Hospital

We left the ER on Monday night shortly after I wrote the last post and we were so, so weary. I dropped Sam off at home and put him into soft pajamas and tucked him into his bed where he fell immediately asleep. I greeted Davis and hugged and kissed him and congratulated him on being so responsible. I thanked my neighbor. I drove to target. I picked up medications. I spoke to the pediatrician. I was very grateful we had kicked the headache again and had drugs to keep it gone while our neurologist was out of town this week.
Samuel woke up with a migraine. I dosed him with the new awesome drug.
I took him to school, hoping it stayed very mild. The nurse called and said it was not mild. He was curled up in pain and sobbing. I called the neurology department. I took Sam home and left him with my neighbor who was gracious enough to come stay with him. I got back in time to start my class. A few minutes after I started teaching, the neurology office called and told us we were to be admitted to the hospital for 3-5 days for a powerful IV drug called DHE. This drug has to have at least six doses to work and they are administered every 8 hours. I begged to bring him in after 3. In between teaching and under my desk, I made arrangements. I texted my mom and she texted me back that she was coming. She packed her bag and cancelled her birthday trip to NOLA and got on a plane a few hours later. I could not have held it together without her. I was out of options. I was so grateful. I felt guilty, but I needed her so much.
As soon as I could, I left school with Davis in tow. I dropped him off at home under the general neighborhood supervision of my wonderful friends, my village. I packed a duffel and put my pajama and red robe clad boy in the car. We got in the car and burned rubber to the hospital. They admitted us and sent us to our room and we waited. The hospital is wonderful. It's a children's hospital and it's the nicest one I've ever seen. Our room is big and the nurses are lovely. Childlife does a great job here. There are tons of activities for children and views of the mountains and big windows. We moved in.
We finally got doctor orders around 9PM and then they took blood and an EKG. They had to put an IV in, but Sam's arms had already been poked and prodded so much. They couldn't get a vein that would work and had to try three times and fail before a fourth successful attempt. Samuel was beyond upset. They started the first dose at 1AM and we finally got to go to sleep around 2AM.
The next morning, Sam seemed in great spirits. My mom had arrived late the night before to stay with Davis and took him to school. She met us in the morning at the hospital. She stayed with Sam and I went home to shower, pack a proper bag and get myself in order. I picked up lego sets for Sam at Target and some snacks. I stopped at the school to cover the first part of my class and then picked up Davis and took him to the hospital to visit his brother. We had a nice evening visiting and then Mom and Davis went home and Sam and I watched Survivor and fell asleep. At this point, the drug was making Sam very nauseous and was really hurting his hand at the IV. The nurse had originally told us that the drug was hard on veins and that it usually only lasted a dose or two. This was his third. That night (last night) at 1AM they came to do a fourth dose and the vein blew out. He was in so much pain. They had to put a new one in and it took an hour to get new orders and a resource nurse and the new IV. We finally got his dose in at 3 and we didn't go to sleep until 4AM.
This morning we woke up and had lots of coffee. (I did. Sam had rice krispies). He was very excited to get up and go build his new giant lego set I had bought for him. We went down to the carpeted lounge area at the end of our floor which is usually deserted and quiet and has floor to ceiling windows overlooking the mountains. It's nice. Sam built and I worked and then mom came. We chatted for a few minutes and then I drove off to school where I taught my classes and picked up Davis and then drove directly back to the hospital. It started to snow on our way here which is crazy as it was 80 yesterday. Mom and Samuel were having adventures and had visited the tween room and the gift shop and gotten sorbet. Sam had made it through his fifth dose brilliantly and best of all had NO headache! We came up the room hoping to talk to the doctor and the doctor said if the headache stayed gone, we could do our 6th and 7th dose tonight (One at 7PM and one 3AM) and possibly go home tomorrow!
Sam cried over the fact he had to do more doses, but I settled him with a movie. He is having his 6th dose now and the IV is holding and the anti-nausea meds are helping. His headache is creeping back, but I still feel like this medicine is working!
Now I have to figure out how to keep them from coming back. His neurologist has been out of town this entire week, but we've seen several nice ones who have given us some hope for the future. I really hope we can go home tomorrow. We are so tired. I almost fainted last night and again during 6th period. I'm having a hard time eating as swallowing is difficult for me right now. This has been such a hard week. But we are in good hands and my mom being here is everything. Michael is coming home tomorrow and I will be so glad to see him.
So that's the update.