Sarah woke up at about 2:00 am, went to the bathroom and took some Tylenol. She didn't even ask for me, but I heard her up and checked on her. She seemed ok. She didn't vomit, as she did earlier, so I felt confident that the Tylenol could do its job. She went back to bed and didn't awake again until her alarm went off at 5:50 AM, when she got right up to get ready for school.
When I told her that she wasn't going to school, she fought back a bit. She didn't want to miss Chemistry Lab or Orchestra. She was planning on challenging for first chair. She asked why she wasn't going and I reminded her of her 103 degree temperature. The school system doesn't appreciate sick kids going to school. One thing about Sarah, she always followed rules. I knew that we would never find that Sarah got a speeding or parking ticket, let alone drink or smoke. Sarah just wouldn't do those things, because we/ the school system/ society said no. So I knew when I reminded her of school policy, it wouldn't even be an issue. She said fine. Then she complained of a headache. Still sounded like the flu.
My husband questioned my staying home with Sarah. She didn't seem that sick. I suppose that a 16 year old is old enough to stay home alone when ill, but I have never left the kids home. My company gives us sick time. I use it for my kids. Anyway, as things turned out, I am glad I was home. I am not sure if I could have lived with myself if I hadn't been there with her.... ANYWAY...
Sarah was thirsty, so I gave her a Sprite. She drank about half through the morning. She sat on the toilet and had some diarhea: not copious amounts- just some. She just sat on the toilet. She complained that she felt chills. Then said she felt dizzy and I told her to lie down until I could call the doctor at 9:00. There had been flu at work; we were sure it was the flu. The flu at work had kept some people away close to a week. We didn't want her missing that much school. She had a tough schedule and making up a week would have been difficult.
She rested on the floor in the bathroom. That isn't as bad as it sounds. The bathroom is more like a boudoir, complete with jacuzzi and TV and a carpeted floor. Don't even ask. We bought it that way and the girls both loved it. Anyway, she was resting on the floor. I called and got her an 11:15 appointment. She dry heaved a bit and brought up bile. She was weak, but not so weak that she couldn't move out of the bathroom into the hallway mid morning. She had lost some bile on the floor, and I didn't want her laying next to it. I called the Doctor, they said to make sure that she kept drinking. I had flattened some coke for her. She did not seem dehydrated. I let her rest in the hallway while I did some things downstairs.
Basically she slept. I went back up an hour before her appointment to help her get dressed. She complained that her legs were weak. I put a skirt on her and went to call the doctor again to see if we could get in earlier. When I walked back up the stairs with the doctor on the phone, I noticed about 5 quarter sized black and blue marks on her chest. At the time, I had no idea. then I noticed her lips were turning blue. The Doctor told me to call 911. They thought she was dehydrated. It took forever for the ambulence to get to the house- over 20 minutes. They had to come from another town because Westerville's squads were tied up. Westerville's fire department did show up quickly, but they couldn't trasnport her. They took vitals on her. Sarah was talking the entire time. She even rolled her eyes at me when I said something to her about the medics being cute. She was totally lucid, but thirsty.
The medics finally came and could not put an IV in her. They tried once in her arm and twice in her ankles on the way to the hospital. Her blood pressure was low but within normal bounds. She had low blood sugar- 56; normal is 70-120, but someone I talked to suggested that sugars decline after vomiting. I don't know.
I know she was frightened, because she was scared of anything medical. She had spent some time 5 years ago at Children's with pneumonia and to her dying day talked about the IV and the painful shots of rocephin, a powerful antibiotic they shot simultaneously into both thighs.
I sat in the front of the ambulence, while the medics worked on her in the back. They too, thought she had the flu.
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