Little Man Visits the Hospital

Poor, poor Henry.

Visiting an American hospital has never been on my list of things to do. Unfortunately, this last week we did visit one. Everything seemed to be going well and then it happened. Henry would not stop screaming. We tried everything we could think of and nothing helped. He was exhausted and doing that thing that hyperventilating thing kids do when they cry really hard. I kept checking the stripe on his diaper and he wasn't wet so I didn't bother changing his diaper. I left Henry with Dave and ran to the store to grab some teething gel. We gave him that and some Advil and it didn't help at all. Finally I decided it was time to strip him down and look at his body to try and find the problem. After checking for hair tourniquets on his fingers and toes I pulled off his diaper and I knew immediately... he needed help. His groin was swollen and hard and I could tell he was in pain because his hands were shaking. I stayed with Sydney and David took him in. We both knew he would be calmer in the Hospital. They had him in, triaged, checked over, ultrasounded, treated and released in two hours. It is the miracle of a private health care system and some pretty amazing insurance coverage. 

When David came home he explained that our little man had a hernia. His bowel had gone through the hernia and they needed to put everything back into place. After some pretty major pain killers they fixed everything and filled David in on the details. Henry had almost lost a section of his bowel and would have been rushed for surgery if they had not been able to replace everything. David was given cards for a few paediatric surgeons down here and the urged him to get into contact with our doctor at home. We were told that we could stay here without worry but if it happens again he may need surgery ASAP. Our poor little guy had also thrown up all over himself from the pain on the car ride to the hospital so he was given a super cute hospital gown to wear home. 

I have never been so scared and I am now treating Henry like a super delicate little being. He seems completely normal and all we can do is hope that nothing happens until we get home and can meet with our own doctors. We already have an appointment scheduled for the day after we get home and we have sent them all of the information. I hope to get him in for the surgery as fast as possible!

Wish us luck and keep little Henry in your thoughts!

Mrs. E