We thought we'd start December of with a bang! I am going to make this a little longer for the record books sake. Tuesday afternoon Jacob woke up from his nap screaming very bad. This screaming continued every 10-30 minutes until the wee hours of Friday morning. We took him to the doctor on Wednesday but they did not properly diagnose the problem. Another day of this pain and we were fed up and took him to the ER Thursday evening. Pella is a small hospital so we started there in hopes to be sent to Des Moines but avoid a long wait in teh ER in Des Moines. The doctor there after listening to to the painful screaming and running several tests thought that he knew what Jacob might have but they did not have the equipment to diagnose the problem. They called ahead to Blank Children's Hospital and we drove there at around 9pm. It was a long ride - 45 minutes means Jacob had 3 episodes on the way. When we arrived to the ER they put us in a room and so we began the journey of answering questions and being poked again. Everyone was kind and nice and so patient as anything had to be on hold if Jacob starting an episode of screaming nad writhing in pain. Bottom line after some very painful things were done they took another x-ray and found that Jacob did indeed have a rare condition called Intussusception - where the intestines telescope into one another. It is extremely painful and if not caught soon enough the bowel will start to die off and cause more severe problems. One way to diagnose this is an air-enema which also has a 90% chance of fixing the problem. It was either this or surgery so we opted for this procedure. It is painful but over in a matter of 10 minutes or less. I do have to say this was the hardest part - handing him over and then waiting. Jake heard the radiologist say that he "Got It!" So we were very relieved and so grateful to be able to avoid surgery. This was completed at around 3am and then said that we had to stay 24 to 48 hours to watch for it to re-occur which could happen within the first 48 hours. Thankfully they gave him a nice dose of morphine after the procedure so that he could rest. This was the first rest he had in almost 72 hours. He slept literally like a baby and that was a sweet relief for us. We however, were still restless and jumped at every little move he made. Here are some pictures of Friday - as you can see he actualy smiled! It was a little tricky to entertain him with the IV in and he was not allowed to eat anything but clear liquids which did not go over well but all in all he was a trooper.
Jake went home early Friday morning and grabbed us some clothes and some toys from home for Jacob toplay with. Grandpa went to the giftshop and got him a little kitty that sang a Christmas son.
Grandma was there too! We were all a little loopy with not sleeping for so long and after the stress of Thursday night but it was such a relief to have Jacob not screaming every few minutes.
That face summed up Jacob a few times throughout the day - He really hated everyone coming in and pestering him every few hours and was still in some pain trying to get rid of the air in his intestines. Plus we was asking for food which he was not allowed to have.
Friday night he slept from 10pm to 8am! It was such a blessing!! He even slept through the 3 times they came in to take his blood pressure, temperature and pulse-ox - that was a shock to me but he was exhausted!
Saturday was like a new day! The doc came in and said we could unhook him for the IV so he was free to play all over the room. He was very wobbly and weak but LOVED to be able to play cars all over the floor.
By Saturday he had gotten very good at using his left hand which was boarded up to his elbow. He could even crawl around with that thing on. He loosened his thumb enough that he figured out how to hold a car in that hand too.
Now the best part of Saturday for Jacob was being allowed to eat - he yelled PANCAKES!!! and gobbled them up. They did hurt his tummy at first so he had to slow down but he loved it. In fact the lady came to take the tray away and Jacob panicked - she said you can keep eating - it's ok I'll come back!
Just look at that face! A good night's sleep and real food! He was so happy.
This was our lovely room - it was actually very roomy and had a "bed" and 3 chairs. They were very accomadating - even bringing in a real bed instead of the metal crib so that I could lay down with him and not have to sit next to the bed and watch the IV line all night. Jacob is a sound sleeper but he rolls and moves all night long so we knew someone would have to either sleep with him or be awake all night to untangle the thing.
This picture was supposed to be a happy picture of Jake bringing Jacob back from his walk around the ward but Jacob discovered the Christmas tree with hot wheels and didn't want to leave. So Jake had to carry him back because we were about to be discharged. All in all we realized even more how blessed we are to have our health and that this issue was rather minor in comparison to some things we saw during our stay. Thank you for all of your prayers and notes! We are home and doing so much better! It will be a slow road with eating again but the major pain is gone and Jacob is happy!
