel, causing the bowel to twist.

Where we are now...
Cody has a NG tube (a tube that was inserted through his nose and runs down into his stomach), a catheter, and is on a 48 hour bowel rest. The surgeon is hoping that the bowels will rest enough to untwist. This will allow the stool in his bowel to start moving again. He is resting comfortably now. In fact it's been more than 4 hours since he received his last dose of pain medication. The tubes bother him for obvious reasons. Now we just wait and see what happens.

I've gone through a range of emotions today. From worry, anger, fear, to sadness. We had the absolute worst nurse after 7:00 this evening who did all but tell Cody he was faking, that there was nothing wrong with him when he asked for more pain medication. Never mind the fact that he's crying, hyperventilating, begging to be put to sleep, writhing in pain and agony... never mind all those things. No, until we know what's really wrong with you... until I have proof... sorry, I've given you enough medication to take care of your pain. I have never been more angry and have felt more helpless than I did tonight. I was spoken to like I didn't have one iota of nursing judgement. I was pissed off (sorry for the language... I know it will probably be offensive to some of you, but I am still angry over the situation even now, 5 hours later.). He was sent to have a CT done during one of his most painful episodes only to be told by the nurse, "we haven't found anything wrong with you... we've given you all the pain medication that you can have... I can't give you anything else." I basically told her that wasn't acceptable only to hear her respond with "we haven't found anything wrong with him". I replied with there is something obviously wrong with him. He is not faking if that's what you are implying. Off we went to a CT where Cody had remain flat on his back, holding his breath, so the machine could scan his body. I stood outside the CT room and cried. Never in my life have I ever felt so helpless for my child.

Once we returned to the room, pain medication was made available. Once the CT was read by the radiologist and all the doctors on his case determined their plan, Cody's nurse came in to our room and said, "well, I guess there was something wrong with you". Since when did nursing become prove first, treat later. I glared at her and left the room. For all of our sakes, me leaving the room was the best choice because what we needed to be focused on was Cody. I'll have time later to file a complaint against this nurse and if we are ever in need of emergency care in the future and she's working, we will request to be reassigned to a different nurse.

Moving on (I've let this nurse get more than the better of me and it's time to put it behind me and move on). It's 1:29. Cody's fast asleep. One of the doctors that was on Cody's case (but has since been removed now that Cody is a surgical case) just came to check on him. He's the one who actually caught the obstruction and moved us in the right direction. It's reassuring that there are good doctors out there who actually care for the well being of a patient, even if they are no longer assigned to that patient. He's offered to follow-up on Cody and peek in every once in a while to see how he's doing.

I think I am going to try and get a couple hours of sleep now. Mike's gone home to sleep. Thank you to Rebecca for graciously taking care of Caden for us tonight. We appreciate it.

I'll update once we meet with the surgeon in the morning.

Prayers for Cody would be appreciated.
~jen