Back from the hospital - AGAIN!

Z was released this morning and if anything seems to be doing better than me - LOL I went right to bed and just got up. Thank goodness DH had the last two days off from work. I don't know if it is the sleep deprivation from being at the hospital(don't ever go there to rest) or the Mono that has kicked my butt, but I do feel the need to blog this ASAP for those friends and family members who are concerned about Z, both here and back in MI.

Guess it all started back at my last post, where he received a clean bill of health. That was Friday morning. Saturday Z woke up and yelled for me, he and his bed were covered in dried blood. Ok, looked like he blew a clot in the night. Did my best not to freak out, not as bad as last time. I looked the best I could down his throat and saw another smallish clot. He coughed that one up 20 minutes later. By noon Z was complaining of feeling tired. Mostly contibuted that to the Mono. I could tell by late afternoon DS was whipped, but we let his friend stay over anyway. Same kid as we talked about back at Christmas, kid needs some"home" life and we pretty much have adopted him. Anyway, around 6 p.m. Z was walking from the dinning room into the kitchen when he just sort of . . . faints. Okay, now I don't even try to not freak out. I saw the whole thing as I had been sitting in the living room talking to him as he walked by. He came to pretty quick and we got him some O.J. I am still pretty naive since I am blaming it on the 16lb. weight loss he has had over the last 4 weeks, due to the fact he couldn't eat and has been living on broth. Around 8 p.m. he vomited a vast amount of coagulated blood into my bathroom sink. Now we are starting to see the light. I voted right then and there to go to the hospital, but DS was pretty emthaic about not wanting to go back there. Next thing we know he passes stone cold out trying to get from the bathroom to his bed. He was whiter than white and his lips looked like they were covered in white chalk dust. While we quickly discuss weather to make the six minute drive ourselves or call 911 again, DS faints again. DH and son's Bff grab him up and head out the door. I stayed behind to get a babysitter for the other kids. By the time I got to the ER they already had him on a saline drip. Whe lab test came back with his H&H (red cell count) at 8, his last one when everything happed back on 2/16 was 16 - which was normal for a teenager with a viral infection. The doc (who recognized Z from the 2/16 office call - guess our doc called all the other clinic doc's to come look at his abscess - which I am told looked liked raw hamburger) said he figures DS lost about a quart of blood. He also wanted to know if the guy on Friday had even actually looded at my son or his throat since this amount is so large it couldn't have just happened literally over night. My son must have been already trickling it down the back of his throught by the time he saw the NET specialist Friday morning. Can we say Bart Durham? (local ambulance chaser)

Well son stayed 3 days in hospital and had a two unit blood transfusion. He also got his b/p back. By the time we got DS to the ER he had no blood pressure! Guess we know why he was passing out! On the up side he also got his apatite back! Yea! In the past two days the boy has had 7 servings of french fries, which he says is what he is craving. I know, he is spoiled. Unfortunately he also has acquired anxiety attacks. He was scared to come home, every time he comes home he seems to get worse and we go back, who can blame him? I have them too, I am now an official hovering mom. Poor kid, he goes to the bathroom and I start yelling "are you ok" after 3 minutes. I can't even sleep at night, I feel someone needs to be monerting him at all times. This is so unfair. We haven't seen any bills yet, but they let me know that we have ALMOST reached our out of pocket expenses and with the home health care they set up for him we should reach it. He only has the home visits for two weeks, but I feel better knowing someone is monorting his vitals and taking his blood cell count. When Z left today his count was up to 10!

Well my hands are shaking to much to type anymore, mono or nerves? Please keep praying for us and I will keep you posted.

Blessings, Beth Ann