Well, here's how the whole day went
Now that I have a chance to sit down and really type for a minute, I can tell about what happened today.
Last night, I was up with Noah, who was screaming bloody murder, and Bonnie, who was also screaming bloody murder...pretty much all night.
They finally fell back asleep around 5:00, but I was awakened at about 7:00 to Bonnie crying "mommy, my tummy hurts!!" over and over. I came out and saw Bonnie and Caleb both laying by the heater in the livingroom, and holding their tummies. Then Noah threw up. I decided that it was time to go to the doctor, so I got all of them ready and left for the Urgent Care center at about 8:30. I had thought that Noah was only going to throw up that one time. I wish I had thought about that a little better, and prepared for an accident. We were there in the waiting room for about 30 minutes, when Noah got up on my lap and all of a sudden vomited all over my lap....it was almost pure liquid, so I was soaked. Everyone in the waiting room looked at me and was wondering what I was going to do about it. There were no towels or anything. I started to stand up, not sure what to do next, then the secretary in the window said that I needed to fill out some papers. As soon as she said it, Noah threw up on me a second time!
She saw it, and brought in a throwup tub, and some papertowels. They didn't do much to help the situation at that point. I kind of just had to walk around in throw up soaked clothes.
I tried to clean Noah as well as possible...we all sat in the waiting room for about 2 hours...Caleb fell asleep across two chairs in that time, and Bonnie kept crying that her tummy hurt and that her throat hurt. She also laid across two chairs and tried to sleep.
We finally got in, and the doctor looked at them, took their temperature, looked in their noses, and all of that. Then he asked if he could do a strep test really quick. The test turned out negative for Strep or the Flu.
He decided that they had... get this... Bronchitis!
I did a double take and said, Are you absolutely sure? He said that he felt that's what they had.
I decided that possibly he was right, because Bonnie was a little congested and has had a cough, and has also complained of a sore throat. But does Bronchitis make you throw up over and over like a virus does?
I went to the Pharmacy, and filled the prescription for all of the stuff he had written up. Even with the prescription card, it ended up being $100.00.
That, and the copay of $45.00 was a lot for us today.
I got home, and took a look at the medications, and gave each child the dosage recommended.
After only 10 minutes, Noah had thrown all of his medicine and water that he that hour had drunk.
I began to be worried about him, and tried to give him small amounts of liquid, little bit at a time, but still...every 10-30 minutes, he would throw up. And this is still happening right now, and it's 5:50. He has not held ANYTHING down since 7:30 this morning! I'm so worried about him. But I did get my mom to take him to the ER and asked her to tell the doctors that ALL the kids are feeling this way. I hope they will have some answers.
The doctor that told me that the kids had bronchitis, gave me a medication that I decided to look up online, to see what it was and how it handled the vomiting. Just out of curiosity. The drugs' name is Phenergan.
Out of my amazement, the first thing I saw when I was reading the description of the drug is this:
Phenergan should not be given to a child younger than 2 years old. Phenergan can cause severe breathing problems or death in a child younger than 2. Carefully follow your doctor's instructions when giving this medicine to a child of any age.
When I read this, I was EXTREMELY angry, because the doctor knows what this drug is and what the risks are, and didn't tell me ANYTHING about it at ALL. He wrote on the prescription card to give a teaspoon to Noah FOUR times a day! Why would he prescribe something to my son that could possibly seriously injure or kill him??? And not to even let me know what this drug is or what I should be careful about when using it??? I am beyond words at this point, and have lost all trust in any doctors. This is not the first time something like this has happened. not only in giving horrible medication, but also in giving wrong diagnosis's. For example, 2 years ago, I had gotten Giardia from eating something undercooked, and the doctors told me I had acid reflux! I became so ill and dehydrated from throwing up every day I almost died by the time I got a correct diagnosis!
Not ONLY do I believe the doctor's diagnosis is completely far out there (he didn't even take the time to even ATTEMPT to me an accurate one)... I think he should have at least given me a few pages of rules and things I should know about the drug he prescribed my one and a half year old son! Isn't that what you generally do when you hand someone a drug? Don't you usually get a few pages filled with the risks and benefits of the drug?
