The month of October was certainly memorable. Lets start with the good news. I started my job and got right to work. Pall Corporation is a global company and certainly does not stop, not even slows, for my arrival. Everyone is busy at their job so I have just sort of dove in and determined what needed to be done. I have come to understand that when you reach a point in your career with enough experience, you are hired because your joining should be seamless. So that is where I have found myself. I certainly appreciate the confidence, now I just need to make sure I have some in myself. I am constantly doubting myself for fear that I will be laid off again. This anxiety is easing up as I find my footing.
Okay now for the real chaos. The weekend before I start my new job Jimmy breaks his collarbone. This throws a real wrench in our daily life since Jimmy rides his bike and we only have one car. Once again my parents swooped in to the rescue and lent us their car. To make matters worse, when Jimmy followed up with the Orthopedic Doctor he learned he would have to have surgery. His collarbone needed a metal plate inserted to connect the two ends so they could heal.
On the Friday of my first week at work Jimmy went into surgery. All went well and my dad waited at the hospital in my place. He had to stay over night to manage the pain so with Cole out at my parents for the night, Cooper and I set off to visit him. Cooper was being very fussy, much fussier than usual. He was inconsolable actually. The stress of a new job, a husband's surgery and an inconsolable baby really wore on me.
When I woke up in the middle of the night to feed Cooper I noticed he was warm. I took his temperature and it read 102.2. After a call into the doctor we were on our way back up to the hospital. With Cooper only being three months old, it is mandatory that he receive an IV in the ER. The nurses starting poking him over and over, unable to find a tiny little vein. It was heartbreaking. They looked every where for the source of the fever. Unable to get an IV, they had to take blood where they could including scooping up drops from his heel. With all the lousy blood samples the results kept coming back problematic so they kept taking more blood. A doctor came and told me they might have to do a spinal tap on Cooper and my heart sank. Eventually a pediatric doctor came down in the morning (we were there for seven hours) looked in Cooper's ears and said "There it is." Really? All that for an ear infection? We were just grateful to go home. Both Jimmy and Cooper were discharged at the same time. My poor mother stood by my side the whole time.
Cooper and I were exhausted so we went home and slept and slept. Early the next morning we received a call from the hospital asking us to come BACK to the hospital as some of the blood results were again coming up problematic. We went back to the ER. The pediatric nurses finally were able to get an IV in poor Cooper and they drew blood correctly. We were sent home with the IV still in place just in case more blood was to be drawn. The following day all results came back clear. After the amount of antibiotics they had pumped into Cooper, he didn't even need a prescription of antibiotics. The poor little guy even had blood in his stool the following day from all the medicine.
At the end of the two visits Cooper had been poked 10 different times, had a catheter inserted twice to collect urine, had an x-ray, threats of a spinal tap - all for a lousy ear infection. Next time I will think twice before taking him directly to the ER. I will try everything possible to wait until the doctor's office is open.
Other than that we had a fun Halloween and an ailment-free rest of the month. I only pray that we do not see the hospital again for a long time, because between Coop's birth, Jimmy's collarbone and the ER visits I have had enough - and so has our bank account!
No comments:
Post a Comment