A Wordful Wordless Wednesday - A Night in the E.R.

The I.V. stand. Emily said it sounded cool,
when it was quiet enough to actually hear it.

Monday night we took Emily to Cook Children's Hospital in Ft. Worth. She had been sick since the Monday before, and was extremely dehydrated. Along with that, she has problems with constipation, so we were fearful that this could turn into something horrible.

The good people at Children's took great care of us, and did so quickly. We were in exam in less than 10 minutes, and in x-ray in less than 30. Emily was a trooper the whole time, and didn't even get upset when they had to try THREE times to put the IV port into her hand. We watched Bolt, Phineas and Ferb, and played I Spy a few times. Everyone handled her anxious talkativeness beautifully.

And she was anxious. I don't think we realized just HOW scared she was until she commented: "Grandpa died in the hospital, didn't he?" We assured her that Grandpa passed because he was old and very, very sick. We then reminded her that her Daddy had spent the night in the hospital a few months ago and was fine, and that her PePaw had to do the same and HE was fine. She seemed to feel better after that, but I think she wasn't fully convinced until they told us we could go home.

Two x-rays later, we find out that she had somehow ingested something that looked metallic in the x-ray. There were four "shards" no bigger than grains of rice that appeared in her lower bowel. The doctor wasn't overly concerned about it, and told us it should pass within the next day or two. He's put her on two doses of Miralax a day until she "goes" and then one a day for a couple of months after that.

Emily was a trooper, though. An expression we use often is "A Rock Star Dipped In Awesome Sauce".  She never complained, never whined, never cried, screamed, or shouted. She stayed calm, cool, and collected, and even remembered to use her manners - "yes please" "no thank you" "thank you". She reminded her PePaw, who was very worried, that "I'll be just fine, PePaw. Don't worry about me!" The only thing that bothered her was that she was cold - but she showed so much gratitude for the blanket that the nurses brought.

Before we left, Emily wanted to say a prayer for the children surrounding us that couldn't go home that night. And there were several. The one that broke our heart was a small baby - no more than 3 months old - in a bed across the room from us. He just cried and was inconsolable. We passed by at one point on the way to x-ray, and saw the mother and father watching over the baby while the doctor examined him. They just held each other and she was crying. The love in that room was huge, and I continue to pray to this day for that baby's healing.

The moment that really got me though, in that whole evening of sitting next to a hospital bed in the ER, was when we got home and Emily was going to bed. She was headed to her room, then stopped and looked at Ronnie. A look of pure love and relief came over her and she ran to him and kissed him on the head. It was one of the sweetest things I have ever witnessed in my life.

Emily has continued her rock star status, even chastising me yesterday for forgetting her second dose of medicine. "Mama, I'm supposed to take it TWO TIMES A DAY!"

She is such an amazing little girl, and I am so blessed to have her in my life, and so thankful for her health.

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