Why am I supposed to be left in the dark about this? How many parents out there have given their children dangerous drugs recommended by doctors who they felt knew better than them? This is just ridiculous to me.
Ok enough of my ranting...I'm really worried about my baby, and just hope he'll be ok. I just hope that this doctor will be able to help and get him and the other children on the mend, and soon.
Seeing my babies heave and throw up is something I cannot stand to see. Especially when they look at me with those sad, sad eyes, which seem to be pleading with me to do something...and I just have to stand there helpless saying "I wish I could do something to make it all better."
Anyway, hopefully i'll know something soon.
Last night, I was up with Noah, who was screaming bloody murder, and Bonnie, who was also screaming bloody murder...pretty much all night.
They finally fell back asleep around 5:00, but I was awakened at about 7:00 to Bonnie crying "mommy, my tummy hurts!!" over and over. I came out and saw Bonnie and Caleb both laying by the heater in the livingroom, and holding their tummies. Then Noah threw up. I decided that it was time to go to the doctor, so I got all of them ready and left for the Urgent Care center at about 8:30. I had thought that Noah was only going to throw up that one time. I wish I had thought about that a little better, and prepared for an accident. We were there in the waiting room for about 30 minutes, when Noah got up on my lap and all of a sudden vomited all over my lap....it was almost pure liquid, so I was soaked. Everyone in the waiting room looked at me and was wondering what I was going to do about it. There were no towels or anything. I started to stand up, not sure what to do next, then the secretary in the window said that I needed to fill out some papers. As soon as she said it, Noah threw up on me a second time!
She saw it, and brought in a throwup tub, and some papertowels. They didn't do much to help the situation at that point. I kind of just had to walk around in throw up soaked clothes.
I tried to clean Noah as well as possible...we all sat in the waiting room for about 2 hours...Caleb fell asleep across two chairs in that time, and Bonnie kept crying that her tummy hurt and that her throat hurt. She also laid across two chairs and tried to sleep.
We finally got in, and the doctor looked at them, took their temperature, looked in their noses, and all of that. Then he asked if he could do a strep test really quick. The test turned out negative for Strep or the Flu.
He decided that they had... get this... Bronchitis!
I did a double take and said, Are you absolutely sure? He said that he felt that's what they had.
I decided that possibly he was right, because Bonnie was a little congested and has had a cough, and has also complained of a sore throat. But does Bronchitis make you throw up over and over like a virus does?
I went to the Pharmacy, and filled the prescription for all of the stuff he had written up. Even with the prescription card, it ended up being $100.00.
I got home, and took a look at the medications, and gave each child the dosage recommended.
After only 10 minutes, Noah had thrown all of his medicine and water that he that hour had drunk.
I began to be worried about him, and tried to give him small amounts of liquid, little bit at a time, but still...every 10-30 minutes, he would throw up. And this is still happening right now, and it's 5:50. He has not held ANYTHING down since 7:30 this morning! I'm so worried about him. But I did get my mom to take him to the ER and asked her to tell the doctors that ALL the kids are feeling this way. I hope they will have some answers.
The doctor that told me that the kids had bronchitis, gave me a medication that I decided to look up online, to see what it was and how it handled the vomiting. Just out of curiosity. The drugs' name is Phenergan.
Out of my amazement, the first thing I saw when I was reading the description of the drug is this:
Phenergan should not be given to a child younger than 2 years old. Phenergan can cause severe breathing problems or death in a child younger than 2. Carefully follow your doctor's instructions when giving this medicine to a child of any age.
When I read this, I was EXTREMELY angry, because the doctor knows what this drug is and what the risks are, and didn't tell me ANYTHING about it at ALL. He wrote on the prescription card to give a teaspoon to Noah FOUR times a day! Why would he prescribe something to my son that could possibly seriously injure or kill him??? And not to even let me know what this drug is or what I should be careful about when using it??? I am beyond words at this point, and have lost all trust in any doctors. This is not the first time something like this has happened. not only in giving horrible medication, but also in giving wrong diagnosis's. For example, 2 years ago, I had gotten Giardia from eating something undercooked, and the doctors told me I had acid reflux! I became so ill and dehydrated from throwing up every day I almost died by the time I got a correct diagnosis!
