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!!!