Our night with Intussusception

4.14.09
Tian woke up at 12am for a bottle, ate his bottle and went back to sleep soundly. About an hour later, Tian woke up screaming! I picked him up, started walking with him to calm him down, but soon realized this wasn't a tired cry or a hungry cry. This was a cry due to pain, and I didn't know what to do. Grandma GiGi was woken up, Grandma Bend was woken up, and the three of us tried to calm the little guy down. We turned on the tv, turned on the fireplace, rubbed his back, NOTHING would work. He would cry and cry his little heart out for a while, stop crying for a minute, and then cry again. After two hours of crying, he vomited (projectile!) and took a short nap for about an hour. He woke up screaming once again, not wanting his bottle and still in pain, so after arranging for GiGi and G.Pa to take care of Derek and Trey, my mom and I headed to the ER at about 4am. On the ride to the ER, we found Tian has a liking to the song "The Boys Are Back" from High School Musical.
Thankfully, the ER was quiet, they got us right back, and strangly, Tian was calm. Once the sweet nurse named Erin took Tian's weight (which was 18 pounds, 13 ounces) and took his temperature (which seemed normal, although I don't remember the degrees) Tian began screaming again. The pediatrician met us, looked in Tian's ears and was unable to see his ear drum due to earwax. (so gross, but I am NOT about to be cleaning out a 6 month old's ears. Dangerous!) They thought even IF Tian's ears were red to some degree, he wouldn't be screaming like he was.

Next, it was to the IV! Poor little guy! He was stuck in the arm twice, in the foot once or twice (I forget!) and finally after many failed attempts, ended up calling a neonatal nurse down from upstairs and was able to get an IV in Tian's scalp.

Tian fell asleep like this. Staring at my mom, so sad.

Looking back at these pictures, I just hurt for our little guy. This doesn't even look like our easily pacified Tian. So much pain. The brown "tape" around his head is called CoBan and it was "supposed" to hold his IV in place. Pretty lame, considering the IV slid out of his vein and was needed to be placed for a SECOND time into a different vein in the head. The second IV was placed by a pediatric Life Flight trauma nurse. She was so sweet, patient and loving.

While the nurses were having difficulty with the IV, I asked if a Sarah Mattix was working that evening in Phlebotomy. They said she was and that they would tell her we were admitted. Sarah was a friend of mine from High School and we still keep in contact. I hadn't told her we were in town, feeling terrible THIS was how we were going to be meeting each other!




Doesn't Sarah look good for working a 11 hour shift during the night? Don't mind me; I look like a tired mom who had been awake since 1am. Only getting an hour and a half worth of sleep, due to staying up late, chatting with my sweet, caring, loving friend Abbey! Just like we were back in high school! Poor Tian looks miserable. Notice the bandaid on Tian's left heel from ONE of the IV sticks.


After the IV was placed, Tian began receiving fluids and soon later, pain medication. At this point, we were told he might have Intusussception, a telescoping of the bowel, and many tests needed to be ran. Through the IV, blood was taken, and Tian had a White Blood Cell Count of 27, 3000. A KUB (x-ray including the Kidneys, Ureter, and Bladder) was taken portably in the ER room, which didn't demonstrate anything abnormal.

A pediatrian, by the name of Dr. Chun was called in. My mom, as well as all of the nurses and ER physican all spoke highly of Dr. Chun. I was surprised when a caucasian man, around 65 years of age, walked through the door with jeans and a fleece. He too confirmed the diagnosis as Intusussception and said a Air Barium Enima was ordered, and we were waiting in line for radiology. A 13 year old girl with a lacerated liver was in radiology at the moment, and she was in a more traumatic situation then we were. (Of course, I didn't begin to argue with a liver bleed!) While we waited for Radiology, Dr. Chun performed a rectal exam on Tian which he said his bowels felt very tight at first, but when he was complete, the bowels felt loose. He also took a stool sample (I know, WAY too much info!) which demonstrated some blood. I asked him if the blood was a result of the rectal exam, but he said no. The blood was from the bowel.

I asked Dr. Chun if the high White Blood Cell Count could be caused from #1. Cancer or #2. Appendicitis. He said cancer is usually very slow growing and doesn't necessarily cause pain. And with Appendicitis, the pain is usually a dull pain on the lower right quadrant of the abdomen and demonstrates a White Blood Cell Count of only 10,000. At this point, I was so scared, hoping that we could find out what was causing Tian so much pain.

Before we were taken to Radiology, the pain medication was administered through Tian's IV and he began to calm down. I met the nicest Radiologic Technologist named Samantha. We quickly became friends and exchanged radiology information.



Off to Radiology and riding in style. Get that baby a blanket!

I informed them of my profession and they let me assist in Tian's procedure. I left the tipping to Samantha. The radiologist was very straight forward and informative. He assured me air was able to move throughout the entire bowel and he didn't suspect Intusussception. Meaning, Dr. Chun corrected the problem with the rectal exam.

While speaking with the nurses in the ER, I asked them how many cases of Intusussception have they seen. One nurse, who has been working in the ER for 3 years said she has seen MAYBE 3 cases.


After 6 hours in the ER and some good pain medication, Tian was a happy camper. We were given instructions to feed Tian bananas, rice cereal and pedialyte. This would be Tian's first time eating bananas, and just like any other food he has tried, (except for Barley!) he loved them! He also loved the tiny bottle he had in the ER full of Pedialyte.

Happy boy with Grandma Bend
The second IV, sans the CoBan!

So much happier our little guy became, thanks to pain medication

Tian thought he was such a big boy with his itty bitty bottle! So stinkin' cute!

We are so thankful to all of you who have called and thought about us! Thank you for your prayers!