As I was getting ready for work, the phone rang, and it was Uncle Joby calling. I know from experience that nothing good comes from phone calls between the hours of 9PM and 7AM (so if your thinking of calling me to chat between those times...DON'T!). Uncle Joby told my Dad that Aunt Connie had taken a turn for the worst during the night and he needed my Dad to help him. I had to go to work and the kids were going on a field trip to Clemson Extension. The whole day, I was worried, but my cousin Beth kept me informed by e-mailing me on my g-mail so I could get updates on my Blackberry. After work, I went straight to the hospital and my mother-in-law, Dotty, picked up Jac and let him spend the night. They started to ween her off of the sedatives and I was able to go in and talk to her for a minute with her awake and alert. I wish I would have known that this would be the last time I would see her.
On Thursday (the last day before Spring Break), I went to work as usual and got an e-mail early in the day saying that Aunt Connie had a very good night and they were hopeful. A couple of hours later, Beth came to the door and told me that we needed to get to the hospital fast, because they called and told us that she wasn't going to make it after all. I was so confused and don't even remember what I said to the kids when I left. They told me to split them up into the other 5th grade classrooms and then I could leave. I rushed to the hospital and when I arrived, I was met by my pastor, who told me that the doctors had done all they could do and my family was waiting in the family room. When I walked in, I saw my family sitting in silence with tears in their eyes. A few minutes later, the nurse came in and informed us that she had passed. We all sat their for hours as some friends came by to offer their condolences. People that aren't from our family have a hard time understanding how close a big family can be. We are closer to our Aunts than most people are with their own mothers, so this loss is a huge one for us. It's also hard, to watch my mom and the rest of her sisters and brothers go through this kind of pain, not to mention my cousin Sherri and Uncle Joby.
As we sat their, stunned, my phone rang. It was the babysitter, Mrs. Gloria. She told me that Jac was running a fever of 103.6 and was going to give him some Tylenol. I left the hospital to go get him after this. At Mrs. G's house, you could tell that Jac wasn't feeling good because his face was red and he was whining a lot, but he still wanted to play and always seems to have a little burst of energy when I get there. He didn't really have any other symptoms, so I thought it was just a fluke and that he would sleep it off. We came back to Mom and Dad's and played for a little while before Jac finally gave in and took another nap. Mom and Dad were with the rest of the family at Aunt Ann's house. When Jac woke up, he was burning up. I decided to take him to Urgent Care because I knew that it was too late to go to the doctor's office. Both of the places I went by were already closed and wouldn't see me so I took him to the McLeod ER.
After filling out paperwork, we only waited for a few minutes when they called us back to check his vitals. At this point, his temp was 105 and the nurse was kinda freaking out about it, which in turn, scared the living daylights out of me! She took us straight back to the exam room and they immediately sent in a doctor. Jac was really scared and screaming his head off. They were running all kinds of tests and drilling me with questions to try to figure out what the problem was and then gave him an IV. By this point, my mom had made it to the hospital and was in the room with us. I was trying my best to stay calm so that I didn't worry my Mom or upset Jac any more, but inside, I was a wreck! Jac must have cried for 2 or 3 hours straight before the fever really started going down and the nurses left for a while.
After 2 chest x-rays (The first one didn't work out because Jac was thrashing around so.), blood work, a urine sample, and an exam, the doctor told us that it didn't appear that he had meningitis. MENINGITIS???? WTF???? Good thing they didn't tell me that was a possibility earlier or I would have flipped!! They did say that after looking at his lungs, he had "a touch" of pneumonia (as if there is such a thing) and an ear infection. He hadn't even been sick, not even a cold (no coughing, sneezing, or anything), and has never had an ear infection or any signs of it (like pulling on his ears)! He kinda keeps a runny nose, but that's usually from crying....he's a "juicy" baby. They pumped him with some antibiotics in his IV and gave us a prescription and finally let us leave with strict instructions to follow up with Urgent Care the next morning and with his Primary Care Manager this week (I'll have to follow-up with another whole post on how "awesome" TRICARE insurance has been on this matter...please notice the sarcasm). I think it was almost 2:00AM by this point and Jac's temp was down to 99. something and he was totally wired. For a kid who usually sleeps from 7PM to 7AM, that is very unusual. I'm starting to think they were pumping him with caffeine instead of antibiotics.
On Friday, he was still running a pretty high temp at first, but it tapered off later in the day and on Saturday it was only 101, first thing in the morning with no Tylenol, and no fever later. Dotty kept Jac again on Friday and Saturday so that I could go to the visitation and the funeral. Sunday morning was Easter, and since he had a rockin Easter outfit and no fever, we went to the Sunrise service at church (and sat in the nursery with Penn and Samantha), and left after breakfast to take a nap before the Carmon Easter Egg Hunt. It was awesome to get together with my family after such a stressful week and really appreciate how blessed I am to have so many people in my life who mean so much.
This weekend would have been a tough one no matter what. God really held me together somehow. I just wish that my best friend could have been here with me. Cam told me the other day that he made his intentions (of not going in for a second enlistment) clear with the guy trying to get him to re-enlist. He could re-sign now, while he's in Iraq and get a nice chunk of money tax free, but it is SO not worth it! If we had some kind of assurance that he wouldn't have to deploy again, it would be a different story, but that absolutely would not happen. He wants to be here with us, and I can't wait for the day when we'll be under the same roof again!
I know this might have been a long boring post, but I really felt like I needed to get everything out there. If you made it this far, have a look at some pics of our Easter Celebration.
Reading a story to Penn and Samantha while Jac ransacks the rest of the nursery.
He's so freakin cute!
Doing a "no no" (standing in the chair) while cheesin for the camera (he hasn't done that in a long time!)
Jac at the Egg hunt...he was on a mission
You have really had a trying week. I'm so sorry about the loss of your aunt. You and your family are in my prayers.
ReplyDeleteJac is adorable in the dancing video and he looks so handsome in his Easter outfit. Hope you are able to enjoy the rest of your spring break!