Logan's Hospital Trip Part 2 (2007)

***This happened exactly four years ago***

     To quickly backtrack and give example as to how serious this was becoming: When I first brought Logan to the doctor on Thursday he measured the spot on his leg and circled the red area with a pen so that we could monitor its growth.  The initial measurement was a circle about 2 inches in diameter.  On Friday it was only slightly larger, however by Saturday afternoon, the entire area was as large as my (completely) outstretched hand.  Despite the oral antibiotics, it was growing at an alarming rate.  Finally around 5pm on Saturday Logan finally had his first dose of IV antibiotics, and by 7:45 my sweet baby was sound asleep.  I could only imagine how exhausted his little body was. He had spent most of the afternoon being held down on a hospital bed by 6 or more adults while they made numerous failed attempted at getting an IV in him.  Each time someone would walk into his room he would scream "don't let them poke me!!"  I prayed countless times that afternoon.      

          The first IV attempt was probably the worst.  The nurse started it off by asking me "Do you think he will cry?" (In broken English).  5 of us were in there to hold him down and the nurse wouldn't stop complaining about how much Logan was moving.  I can't tell you how many times we were told "Wow - he's really strong", or "Wow - he's such an active boy".  “Yes, we know!!” I wanted to yell. I know that this sounds very silly, but it's amazing when it happens to you; let me preface it with this - I do not do good AT ALL with blood, I don't do that good with needles, and I clearly do not do well when my children are hurting and there is nothing I can do about it... However, truly by the grace of God I did not cry or overreact even once.  I was able to maintain my composure and even WATCH as they attempted over and over to poke my helpless child, praying all the while that it would finally work.  An astounding sense of peace literally overtook me.   My mother, who graduates the nursing program in one month (and gives IV's to people all the time) was crying very hard at Logan's discomfort.  It was an amazing sense of calm and strength that came over me, and for those of you who don't know me, I am very emotional now that I have kids.  I could go on and on about this part of my experience, but would lack doing it any justice.        

     After Logan fell into a deep sleep, they informed us that we would need to be moved to a “special” room. The nurses came in to move his bed all the way down the hall to his new room bumping into everything imaginable along the way.  My precious little guy didn't even budge - he was so exhausted.  My baby looked so small and helpless lying in that big bed sleeping. It was very hard to see.  It was a difficult night with nurses coming in every 45 minutes, and it meant no sleep for me, but thankfully Logan slept great.  They had to draw blood several times the following day, which allowed our experience to be even more memorable.  Logan's last day in the hospital was spent in isolation, which was definitely not fun.  It's was also a little disconcerting to have a big huge 'STOP' sign on our room door to let everyone know that we were the plague.  This would also mean that Logan would no longer be allowed out of his room to walk around to burn off just a small amount of the energy my two year had bottled up inside.  It also meant that it was now solely up to mommy to provide non-stop entertainment.              

      Fast forward through a bunch of other stuff, including the promised doctor visit on Sunday that NEVER came, Logan was finally released on Monday at about 10:30pm.  He left extremely traumatized, and with lots of bruises on his hands and arms, including broken blood vessels on his arms and face.  When we got home, the first thing I did was give him a bath, and while in the bath he told Cameron that he was a doctor and needed to give him a shot, he pinched Cameron on the neck so hard that it almost bled, apparently his impression of doctors isn't very high at this time. We were supposed to leave for vacation on Saturday (the day Logan was admitted) in Palm Springs with Randy & Melinda (my gracious in-laws), but were delayed slightly by our hospital experience. We were able to leave Monday however, around 11:30 PM, and we arrived in Palm Springs around 6:30 Tues morn.  I had spent most of the night either driving (in the rain), or sitting in the middle seat between the boys' large car seats. Logan (and Cameron) cried frequently and needed lots of comforting. When we walked through the doors of the villa, I was the most exhausted I had ever been. I handed the boys off to my loving in-laws and went straight to bed for a few hours.            

     It took a few days to catch up on sleep, but we had a really great time, and thankfully Logan's leg started to heal.  We returned home last night and Logan had a check up this morning.  The doctor said everything looks fine but the scar tissue will probably take a long time to go away, and I later found out from our herbalist that Vanco can stay in your system for up to 18 years! :(   It was all such a blur, so thank you to all of those who were praying for us, it helped more than you know.  We appreciated your cards and notes of kindness, your phone calls, the gifts for Logan, and your thoughts.  We love you all so very much and we are soo blessed to have friends and family like you.  THANK YOU - THANK YOU - THANK YOU!!!

