January Adventures: Lakeview Hospital, Anaheim

I've decided that Ben's first hospital admission was most assuredly an adventure, so I shall narrate it as I narrated our August Adventures. Just a warning: the ratings might be low.

Destination: Lakeview Hospital, Anaheim

The Journey: 1.0

On Sunday morning, day four of antibiotics, Benjamin was seeming to do a lot worse rather than better. He'd been refusing food and drink for a few days, and because he was borderline dehydrated and had a borderline oxygen saturation on Friday, I was pretty sure he'd crossed that line. Matt had to go to work, so I made an appointment and my mom and I took him to after-hours care at about 10:00. After doing some assessments (thankfully no more chest x-rays or blood work), the on-call doctor told us that he had developed a double ear infection since Friday, and because B wasn't getting any better he wanted us to take him to the hospital to have the pediatrician there give him some IV fluids and monitor him. The hospital pediatrician (Dr. Lin) would decide after monitoring if he would need to be admitted. So we headed to Lakeview. Of course we couldn't go to the nearest Kaiser hospital, because it's still pretty new and they don't have a full peds unit yet. So off to Anaheim we went. This meant heading north on the 55 to the 91, which is a LOT farther than I care to travel (remember the driving allergy and resistance to venturing too far from coastal Orange County?). Fortunately it was mid-day on a Sunday, so we didn't meet any traffic. And I had my mom drive. So maybe I cheated a little. Whatever.

The rating gets a 1.0 and not a 0.0 because Ben figured out how to turn the light on and off, and that was pretty darn cute. He'd also gained a little weight back and his oxygen had risen a point or so, which was great news.

The Hike: 1.5

Of course we couldn't just go check in at peds because we didn't know yet if he was going to be admitted. So we had to sit in the ER for a while. Once we finally got checked in the fun really began. Dr. Johnson took us to a little triage room that had a bed and about 1/2 foot between it and the wall. The next part was something that if I never had to do again I would really really be okay with. Dr. Johnson and Mikey, a beefy med student, pulled Ben's thumb out of his mouth and stretched out his arm. I had to lay on top of him, hold his left arm and head, and pin him down while Mike held his right arm and Dr. Johnson put in an IV.

The combined power of God, instinct, and adrenaline truly astound me. As I lay on top of my writhing, sobbing son, who was looking into my eyes with the saddest, most pitiful gaze I have ever seen, I fully expected myself to completely lose it. Only I didn't. I was a mama bear taking care of her cub. I calmly looked into his eyes, softly sang to him, and reassured him. When it was over I held his shaking, terrified body to my calmly beating heart. I know that it was not in my power to be able to do that...God was there, doing it with me, keeping me strong and calm so that Ben could be too.

After that hellish nightmare (hey, supernatural calm or not, if someone wanted to torture me to get me to confess, that would do it), we were given a bed. I laid down with my sweet angel curled up in my arms, and he finally drifted off to sleep. The nurse started his IV, gave him a round of IV antibiotics, and put him on oxygen. Eventually Dr. Lin came and checked him, then decided to admit him. After a little while we were taken upstairs to a teeny little corner room with a crib, TV, and a couch that turned into a super comfy bed (that was an example of irony).

Those two hours would have definitely merited a 0.0 rating, but when we were taken upstairs they rolled up our gurney, which was fun because I got to be rolled around on a gurney but not as a patient, so I got to kind of enjoy the trip instead of just look at ceiling tiles and try to guess where I was.

The View: 5.0

I think the picture speaks for itself. The name "Lakeview Hospital" was an obvious choice.

The Extras: 1.5

It was a long day and a long night. At this point things get fuzzy. Poor Benjamin was miserable for a lot of it. He hated the pulse-ox taped to his toe, hated the booger sucker, and HATED the IV. Mostly because the turds in the ER put it in his right arm, so he couldn't suck his thumb. They then wrapped his arm in a towel and taped it up so he couldn't bend it. The peds nurse shook her head, and explained, as she was unwrapping the towel and taping a little piece of cardboard to his elbow, that in the ER they just stick the IV in the right elbow because that's the strongest vein in adults, but in peds they know kids, and they know that kids need their arms, so they usually put the IV somewhere else. But the damage had been done. His thumb was out of commission the entire trip. That's bad news for a kid who sucks his thumb to self-sooth. It's not like he wanders around with his thumb in his mouth all day; but that's how he calms himself, and that's how he gets himself to sleep. So without it...well, it was a looooong adventure.