We thought we'd start December of with a bang! I am going to make this a little longer for the record books sake. Tuesday afternoon Jacob woke up from his nap screaming very bad. This screaming continued every 10-30 minutes until the wee hours of Friday morning. We took him to the doctor on Wednesday but they did not properly diagnose the problem. Another day of this pain and we were fed up and took him to the ER Thursday evening. Pella is a small hospital so we started there in hopes to be sent to Des Moines but avoid a long wait in teh ER in Des Moines. The doctor there after listening to to the painful screaming and running several tests thought that he knew what Jacob might have but they did not have the equipment to diagnose the problem. They called ahead to Blank Children's Hospital and we drove there at around 9pm. It was a long ride - 45 minutes means Jacob had 3 episodes on the way. When we arrived to the ER they put us in a room and so we began the journey of answering questions and being poked again. Everyone was kind and nice and so patient as anything had to be on hold if Jacob starting an episode of screaming nad writhing in pain. Bottom line after some very painful things were done they took another x-ray and found that Jacob did indeed have a rare condition called Intussusception - where the intestines telescope into one another. It is extremely painful and if not caught soon enough the bowel will start to die off and cause more severe problems. One way to diagnose this is an air-enema which also has a 90% chance of fixing the problem. It was either this or surgery so we opted for this procedure. It is painful but over in a matter of 10 minutes or less. I do have to say this was the hardest part - handing him over and then waiting. Jake heard the radiologist say that he "Got It!" So we were very relieved and so grateful to be able to avoid surgery. This was completed at around 3am and then said that we had to stay 24 to 48 hours to watch for it to re-occur which could happen within the first 48 hours. Thankfully they gave him a nice dose of morphine after the procedure so that he could rest. This was the first rest he had in almost 72 hours. He slept literally like a baby and that was a sweet relief for us. We however, were still restless and jumped at every little move he made. Here are some pictures of Friday - as you can see he actualy smiled! It was a little tricky to entertain him with the IV in and he was not allowed to eat anything but clear liquids which did not go over well but all in all he was a trooper. 
Jake went home early Friday morning and grabbed us some clothes and some toys from home for Jacob toplay with. Grandpa went to the giftshop and got him a little kitty that sang a Christmas son.
Grandma was there too! We were all a little loopy with not sleeping for so long and after the stress of Thursday night but it was such a relief to have Jacob not screaming every few minutes.
That face summed up Jacob a few times throughout the day - He really hated everyone coming in and pestering him every few hours and was still in some pain trying to get rid of the air in his intestines. Plus we was asking for food which he was not allowed to have.
Friday night he slept from 10pm to 8am! It was such a blessing!! He even slept through the 3 times they came in to take his blood pressure, temperature and pulse-ox - that was a shock to me but he was exhausted!
Saturday was like a new day! The doc came in and said we could unhook him for the IV so he was free to play all over the room. He was very wobbly and weak but LOVED to be able to play cars all over the floor. 
By Saturday he had gotten very good at using his left hand which was boarded up to his elbow. He could even crawl around with that thing on. He loosened his thumb enough that he figured out how to hold a car in that hand too.
Now the best part of Saturday for Jacob was being allowed to eat - he yelled PANCAKES!!! and gobbled them up. They did hurt his tummy at first so he had to slow down but he loved it. In fact the lady came to take the tray away and Jacob panicked - she said you can keep eating - it's ok I'll come back!
Just look at that face! A good night's sleep and real food! He was so happy.
This was our lovely room - it was actually very roomy and had a "bed" and 3 chairs. They were very accomadating - even bringing in a real bed instead of the metal crib so that I could lay down with him and not have to sit next to the bed and watch the IV line all night. Jacob is a sound sleeper but he rolls and moves all night long so we knew someone would have to either sleep with him or be awake all night to untangle the thing.
This picture was supposed to be a happy picture of Jake bringing Jacob back from his walk around the ward but Jacob discovered the Christmas tree with hot wheels and didn't want to leave. So Jake had to carry him back because we were about to be discharged. All in all we realized even more how blessed we are to have our health and that this issue was rather minor in comparison to some things we saw during our stay. Thank you for all of your prayers and notes! We are home and doing so much better! It will be a slow road with eating again but the major pain is gone and Jacob is happy!
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