A Trip to the E.R.

As many of you know, Nolan has a long history of colds and vomiting. This horrible rollercoaster of sickness began when he was 20 months old. At that time, he caught RSV a nasty cough like virus that weakens the lungs and immune system. He's battled what feels like hundreds of colds and sinus infections in the last two years. Mike and I have lost tons of sleep, weeks of work, and a lot of money over the past two years dealing with it. We've had Nolan seen by just about every type of doctor and specialist searching for an answer. Trips to our local doctor, the chiropractor, vudo doctors, and even the University of MN have not been successful. We've been told he has acid reflux, a sensitive gag reflex, and history of chronic sinus infections. Doctors have been telling us for the past two years, that he will out grow this. Nolan has been on more antibiotics in two years than both Mike and I combined have been on in our entire lives. He has been on various vitamins, herbs, drops, and pills to try to keep the coughing spells and vomiting down, but nothing seems to work. Yesterday morning, our little guy woke up and had a coughing spell which led to vomiting. Mike and I became very alarmed when we saw not only vomit, but blood. At first, we thought the blood was coming from his nose, but then noticed it wasn't. It was bright red and coming up with each purge. He proceeded to throw up enough blood that Mike and I became very worried and called our pediatrician. Nolan was seen at Centra Care clinic at 2:00 yesterday afternoon. They did blood work and thought that he should be sent down to the U of M for further tests. When the U of M heard about his condition, they sent us to the E.R. in St. Cloud in case there was an acute bleed and would need immediate attention. Mike and I were worried as any parent would be, but were able to remain calm because Nolan was acting like a typical four year old. He had eaten a good lunch, took a nap, played outside, and was very chipper despite the circumstances. We checked in the E.R. at about 5:30 last night. The were very friendly and surprisingly quick. Within the first hour, they drew blood through an IV in his arm (tucked under the blanket). Nolan was not at all thrilled with this...in fact, he cried and got so worked up that he vomited again. The nurses and doctors saw firsthand the blood we had seen earlier. Thankfully, he made it through and was rewarded a large bag of goodies for being so brave. At about 8:00p.m. we were told that his hemoglobin level was normal. This was good news. If the levels would have dropped, it would have meant he had internal bleeding and we would have been rushed down to U by ambulance. The normal levels indicated that the blood was most likely coming from a tear in the esophagus, feeding tube, or stomach. The vomiting episode in the morning most likely caused tearing in one of those areas. We know that Nolan throws up a lot and believe that all of this wear and tear on his insides are not good. The doctors sent us home with a prescription to help heal those areas and would like to see us at the U of M next week to do an Endoscopic procedure. They will be putting Nolan out and then running a tube and camera down his throat to see if everything is the way it should be. We have been thankful for normal test results and feel blessed that they really can't pinpoint anything dramatically wrong with him. At the same time, we feel cursed! Poor little Nolan has been through so much! We are lucky that he is such a trooper and bounces back pretty quickly. We ask that you all pray for him so that this test goes well. We also ask you to pray for good health for Nolan. We are entering cold and flu season...it seems like once it starts, we have are in for another rollercoaster ride- all winter long. Mike and I pray that what the doctors say is true...he'll out grow it. A healthy Nolan is a happy Nolan and... a happy set of parents.