Toddler, Interrupted- Part One, Discovery

We’re finally catching our breath around here — it has been a hectic few weeks. Even more so than usual.

WARNING: The following post is a little bit “icky”, but with good reason.

We had just returned from our two week trip to visit with family and friends in the “Frozen North” (aka Kingston, NY and Newburyport, MA), and had settled back into something resembling a normal routine. The week of January 14th Molly had seemed a little “off”, but nothing out of the ordinary. However, the morning of the 18th (Friday) she complained that her back and then her stomach hurt. The fact that she was actually complaining about pain caught our attention, as did the fact that she vomited a little bit after. Then again, and again, and again. Jeff came home to help me care for her as I tried to clean everything up.

In all honesty, we thought it was just severe stomach flu, and that it would pass in a couple of days. We tried to keep Molly hydrated, and occasionally offered her fluids. It was difficult to tell which bothered her more, the fact that nothing (not even fluid) stayed down, or that we had to limit what we did give her in order to try and keep the vomiting to a minimum.

On Sunday, it became clear that this was something more than just stomach flu, when the fluid she was producing was dark yellow and then green. After consulting with the pediatrician on and off during the entire day, he had us meet him that evening. He examined her stomach, which was not distended, and she did not seem usually uncomfortable. However, when he rapped on her belly, it just didn’t sound right to him. He had us rush over to the ER for tests, including x-rays, an ultrasound, and blood work.

As it turned out, lucky little Molly had a severe (complete) bowel obstruction caused by a telescoping intestine. Fortunately, her blood test indicated that she had not developed an infection due to the blood flow being completely cut off in the intestine. Therefore, the first step was to try to unblock and straighten out the intestine using a barium enema, which Jeff helped administer. I couldn’t even be party to it. After two attempts (the first enema popped out — ugh), the Doctor said the x-ray showed that her intestine had straightened itself out. We were absolutely thrilled and relieved, and the on-call surgeon from Stanford, Dr. Butler was surprised but also happy that it had worked.

An exhausted Jeff went home, and I spent the night with Molly sharing a bed in the ER. In the morning, Molly woke up and again complained of an ouchy tummy. It didn’t seem too severe, as the pain subsided a little when I gently rubbed her stomach. However, when I mentioned the pain to Dr. Butler, she immediately brought Molly around for additional tests, making sure we would not waste any additional time between procedures.

Unfortunately, we soon discovered that Molly was in the 10% for which an intussusception reoccurs. She would not be able to avoid surgery this time. I was devastated and very, very nervous, but I could not show it in front of Moll as she was prepped for surgery. Dr. Butler reassured us that it would probably be a simple 30-minute procedure to unwrap the intestine, and that she would most likely be out within the hour. Jeff and I waited, not even having lunch for fear of missing the news that she was done and everything was fine.

The hour passed. And then a second hour. An orderly who had helped bring Molly around the hospital stopped to ask how she was doing, and I said I didn’t know. He said he would check to see if she was out yet. A few minutes later, he emerged, and said that she was still in surgery. I thanked him, and then began to sob. Did something go wrong?

Another half an hour, and the surgeon finally came out. Molly was fine, but after going in arthoscopically, Dr. Butler discovered that the small intestine was even more twisted than she had imagined. She produced some lovely pictures to illustrate her point. Long story (and long intestine) short, part of the bowel had to be removed — and Molly would have four scars to show to her friends.

NEXT POST: Recovery

Leaf Blowers Should Be Illegal

OK, I know this is going to be controversial, but I think anyone who uses a leaf blower should be sent to prison and subjected to some sort of nasty torment.

I just can’t imagine the incredible mental retardation of anyone who would purchase a device that requires fuel to the tune of $3.30/gallon to operate for the purpose blowing leaves off his property and into the street. Especially, when those same leaves haven’t suddenly become immune to gusts of wind and are just as likely to return to his yard when the wind blows next.

Now back in the stone ages when I was a kid, we had these nifty devices called rakes. You’d drag the rake over the lawn and collect the leaves in a process called “raking”. Once you’d collected the leaves in to a nice big pile, you’d flop down into it spreading them all over the yard again, collect them again, flop down into the pile again, and finally tiring of the immense joy inherent in jumping into a leaf pile, rake up the leaves one last time. Then you’d bag the leaves into large black plastic sacks and put the sacks by the curb to await the trash collection.

Of course, if your parents had a garden, you might instead take the leaves to the compost heap where magic would occur to turn the leaves into stinky top-soil. My parent’s compost heap was really only a place to dump our grass clippings, but I seem to also recall dumping our leaves there.

Still, in a world where we’re rapidly approaching peak production of oil, it seems incredibly stupid to waste that oil on a pointless process like blowing leaves into the street. So write your congressman and tell him to make leaf blowers illegal. It’s about time he got off his fat ass and did something useful for a change.

Lunch at Cafe Macs

One of the great things about Anna now having a car is that we can get together for lunch. Granted, Cafe Macs isn’t exactly gourmet dining, but Molly doesn’t seem to mind.

However, I really need to purchase an iPhone for Anna so that she can get her own directions rather than constantly bogarting mine…