Jackson's Not-So-Jazzy Journey

We had a good time this weekend with Grandma Katie and Aunt Julia visiting. After church on Sunday, we went to Okaboji Grill for lunch for free kids meal day. Jackson seemed a little tired in the morning and said he had a head ache, but otherwise acted normal. Once we got seated, he started looking a little lethargic and kept saying he was super cold and shivering. He drank his milk, but when the food came he started looking even worse. He was just sitting there with a glazed look in his eyes and started crying a little bit and said he felt sick to his stomach, had a huge headache, and kept chilling. When we left, we got a to-go bag just in case he got sick in the car. We carried him to the car, and I sat in the very back with him on the way home. Once home, I took his temp and it was about 103. I gave him some Ibuprofen and we made a little snuggle bed on the couch for him. After an hour or so, he seemed to be feeling a lot better! So he called Grandma Katie, who had already gone home, to let her know that he was feeling better.

As soon as his medicine started wearing off though, he started to feel sick again. We already had plans to go to Kevin and Lisa's, but I decided to stay home with Jackson instead. As soon as Mike left with Maddie, Jackson started throwing up and spiked a temp again. I took him to a walk-in clinic in Urbandale, the only one open in or around Des Moines on a Sunday evening. His strep test was negative, but he had an elevated white count (even though the diff looked a little more viral than bacterial), fever, and abdominal pain. The doctor was worried that it might be his appendix, so he sent us to Blank Children's Hospital ER to rule-out appendicitis.





The ER was an absolute madhouse!! There was a little girl, maybe 2 years old, sitting next to us that kept throwing up, screaming, throwing up, screaming....yet her mom kept trying to feed her this horrible smelling oatmeal-looking paste from a can that smelled like hot curry Indian food. So we got up and moved seats, right next to an older girl that was on the verge of throwing up and looked horrible. To another seat again!! I don't want to catch the plague! After a while, it was our turn to see the triage nurse. They were expecting Jackson, since the walk-in doctor called, which got him a 'quick entrance' to see a doctor. The people in the waiting room had been waiting for HOURS, but we had been there not 30 minutes before they called Jackson back to be seen. As you can guess, that didn't go over well with the other people waiting. There were a lot of "Hey, he just got here and we've been here for HOURS!!" being said.

The ER doctor was hilarious, and really great with kids! I had my camera and really wanted to get a picture of him for my blog, but I was a little embarrassed asking. They did a flat and upright abdomen x-ray, which came back okay. He did say that Jacksons intestines were full of air, as well as a gigantic load of poo that needs to come out. (Which, is another story for another time!!) He said that most likely, his abdomen is tender and painful from a bad case of the stomach flu and not appendicitis.


So after some discharge instructions, we were back on our way home! Once we got home around 10:00pm, Jackson was still really fussy and crying, so I dosed him up with Ibuprofen and Tylenol again before bed. Luckily Maddie was already asleep and done with her night-time crying routine, so things were nice and quiet. Jackson was asleep within a few minutes.

I kept him home from school today; he's feeling a little better, hasn't thrown up today, and is only running a low-grade temp. Hopefully nobody else catches what's going around!



Notice the pajamas that Jackson chose to wear on his day home from school. He woke up saying that he was cold and chilling, so I told him to pick out some warmer jammies. I wonder who he gets his color coordination from?? The pictures were taken while he was playing Wii Bowling, our favorite game ever!!