Our Trip to the ER

We still don't have answers. We got there at 11:00 and didn't get back until 7:00. At first, they listened to what I was saying about his chest pains and having pains when he would breathe. As soon as I mentioned CF, they sort of threw up their hands as if to say, "What do you expect?" I hate that they attribute everything to CF but that's the thing...maybe everything is and I am just not used to it (or a little in denial) because we don't deal with the illness side so much as we do the preventative side. The nurse listened and heard a crackling so I was thinking, "Okay, give him some meds and send us on our merry way." They sent him for an xray and at that time, he was pretty weak and it dawned on me that I told the triage nurse he was dizzy but didn't tell the nurse when we got into the room. I panicked and couldn't find his nurse so I told the assistant sitting at the desk. The doctor went in and introduced herself and said she looked at the xray and it looked clear. "Like a kid that doesn't have Cystic Fibrosis." She listened to his lungs and said they were perfectly clear. In that moment, the happiness I felt at hearing those words..."like a kid that doesn't have CF" clouded my focus and I forgot to ask the doctor about the dizziness.

I want to interject here that Leo is against me ever taking the kids to the ER and when I insist that they go, he texts or calls me every two minutes telling me what he thinks is going on. He throws in a few suggestions of what to tell the doctors and asks a thousand questions. It is great fun on my end.

Anyway, the Advil they gave him thinking it was a pulled muscle wasn't helping and at about 3:30, he complained that he was still dizzy. The nurse came and I asked her about it and what do you know? The assistant never told her. It sent them all in a panic but not enough to run any tests, just enough to keep us there for a few more hours. There was a discrepancy between the pediatrician and the CF doctor about giving Tommy a steroid or not. The CF doctor won (I'm glad) and no steroids. I have a hard time telling the doctors what to do but I didn't think it was right to put him on steroids when the chest xray came back normal and they didn't do any labs on him. I'm always afraid to demand things like that (labs) because I have seen way too many Lifetime movies or Law and Orders about Munchausen Syndrome which if you know me, you know I am the farthest thing from that. Besides the Queen of Chaos, I am also the Princess of Denial. However the people at CDH don't know me so I am afraid to say too much. Finally at 7:00, he was released with NO ANSWERS other than his lungs were clear and he was probably dehydrated which I'm not really buying but with no labs, I guess we just don't know. A whole day gone that I will never get back.

Thanks for all the prayers. If you can keep them coming for his appointment at the rheumatoid specialist on Thursday, I would appreciate it. It just doesn't seem right that a child that has cystic fibrosis and asthma would also battle juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. I pray that this won't be one of those, "Well, life isn't fair" moments.