A few weeks ago Walter caught a bad cold. I got it next, then Ben started hacking away. Two weeks before spring break Ben seemed okay one day and then really sick the next. I knew on Saturday that he really didn't feel well so we stayed home from basketball. The next morning he started upchucking because of all the drainage in his tummy. Poor baby, he could not keep anything down. After Walter got home from church I noticed that Ben was not breathing right. He didn't look good and I really started to worry about him. I thought to myself that we really needed to get him up to the emergency room. Just then Walter came in the room and said, "I think we need to go to the ER". So we went.
The nursing staff at Providence is really awesome. Our first nurse, an itty bitty blonde named Kristy, was so good with Ben. He even called her Sharpay, which of course is the highest compliment he can give. If you haven't seen High School Musical, the character of Sharpay is the cute blonde diva. So Sharpay, er, Kristy, got an IV going with the help of a big guy named Andrew. Walter and I stepped out of the room to make a few phone calls and texts, but really we just wanted to not be in the room if he screamed. After a few minutes, Andrew left and I was actually shocked that we hadn't heard a peep out of our boy. A little bit later radiology came and got Ben for a chest x-ray. The doctor came in and confirmed that Ben had pneumonia. He said because of his inability to keep anything down that Ben needed to be hospitalized.
A little while later we went up to the third floor. The pediatric wing is called Munchkinland. The whole hall is decorated with murals depicting The Wizard of OZ characters. They even had a carpet specially made to look like the yellow brick road. Ben was in the Dorothy and Glinda room. Inside the rooms look just like any other hospital room, but our nurse, Misty, made sure that Ben had a stuffed TOTO to snuggle with.
Ben had a pretty rough night and I got about two hours of sleep. Ben was so good even though he felt really rotten. The part he hated the most was having the IV in his arm. The nurses were all wonderful and took really good care of us. Yes, us. They expect a parent to always be there while your child is in the hospital. Of course I wasn't about to leave my boy. I called the school to let them know that I wouldn't be in for a few days. I also called the teacher I work with to let her know. The only thing I couldn't work around was that the play I was directing was in production week. ARGH! Of all the weeks to have to be at the hospital. I canceled a rehearsal and finally drove in on Wednesday to have the last rehearsal. It sure felt good to get home and have a shower! By then Ben was doing better and back to eating real food. He did need one more day getting his blood work back to normal and he finally got to come home on Thursday.
One funny story from Tuesday, I needed to go get Ben something to eat. His meal came and it just wasn't anything he would eat. I told the nurse that I needed to go downstairs and she made sure that he knew how to call her on the intercom. I get back and she came in to tell me that Ben had called her while I was out. She had walked into the room to see what she could do for him and he just pointed to the t.v. and announced, "I'm watching Spongebob"! My silly boy, I love him so.
He got home Thursday morning and I put him back on the couch and turned on the t.v. I had a show to get to! My kids did a great job! Later I found out that the little first grader who had the lead was sick. She got home from the play and her mom said she'd had a fever of 101. What a little trooper! Well, the show must go on.
I decided to keep Ben home until Monday so he could continue his recuperation over the weekend. Of course that meant that he missed his last two basketball games. Oh well, baseball will start soon and he enjoys that too. A week later I took him to see his doctor and after a new set of chest x-rays I am happy to say that he is all better! It was a new experience for us. This is the first time he has been hospitalized for sickness. He has had day surgeries before, but that is just in and out. Spending five days in the hospital is another story all together!
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