Memories include: a trip to urgent care, time spent in the rental house (it was beautiful!), checking out the Bellagio fountains and my favorite hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant, getting...uh, ROUGH yet enjoyable...massages, having a feast at the house with ALL the heart mamas (some live in Vegas and were not able to join us for the entire weekend) and...one of the most memorable moments from the entire trip was JUMPING OFF THE TOP OF THE STRATOSPHERE! We had been watching people do this on Friday and the skydiver-adrenaline-junkie in me really yearned to do it. That night I dreamed about it and woke up certain that I wanted to give it a try. I talked ONE other heart mom into doing it with me. We were both scared. Really really scared. But the second I left that platform that was 855 feet in the air, I LOVED IT. It was just like skydiving. It was peaceful and enjoyable.
Andrea and me before I walked out onto the platform. Yikes!
I was SHAKING!
Looking out over the Strip, ready to plunge!
Weeee!
Looking up at the Stratosphere from the ground. The blue dot at the top is where we jumped from!
I arrived back home on Sunday and could immediately see that Elijah wasn't feeling well in the car. Dan had been telling me that his tummy was upset for most of the weekend, but it seemed like the second I got into the car things escalated. He vomited A LOT on the drive home and started complaining of a bad tummy ache. I dropped Sammy and Dan off and drove straight to urgent care. The doctor there thought stomach flu was the culprit, but she was concerned about Elijah's neck hurting whenever he vomited. I asked why and she sheepishly said, "Well...that could be meningitis." She went to get discharge papers and a wheelchair (he was hardly able to walk at this point) when he vomited again. And again, his neck started hurting. When I told her this, she said, "Go straight to Children's."
My brain was swimming. I was exhausted and wanted to be home with my boys. A nurse and I loaded Elijah into my car and I headed to Children's, crying. Three minutes into the drive, Elijah perked up. Like, he was completely back to normal. No more hurting tummy or neck or anything. I was so conflicted, especially having just spent time with a friend who lost her son because doctors had ignored important symptoms. Yet I did not want him to have to endure hours of poking and torture for no reason, either. I called a good friend of ours who is an ER doctor. I ran everything by her and she kindly implied that heading back home would be a safe thing to do. She strongly felt that Elijah had a nasty case of the stomach flu and that meningitis was VERY unlikely, given he had no fever and no other symptoms aside from neck pain (which can also occur with the flu).
I felt a ton better after talking to her and headed back home. E stayed home from school today. He didn't throw up all day, and was able to keep food and water down. I limited his eating and it drove him crazy! He was soooo hungry and kept sneaking into the fridge to steal handfuls of sliced turkey. After dinner he complained of a tummy ache again and then had an accident and went to bed feeling crummy. He still didn't vomit, so I'm hoping tomorrow will be the turnaround day. I'm thinking he will be staying home from school tomorrow, too. Poor guy. I hate that he isn't feeling well, but I am SO THANKFUL that meningitis is not a likely outcome. I had about an hour of total panic yesterday after the doctor uttered that word.
I hope you all had a nice weekend! My head is spinning a bit after so much excitement. I want to see my heart moms again...I miss them. At the same time, I'm so happy to be home. I love my boys!
Thanks for checking in!
2 comments:
What a thing to return home to! I am soo glad you don't have to worry about Meningitis. We just got Bjorn his Meningitis vaccine a few weeks ago after months of anxiety about it. He is THAT afraid of shots! I am really surprised that the doc even mentioned that though. THe very IDEA of throwing up makes my throat hurt. Vomiting is very unpleasant for one throat. I am glad he perked up and you were able to avoid an unnecessary hospital experience. Now, what I don't understand.... Why did YOU of all people get nervous at the Stratosphere. That cracks me up! Don't get me wrong... I would be too - but you are a very experienced skydiver. Maybe that was the problem - you were too close to the ground at the start! Glad you had a fun time and Elijah was able to mend just by being with you! Magical mama powers!
Wow, that's really awesome! I imagine I would like to bungee jump from a tall building like that, but in reality I'm fairly certain I would be too terrified to jump. I'm very glad to hear that your son didn't have meningitis. How scary that must've been! I'm glad to hear he didn't have to make a trip to the ER too!
Javier @ U.S. HealthWorks Erie
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