Not ONLY do I believe the doctor's diagnosis is completely far out there (he didn't even take the time to even ATTEMPT to me an accurate one)... I think he should have at least given me a few pages of rules and things I should know about the drug he prescribed my one and a half year old son! Isn't that what you generally do when you hand someone a drug? Don't you usually get a few pages filled with the risks and benefits of the drug?
Why am I supposed to be left in the dark about this? How many parents out there have given their children dangerous drugs recommended by doctors who they felt knew better than them? This is just ridiculous to me.
Ok enough of my ranting...I'm really worried about my baby, and just hope he'll be ok. I just hope that this doctor will be able to help and get him and the other children on the mend, and soon.
Seeing my babies heave and throw up is something I cannot stand to see. Especially when they look at me with those sad, sad eyes, which seem to be pleading with me to do something...and I just have to stand there helpless saying "I wish I could do something to make it all better."
Anyway, hopefully i'll know something soon.







Bethany, I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that today!! We are so blessed to have great doctors around here. I highly reccommend reporting this doctor in some form or fashion. Generally, depending on the size of the facility there are patient's rights representatives that you can speak with. At the very least you should see if there is a different dr. you could switch to.
What did the ER dr. say?
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Bethany, I'm praying for you and your children! Please listen to your God-given mothering instinct and do what you know needs doing. ((hugs))
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Poor Bethany, and poor babies!
I would be outraged at the medicine in question too. Have you asked for some suppositories to help stop the nausea? Since they bypass the tummy, obviously, the medicine can stay in the kids' systems long enough to do some good.
I had a very spastic stomach when I was newborn and my mom says that one of the few things I could tolerate and hold down was warm liquid Jello (necessary for bottle feeding.) Try giving your littles some of their favorite flavor as a warm drink. Also bananas that are NOT too ripe will help replace the potassium they lose when they throw up, and that's important or they'll have some leg cramps and other discomfort.
I'm keeping you all in my prayers. I don't even KNOW any of you but I wish I could be there to help.
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The poor poor babies!! I have never ever trusted doctors and now i REALLY REALLY dont!! How can they even SLEEP at night????!!!
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Bethany, it's funny that you wrote this just today, because I just got back from the chemist with Phenergan for my daughter who was stung by a bee yesterday and is having a reaction. Anyway, the phenergan is an antihistamine -- like Benadryl. My opinion is that even if it's bronchitis, which is an infection, the phenergan will not help. It might help with congestion and coughing, but that doesn't seem to be the main concern. Frankly I would not bother with it, just keep trying with the liquids. When my dd was very ill at 10mths, she tolerated ice water teaspoon by teaspoon. I hope your kids get better really soon. Poor you! Poor babies!
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It is so nice to know there are people out there who care...that's one reason that I love blogging here so much! ...thank you all so much for your kind words and great advice, and especially the prayers! I'll post an update soon!
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Hi! I'm Wendy. I've been reading your blog since I read about it on Tammy's Recipes.
I'm sorry your babies are so sick. We have had a virus here for about a week now.
Here in North Alabama where I live Phenegran is generally given for nausea but in the form of a suppository. Two of my three children have had them.
Hope everyone gets better soon.
Wendy
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Forgot to say my youngest child (he's 2 years old) was in the hospital back during the summer for 3 days due to a severe stomach virus. He was on ONLY clear liquids. When he started to get better they put him on the B.R.A.T diet. That's bananas, rice, apples and toast. They said absolutely NO medicine for diarreah. The body needs to rid itself of the bad stuff and if you give them medication to stop it then it stays in you therefore making you sick even longer.
Hope this helps
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Wendy, you live in North Alabama too? Where at? I live in Cullman!
Thank you so much for the information! After the first two days of trying to give him only liquids, I will try that B.R.A.T. diet.
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I live in Albertville. I have a sister that lives in Cullman and one that lives in Huntsville.
The B.R.A.T diet is great. It helps those poor little tummies have more time to recover without having to digest anything harsh.
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Sorry you have had sick children... sure makes a mama thankful for the healthy times, doesn't it?!
Good for you, reading the label on the medicine and doing your own thinking. Too many people just do whatever the doctor says without an ounce of research!
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Thanks Wendy and tammy >>>hugs<<<
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