Why George? WHY???

Washington that is! Please show your shiny head so that we don't spend anymore time in an emergency room or a freakin' SEMI private room overnight at the hospital. Remember when JT swallowed that quarter 3 weeks ago? Well, it put us in urgent care and then the ER while on vacation. JT had really not been feeling well for almost a week and kept complaining that his belly hurt. A week ago today he was really complaining about it and he had not been eating well at all. We took a family trip to the Target up the block from our condo (it was junky and not exciting at ALL!) to get some Maalox. While we were in Target JT puked....twice. I assumed at that point he would be feeling much better. He did feel better momentarily so we went to a pizza joint for dinner (none for him), but he couldn't make it through. I was getting the pizza to go while Darrell took the kids to the car. In the meantime, the older couple sitting next to us felt badly for him and I explained that he wasn't feeling well. They told us about a good urgent care just in case. I didn't think I would need to take him, but the more I thought about it, the more it sounded like a good idea.

We were seen right away at urgent (Nason Medical Center in Mt. Pleasant, SC....I highly recommend it) and I had honestly forgotten about the coin. So when Dr. Nason came in, I remembered to say that he had swallowed it 3 weeks ago. He listened to his belly and said there was A LOT going on in there. He wanted to get some x-rays. As we proceeded down the hall, JT puked and puked again. Then he had to go to the potty. And he freaked out about the x-ray and kicked the camera!

The quarter was in fact still there and Dr. Nason did not think it was causing the problem, but he did suggest we follow-up with a pediatric gastroenterologist. I reminded him that we were there on vacation and he said that if he continued with his symptoms after his medication (they gave him a phenergan suppository while we were there) that we could take him to MUSC Children's Hospital. Well, being that we were not at home and that the quarter had not passed yet (I had assumed that thing was long gone), I decided we should take him on to the ER. Thankfully my parents had arrived in town that same day and they were able to meet us at the hospital and get LJ. That night in the ER for 5 freakin' hours, they were talking surgery. But, everyone wanted to wait and see what x-rays the next morning showed. JT was admitted and he was a real trooper. Once he got his IV, he was asking everybody he saw for something to eat.

The next morning the quarter had not moved so they wanted to give him something to get his bowels moving and they also decided to let him eat. That day was just a whole lot of waiting. His bowels never did move while we were there (or the next day either) but when we finally saw the Chief of Surgery at 4:30, he said the never in his career has he not seen a coin pass. So, he discharged us with his private pager number just in case.

JT is feeling fine and I am so thankful he didn't have to have surgery. We haven't been fishing for the quarter, although I really want it. If anyone has a metal detector, let me know!!

So, I said it even before all of this happened, there is no such thing as a vacation with kids. Darrell and I really need some down time!