My fantastic and amazing mother stayed with us until Matt got there and we got settled in the room, then she went home.

The deal was that if later in the evening he was perking up and doing a lot better we could go home. But by 7:00, while he had perked up considerably, he was still refusing to eat or drink. Dr. Lin didn't want to send him home if he wasn't eating or drinking. So our morning check-up became an overnight hospital stay. My bestie Erin went to our house and got together some pjs, food, my laptop, toiletries, and other sundry items. I took a break and went to get some In and Out. We turned on The Tale of Despereaux on the TV, and Ben eventually drifted off to sleep.

He woke up a few times during the night, but he went back to sleep surprisingly well considering I couldn't really pick him up and snuggle him and he couldn't suck his thumb. The respiratory specialist came every 3-4 hours to give him breathing treatments, which he thankfully slept through. The nurse also came in every 3-4 hours to take his vitals, which he sometimes slept through and sometimes didn't. I "slept" on a chair that serendipitously turned into a super comfy bed (more irony), and Matt "slept" on a roll-away that the nurses brought in. Ben woke up at 7:00am, which beats his wake-up time for the last several days by about an hour and a half. That was the good news. More good news was that he ate a couple of crackers, smiled, and played a little after he awoke. Still no drinking. But the nurse turned down his IV just in case he wasn't drinking because he was fully satisfied by the IV.


B's new doctor gave us the okay to leave because he was doing so well. So well, in fact, that he wasn't too keen on being in his bed anymore. We brought him some new toys from the playroom, which occupied him for a while. Once they decided we would be able to go home, they stopped his IV (but kept in the set-up) and took off his pulse-ox. Then we took a little walk around the peds unit. It was kind of small and Kaiser puts sensors on the kiddos that go off when they go beyond the boundaries or near the staircases and elevators. So we couldn't go far. But Ben LOVED his little walk. They also had wagons that they let us borrow. We rode around the halls and went into the playroom.

Ben started to get crabby when his usual nap was about an hour overdue, so we went back to our room to continue to wait. We couldn't be discharged until the respiratory specialist came and brought us our fancy new nebulizer and explained how to use it. Ben started to lose it during that wait. He was sick of the contraption in his arm, he was tired, and he wanted to suck his thumb, snuggle, and go home. After 30 minutes of crying, he finally fell asleep in my arms in the chair.

Of course ten minutes later the doctor came in with our New Years present. After she left the nurse came, woke Ben up, and finally removed the implement of torture. We were free!

Nurse Kim wheeled Ben and I out of the hospital into the delicious, crisp, lakeview air. Oh, did I mention that the other side of the hospital had a freeway view? Glorious freedom.

We went to the kaiser pharmacy by our house to fill the prescription for the nebulizer solution. Matt dropped B and I off at home while he went back to pick it up and grab some food. Of course the pharmacy was out of the solution. Don't ask me how we're going to do breathing treatments every four hours without the breathing treatment.

The good news is that Ben is eating and DRINKING! Not a lot, but still. He's also running around the house and playing, which is fun to see. Of course after ten minutes he's exhausted all of his energy and he collapses into my arms, thumb firmly reunited with his mouth. But at the moment he is sleeping soundly in his very own bed, next to which is a Vicks Vaporizer (steamy with lavender and eucalytus oils instead of Vicks).


We have been so touched and encouraged by the many many people who have called, texted, sent messages, and prayed with and for us. We are so blessed with so many people that love us. THANK YOU to all of you that prayed and encouraged us. We are by no means done with this journey, but I can honestly say that I no longer feel like I'm about to lose it at any given moment, and I attribute that to the peace that God has provided thanks to your (and my) prayers. Our little boy is healing, slowly but surely. At this point we have a long way to go, but our adventure gave us a jump start. Now we're focusing on getting Benjamin to eat and drink so that his little body is strong enough to fight. We also need him to SLEEP. He did take a two and a half hour nap today, which is fantastic. But I desperately need him to sleep past 5:45am. Partly for him, yes. But mostly that one's for me.

Overall Rating: I'm ready for it to be over.

(Note: we didn't have our camera until Erin brought it to us at 9:00. We took some pictures with my mom's camera after we got to our room and before she left. I'll have those later this week.)