Cade's Adventure in NOTSOWONDERFUL LAND

I have so much blogging to catch up on. I’m hoping to have some time tomorrow. I have time for one post today. So I’m going to post about Cade’s latest adventure. Let me set the stage for ya… I had worked a 13 hour shift on Saturday night. I went home, slept for 2 hours and headed to church. I headed back home, slept for an hour and headed back to the hospital for another night shift. Monday morning I got home, slept for an hour and a half and then headed to Rad’s school for a field trip. From the field trip I headed home and slept for 2 ½ hours before waking up to take the boys out to the barn to see our new baby kittens. I explain my weekend sleep pattern during that particular weekend because without consecutive hours of sleep, I am walking in a fog, so for the rest of the story picture me in a sleep haze. So out at the barn, the boys held the kittens, snuggle ‘em, kiss ‘em, and then they were done. They headed outside to play while I gathered eggs. I hear Cade start to cry and Rad yelling for me. I head their way and Rad’s is telling me that Cade is hurt and Cade has his chin to his chest and his arms wrapped around the back of his neck. Not a good sight. I was afraid to pick him up because I could tell by the look on his face that he was in a lot of pain. I hold his hand and walk carefully to the house. Once in the house he is still sobbing and his chin is still on his chest. I carefully put him on my lap, facing me and he immediately puts his head over the back of my shoulder so that his head was hanging down my back. I picked up the phone to call the doctor, hang up on them, and head out to the car. I was thinking “forget the doctor; I’m going back to work”. I thought about just keeping him slung over my shoulder while I drove but thought better of it and put him in his booster. He bent at his waist and kept his chin to his chest the whole time, just crying in pain. I get to the hospital, get him out of the car, and take him into the ER. I am so thankful for great coworkers. They rushed me right back and got to work. They put him in a c collar so that he could get his chin off of his chest and have his neck stabilized. Nurses brought him stickers and a stuffed pig and I just reassured him the best that I could. Xray came and since I still had not let him out of my arms, I walked him down to the radiology department. I had to lay him on that table but I refused to let go of his chubby little hands. The xray tech put a lead apron on me and fastened it up so that I did not have to let go of his hands. So thankful for that… After the xrays the tech told us to stay put and he ran up stairs to talk to the doctor in person. That’s always comforting. SIKE! While the tech was upstairs Cade told me that his hands and feet were “tingly”. Scary! Then the tech comes back and says, “you don’t work tonight do you?” and “whatever you do, do not move him”. Comforting…NOT! We get upstairs and my wonderfully Mama had called the Bishop for me. So the Bishop and my home teacher came to hang out while we waited for results. My stubborn little Cade refused a blessing. I think that he was just so freaked out by that point that anything that wasn’t the norm wasn’t going to happen. The results came back without any broken bones but when the doctor did a physical exam on him he started screaming in pain again. The doctor excused himself and then came back to let me know that he had spoke with a pediatric specialist and that they recommended that he be shipped to Sacred Heart stat. Scary. So some wonderful EMT’s from our local volunteer fire department arrived with an ambulance and away we were. That ride was horrible. For the first 45 minutes of the trip he screamed bloody murder. He was cold (the EMT’s and I were sweating out of every pore). He wanted his shoes off and then on, and then socks off and then on, over and over. Then he wanted me to hold him, and I was not able to unbuckle to do that for him. I was buckled to a bench right next to him though and I still had not let go of his hand. That was a challenge, me and my broken knees and my happy waist trying to climb up into the back of an ambulance holding his hand while squeezing with the gurney through the doors. We get to Sacred Heart and thankfully my Mom and Derrick were already in the ER room waiting for us. Cade had woke up when we unloading the gurney and started screaming again. Derrick and Mom were such a welcome sight. The nurses and doctors did their thing in the ER. They put in an IV, the doctor got in Cade’s face and told him that screaming wasn’t necessary and I signed a bucket load of paperwork. I was so spun out by that point that I was having one heck of a time remembering half of the stuff the paperwork asked. The doc told us that they were going to keep us over night and that they had scheduled him for an MRI the next morning. Then this “patient transport” guy came for us. He “pushes people around for a living”. He took us up a few floors and we were checked into a private room on the pediatric floor. The nurse helped get us situated and I climbed in bed with Cade to give him snuggles he had been wanting, Derrick crashed on the couch and my soldier of a Mom slummed it in the “family room” or “glorified lobby”. After a few hours of sleep we were all up and waiting for the MRI. Hours rolled by before they came in to tell us that they had scheduled a 2pm trip down to radiology department. Anyone who knows Cade knows that the kid eats. He hadn’t eaten anything since 2pm the day before and wasn’t able to until after his radiology field trip. We were all starting to get aggravated. Hello. We have a 3 year old in a c collar with a possible spinal injury who is hungry and tired of lying in a bed. Thankfully he scored a fantastic stuffed hedge hog from Grameri, a car and balloon from the Till’s and Ducken’s and a gorilla on a skateboard from Derrick and I to keep his busy. The nurse felt so bad that she even brought Cade a teddy bear and a great quilt. When they came in @ two and told us that they had pushed him back to 3pm, Derrick started to tell them what he thought. Then at 3pm when they came in to tell us that it would be another 1 ½ hours, if it even happened that day at all, Derrick really had some things to say. The nurse was great and pled our case and we headed down around 1830-ish. Mom-Grameri-the soldier, stayed up in the room for a much needed and deserved snooze. Derrick, Cade and I were transported downstairs by a new “patient transport” person. I rode on the gurney with Cade and it was the closes thing to a roller coaster I had been on in a while! Down in radiology they let us know that Cade would be having an MRI and a CT Scan done and that he was going to be sedated for the procedure. CT… not so thrilled. Really who wants to have their 3 year old blasted with radiation? The sedation I was all for, the little man did not need any more stress. I was not so sure about the breathing tube, only because the thought of someone shoving something down Cade’s throat almost put me over the edge. I gave him kisses, Derrick gave him kisses, they gave him Ativan and Propofol and he started giggling and showing off his dimples. Derrick and I walked to the cafeteria a little teary eyed and scared but really enjoyed some great cheese cake while we ate. Yup. I ate while I waited. After the scans we met him back in recovery and Oh! How small he looked laying on that gurney. It made my heart hurt. It took Derrick and I a bit to wake him up. As soon as his little eyes fluttered open he was back to reaching for our fingers. Back upstairs my little angel became a little devil. He was thrashing and screaming and not making any sense. He would cry “mama, mama, mama”. I would climb into bed next to him. He would cry and cry and say “mama, mama, mama” I would put my face right in his and say “What baby?” He would cry harder and say “Why do you keep saying that? You keep messing me up!” Then he would go back to “mama, mama, mama”. So not wanting to mess him up, I would say nothing just snuggle him and kiss him. Then he would say “mama, mama, mama” all agitated like I wasn’t listening. So I would answer again, I would “mess him up again” and over and over and over. Then he started telling me that he didn’t want me. So I would climb out of bed, and he would call for me. I would get back in bed, he would say that he didn’t want me, and on and on and on. All this time he is tossing and turning and kicking and screaming and uncontrollable, inconsolable and I finally let the tears come. Derrick was at his wits end and Grameri was pursing her lips, biting her tongue and about to form an alliance with Derrick and take everyone who was not doing anything for Cade down. The nurse and doctor kept saying that it was just a reaction and it would wear off. Wrong. We did not have results back yet, Cade still could have had a spinal injury, and they just let the kid freak. Irate. They tried Benadryl, nada. Then the doctor came back and stood just watching Cade. Unsure what to do obviously, the whole situation was pretty incredible/unbelievable. Finally the doctor turns to Derrick and says, “Should we try some Morphine?” WHAT?! Derrick was a good man to keep his voice controlled. He said “Are you really asking me? You are the doctor! Fix this! This is ridiculous!” She replied “I was just thinking out loud….” And left the room. The nurse came back in with some Morphine and shot it into his IV that we were lucky was still in place with all of his thrashing. They told us we had to stay another night. Derrick walked Grameri out to her car. I picked Cade up, sat him on my lap on the couch, put on his socks and shoes and he passed out. He slept all night. Thank you for your prayers. The next morning we were told that there was not any structural damage. Just muscle damage. Cade finally was able to eat. Breakfast was scrambled eggs. His absolute favorite food ever. Derrick and I took him for a walk around the hospital and down to the cafeteria. Grameri and Rad came to pick us up and home we went. He is doing much better. Still in a soft collar, but mostly because the child is still wild and 100% boy. I am so thankful for so many prayers said in our behalf. He was not able to walk when we left the hospital because it hurt his neck too much. He was trying to run by the time we got home. Thanks everyone for your love. That’s my Cade Adventure Story as my little groggy self remembers it.