Jb's (not so) Great Adventure

February 14, Valentine's day, dawned full of Love and promise. JB went to school, and I snuck in to decorate her locker, complete with Justin Bieber valentine (*NOTE* JB HATES Justin Bieber). Bill is in NYC making money, and all is pretty normal. JB goes to dance class, and complains that her stomach is hurting. We go to the store to buy some blush for her dance performance on Saturday, and head home. As we drive, her pain increases, and by the time we get home she is white as a sheet, and beginning to pass out. She is also feeling as if she is going to throw up. So I run in the house to get a bucket, and turn around and head to the emergency room at Logan Regional Hospital. Time is 8:00 p.m. ish. They do a bunch of tests. Take 4 vials of blood, and an x ray. The x-ray shows an intestinal blockage, but the ER doc doesn't think much of it.  It looks a lot like this image I stole off the internet.

The Emergency Room Doc orders an ultrasound of her gall bladder. They determine that the gall bladder is infected, has a thickened wall, and fluid around it, and that it must come out. Tonight. They contact the gall bladder surgeon here in Logan, who says " I don't do 12 year olds" and determine that the best treatment would be to ship her by ambulance ASAP to Primary Children's Hospital in SLC.

She is whisked away in her chariot around 11:30 p.m. I run home, making phone calls as I go, lining up sitters for the dog, wondering what to do about the girl scouts, contacting Clint in New York, and general over-sized freaking out. I chuck some stuff into an over night bag, grab Piggy and head for SLC. I arrive at the hospital around 2 am and find Robyn, Dallin, and his love Michelle waiting for me there. I can't tell you the gratefulness in my heart when I saw them there.They had come to the hospital and waited there until Jb arrived. They sat with her, and talked with her, and comforted her, and only left after Grandma and Grandpa Eliason and Uncle Shane arrived. Jb was never alone. Grandma and Grandpa and Shane left shortly after I arrived, but JB never had to be afraid that someone wasn't looking out for her. I am so blessed to have family that will run to the hospital at 1 in the morning to make sure Jb was safe. Love x 10 billion. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

At Primary Children's the radiologist there said he didn't think there was a problem with the gall bladder, and felt it was probably thick because it was empty from Jb throwing up so much. He was more concerned about the intestinal blockage, and felt we should clear out the intestines before deciding to operate. So the enemas began. Also the stomach pain was so severe that it started to give JB a migraine headache. Around 7 am They gave her toradol to combat the migrain, but it didn't work. It  but made her dizzy, she lost feeling in her hands and face, made her throw up, and so she couldn't see,  but did nothing for the pain. So now she was in pain and sicker than before the drug. At this point they refused to give her anything else for the pain, she just had to wait it out until the toradol wore off. They also decided to move us out of the emergency room into a more private room in their outpatient center. They moved us around 8 am. and she was able to rest a little bit.

By 10:30 ish, they decided the enemas were not working to clear JB out fast enough and that she should begin a treatment of "golytely." Basically this is a laxative solution that you drink and is most commonly used for people preparing for colonoscopies. They bring in a gallon size container of this stuff that is described as liquid Vaseline, and she is required to drink about 14oz of it every hour. Like a trooper she makes it through the first 14 ounces. But when presented with the second cup, she begins to panic. She hates it. She knows she can't do it, and starts to freak out (Yes she still has a migraine) they decide the best solution now is to intubate her so the drip can just go right into her stomach and she doesn't have to drink the stuff anymore. That was pretty scary, but at this point Bill arrived from NYC and was able to help calm her down. We were also far along enough that they decided they could give her some old fashioned Tylenol for the headache. 

She did great for a few hours until her stomach just couldn't take it anymore, and she began throwing up again. Threw up everything, including the tube. We did x-rays, and they decided she was cleaned out enough that the blockage was gone so she didn't have to use the tube anymore. (whew) However, the stomach pain was still there, so they wanted us to do another ultrasound. Time now is about 7:00 p.m. and the ultrasound folks are gone for the day, so that means we get to stay the night. Again.

Here is a pick of the best and the worst chair in the world. As a parent you hate to have to use it, but am so thankful that is there when you do have to use it.  Bill headed off to a hotel.

The ultrasound folks arrived around 8 a.m. took some more pics and determined the gall bladder was fine. They sent us out the door around 12:30 p.m. She still has stomach pain, but now we know that it isn't intestinal blockage, and it isn't gall bladder. Theories now are it could be acid reflux, or possible food allergies. We will continue to work through treatments until we find one that works, and then we may have an idea of what is causing it. for now though, we still just don't know.
Thanks to all of you who held us in your prayers, watched the dog, made scout arrangements, did the dishes, took out the garbage cans, and all those little things that mean a lot. Thank you!!!!!