Logan's Hospital Trip Part 1 (2007)

**These posts are from exactly 4 years ago**

     Well, (as you all know) Logan is out of the hospital.  It was definitely an experience.  My heart goes out to all of the little children in hospitals and their loved ones who have to see them there.  It is so spiritually, emotionally, and physically draining.  We have been out of town since Logan's release and I was unable to get on the computer to give you all an update.  I had my sister Jessica post a bulletin for me on Wed. night.  So, for those of you are unsure as to what happened, I'll give you a full update. On Tuesday I noticed a spot on Logan's thigh that looked like an ingrown hair (a tiny pimple-like mark).  By Wednesday it had grown slightly, but not to the point in which I would be overly concerned.  Wednesday night however it really started to hurt Logan and he cried much of the night - especially when the sheets would touch the spot.  Thursday morning I got us up extra early and called the doctor hoping we could get in at opening time (we live 1/4 mile away), but as it turned out, they weren't able to see us until the afternoon.  As the day went on, the spot grew, and continued to be warm to the touch with hardness at the center.  

     When we finally made it to the doctor, he informed me that the spot was a boil and there was a possibility Logan would need to be hospitalized.  I didn't see that one coming! He told me that the boil was most likely MRSA (I had only heard of it the day before) and that it could be very dangerous.  So, we went home and Logan took the antibiotics, did the warm compresses religiously, and brought him back the next afternoon as prescribed.      At the following visit, being completely naive (possibly just stupid) I brought both boys with me to a nightmare appointment.  The spot had grown slightly, so the doctor told me again that we might have to go the hospital, but he wanted to "try" something first.  He grabbed some tools out of this large white bucket (that a nurse brought in) and told me to give Logan a hug because he might be a little uncomfortable.  So, still unaware myself of what exactly was about to happen, I give my little guy a big bear hug. The doctor pulled out a scalpel (I know this for a fact because I became very familiar with scalpels while dissecting a cat in high school) he grabbed a flippin scalpel, put on gloves, and started to poke a hole in Logan's leg where the "mark" was. Let me clarify something - Logan had previously cried when a thin sheet touched his leg, so imagine the pain he felt when the doober doctor poked a hole in his boil. Never in my life (and never again do I want to) hear my sweet baby cry the way he did in that office. It was sickening to watch and even more sickening to know that I was the one holding him down and enabling the doctor to do this. After the doctor poked a couple of openings in the boil he began to squeeze it.  I won't go in to detail about what was expressed from Logan's leg, but I will say that I was dumbfounded.  And I will also say that the doctor proceeded to squeeze and squeeze, until Logan came very close to passing out from the pain. His eyes started to roll back in his head and he was very pale. It was horrifying to watch. Logan is 2, and he's a pretty darn tough 2 yr old, but I guarantee I would have passed out had it been me on the table. The experience was absolutely traumatic. As I held Logan, feeling very close to shoving the doctor out the door, I remembered that my Cameron was in the room to, and might need some consoling as well. I looked at him, standing with his back to us near the door, and I noticed that his little shoulders were shaking (he was sobbing).  It was heartbreaking to seem him so upset by this.  It was also heartbreaking to know that Logan probably thought that his mommy didn't protect him from this terrible pain.  It took him a full 10 minutes to stop crying and 20 more for the tremors in his leg to stop.     

  We were then sent home again, to do all of the same things (that didn't work before).  The next morning I wasn't very hopeful because Logan's leg was looking a little worse, so I had to bring him back in to the doctor office, only to find out he would need to be admitted to the hospital.  Saturday at noon he was admitted, and they weren't able to get him started on his IV antibiotics until almost 5.  I'll tell you why in just a second.  :/  But first, the reason Logan had to be hospitalized was because the infection was growing at a very rapid rate, and would very likely enter his blood stream. MRSA doesn't respond well to most antibiotics, therefore he needed to be put on Vancomycin. It is possibly the most powerful antibiotic drug used and can enter the system very fast.             

     Saturday at noon he was admitted, and they weren't able to get him started on his IV antibiotics until almost 5.  I'll tell you why in just a second.  :/  But first, the reason Logan had to be hospitalized was because the infection was growing at a very rapid rate, and would very likely enter his blood stream. MRSA doesn't respond well to most antibiotics, therefore he needed to be put on Vancomycin. It is possibly the most powerful antibiotic drug used and can enter the system very fast. Vancomycin - appropriately nicknamed the King of Antibiotics, and The Drug of Last Resort, was being used on MY 2 year old. The day was only looking more grim after it took the nurses 5 times, FIVE TIMES!! to get Logan's IV in. It took 7 of us to hold him down, and that included my husband, Mark.  It took 3 hours, 3 painful, sweaty, dreadful hours to get the IV in. 4 different nurses made the attempt, and because there was a high possibility he would need surgery, he wasn't allowed to eat or drink, which caused him to be dehydrated, which then caused his veins to collapse. I was sick of them putting my baby through so much pain...