Recently

4 weeks ago
Ellie was grinding her teeth which mean s she has an ear infection.  I took her to the pediatrician and he said that she DID NOT have an ear infection.

3 weeks ago
Ellie was still grinding her teeth and had a low grade fever and congestion.  I took her back to the pediatrician and he said that she DID have an ear infection.  He prescribed oral antibiotics.

2 weeks ago
She was still grinding her teeth so the Dr. called in ear drops.  She still had an elevated heart-rate and low grade fever.

10 days after that
No more grinding teeth.  Still had an elevated heart-rate and low grade fever which I assumed was still a lingering  ear infection.  So the Dr. called in another 10 day course of ear drops.

A few days after that (which would have been Monday morning)
She did not have her normal morning stool.  We did a saline enema.  With no results.  I called her pediatrician to take her in about the low grade fever and increased heart-rate.  He did not have any appointments until the next day (Tues).  It wasn't urgent, so I got an appt for Tuesday morning.

Monday night
Her stomach felt really hard.  We got a medium size stool which was softer than normal.

Tuesday morning
Her stomach was really hard, I mean REALLY hard.  I assumed she was constipated.  We increased and added a few meds to encourage some action.  We got 2 medium size.  But her stomach still felt really hard.  We went to the Dr. appt.  He was concerned.  He did not hear hardly any bowel sounds at all in addition to her stomach being hard and the low grade fever and increased heart-rate.  He ordered x-rays to see if she had impacted stool.  He also ordered blood-work.  The x-rays showed no air down low, only air up high.  You should be able to see air in your bowels.  So he assumed that her bowels were filled up.  Her blood work was slightly off, but not off the chart.  He called her gastroenterologist and between the two of them decided to do a direct admit to primary children's to do a bowel clean-out   This was a relief because it meant I got to skip the ER altogether.  Then her pediatrician called back and said that the pediatrician's at Primary Children's (called hospitalists) did not want to do a direct admit, they wanted her to go through the ER.  Yuck!

Her stomach was getting bigger and more painful as the day went on.

We got to the ER at 4:15 PM and got in to a room at 1:30 AM.  Now you know why I say yuck!

The ER Dr.'s were not convinced it was only constipation because they didn't think it would affect her blood-work   Her stomach was really tender.  She was grimacing and pulling away if you touched her stomach at all.  She was in extreme pain.  On a scale of 1 to 10 she was at an 11.  Her pain was probably worse than I have ever seen it.

She has a baclofen pump on the left so you can't really feel her abdomen very well on that side.  But her right side was huge and tender.  They thought that it might be her appendix.  So they ordered an ultrasound to look for the appendix.  They also ordered additional blood-work   They said that they saw a little something strange on the x-ray that her pediatrician had done, so they ordered another x-ray.

The ultrasound person could not see the ultrasound because her bladder was enormously huge.  They called the nurse from the ER in to cath her.  Once they pushed on her belly and got all the urine out that they could they tried the ultrasound again.  At this point her stomach was much better to me and Ellie was smiling and feeling much better.  The second time trying the ultrasound the bladder was still enormous.  She measured on the ultrasound at least 500 more mL of urine still in the bladder (after we thought we emptied it).  They estimate that they had already gotten out 200 mL of fluid.  She still could not see the appendix.  They also did not see a lot of stool.  And the bladder was still huge.  They compared an x-ray from Jan to the x-ray done at the pediatrician's and the bladder was almost twice as big now.  So at this point I was so relieved because I thought that she probably just had a urinary tract infection.  It would explain all of her symptoms.

They inserted a cathedar to stay in and drain her bladder completely overnight.    From when they inserted it until 12:30 she drained 1500 mL (and that didn't include the approx 200 mL from the beginning).  By morning she had drained a total of 1900 mL (not including the 200 mL) that is over 1/2 gallon.

With the repeat x-ray and with the 2nd x-ray they both showed "free air" in her abdomen.  You are not supposed to have air in your abdomen.  It typically means that you have a perforated (ripped) bowel.  They immediately called in general surgery to consult.  They consulted with radiology and informed me that it was a very tiny amount of air.

We were no longer worried about poop at all.  The enlarged bladder was concerning, but not the most pressing matter.  A tiny air bubble would mean that she would need surgery.  And from what I could gather it was a doosy of a recovery.  They told me that in a few uncommon cases people get air into their abdomen and it just goes away and it is not a perforated bowel.  So that was a possibility.


They were going to admit her and repeat the x-ray in the morning and the blood work.  They also started her on antibiotics because they are assuming that she had a viral stomach bug.  That would explain the no pooping and diarrhea and fever and heart-rate and slightly off blood-work.

I really didn't want or need a surgery with a big recovery right now.  We are trying to get our house ready to sell.  We would do it of course, but it was definitely not in the scope of my plans.

Wednesday morning (today)
We slept in until 9 AM or so.  They repeated the x-ray and blood-work.  We waited for several hours to hear the results.

There was no longer any air in her abdomen.

Hallelujah!  That means no surgery.

The surgeons are handing her off to the hospitalists (pediatricians) to take care of.  They have not rounded yet.  We will need to pin down why her bladder got twice as big.  And I'm assuming I am now going to have to cath her occasionally at home.

I am assuming they will consult with urology.

She has been having problems holding her urine for the last year or so.  It has been worse since having her rods placed.  I was taught how to do crede (which is basically pushing/thumping on her bladder to get her go).  It works OK, but obviously not well enough for Ellie.  Ellie's anatomy is a little unusual so often nurses have a hard time cathing her.  Several months ago they sent a home-care nurse to my house to teach me how to cath.  But the nurse couldn't do it.  So I didn't ever really learn how.

She was acting great last night after urinating.  Lots of smiles and wide awake.

Today she is sleepy, probably because we didn't get to bed until 1:30 AM.