Ethan's ITP Story Part 2....

We arrived at the hospital around 10:30pm, checked in and took a seat in the waiting room. A crazy family sat across from us. From what I got out of their yelling and arguing, the teenage daughter had been jumped while she was at some friend’s house and so the WHOLE family decided they needed to come with her. When I say WHOLE family I mean 2 or 3 mom’s a dad and about 8 other kids. I seriously think they were a polygamist family. The teenage daughter had a gigantic attitude and even ended up throwing her ice pack in our direction and almost hit Ethan while he was sleeping in my arms. I stood up to grab the ice pack and throw it back at her and decided to take the high road and just stared her and her WHOLE family down until we were called back to get Ethan’s stats. Ethan was such a good baby, it was amazing. He sat on my lap the whole time and didn’t cry once. They decided to give us a room which I was grateful for since there was a crazy family in the lobby. When we got back to the room they informed us that only two adults could be back there, so my mother sat in the lobby for a while. We shut off the lights in the room and tried to get Ethan back to sleep, which was not very successful since they moved the crazy family into the room next to ours. (Apparently the rules were different for that family because there were like 4 adults and kids in that room) The times get a little fuzzy to me while we were in the ER but I think they are pretty close. Around midnight or 12:30am Dr. Duddy (our Pediatrician) called. He said he was up with his daughter and wanted to check on us and make sure everything was going okay. I could not believe that our Dr. had called us at midnight… How important that made us feel, we really do have the best pediatrician ever! I think at some point Chris took my mom home since she couldn’t be back with us anyway. Around 2am a Dr. came in to see us and really did nothing for us. He said they were going to draw more blood and get an IV put in. After he left a few nurses came in to draw blood and attempt to get an IV set up. It took over an hour to get the IV to stick. They started with his arm and poked him about 5-6 different times including his feet, wiggling and twisting most of the pokes. Our poor boy did not enjoy this at all and neither did his parents. Chris was eventually put in charge of turning on and off the lights. They tried to use a flashlight to shine through his skin and find a vein. I don’t know if this technique ever works, but it certainly did not for them that night. I held Ethan and sang to him the whole time, and amazingly held it together the entire time! Finally the nurses decided to call in an expert after trying for an hour to no avail. The nurse came from the Pediatric Oncology floor and got the IV started in Ethan’s arm in one poke and about 5 minutes. Amazing what a difference it makes when you get someone that knows what they are doing. Once we got Ethan calmed down I was able to get him to sleep in my arms again around 3:30am. Chris and I pushed around the idea of Chris going home to get some sleep before school the next day. We finally decided that once they put us in a real room he would go home and I’d call my mom in the morning to come back out. Around 4am they had a room ready for us and wheeled Ethan and I up on the bed to the fourth floor. They got us to the room and I laid Ethan in the “prison” crib while the new nurse talked to me. She informed me that we were on the Pediatric Oncology floor. (Side note: I held my composure pretty well and only cried slightly when the nurse told me we were on the Oncology floor! It hit me hard that my son was that sick, this floor title just didn’t give me any comfort what so ever. Considering how bad I was at home, I’d say I did pretty good!) She also showed me around the floor, there was a family lunchroom with a free soda machine and a fridge stocked with food. There was also a family visiting/play room that was full of toys, books and tvs. While walking around the floor I noticed that there were about 4 nurses and probably only 3-5 rooms taken, including ours. I wish I remembered the nurse’s name because she was a sense of comfort to me. She spoke with love and concern in her voice, she asked me if I had any questions and if I needed anything. She smiled with true compassion and being in her presence game me a new sense of courage that this young mother needed at that time in her life. She explained to me that Dr. Bernstein would be in to see us in the morning, that he usually came in around 7 or 8 and then they would decide the treatment or our options from there. She set my bed up and told me to get some sleep. As tired as I was, I was not able to sleep much. The floor was stone silent and I think that made me a little nervous. At least in the ER there was constant noise, things going on and other things to focus on, here in this silent room there was only a sick little boy to focus on. Finally around 6:30am I called my mom and asked her to come back out to be with us. She was there in no time flat and by that time Ethan was up. Luckily Dr. Duddy had instructed Chris to pack a big bag of toys for Ethan and snacks for Mommy to take to the hospital. Because of the IV Ethan was limited as to where he could go. He was confined to his “prison” or someone’s arms. Dr. Duddy called us again around 7, he asked how everything was going and when I told him that Dr. Bernstein was assigned to us, he said, “Oh that is great, he is a great Dr. He looks a lot like me, except I’m more handsome!” He then game me a list of questions to ask Dr. Bernstein and told me he would be calling later in the day to check on us again. One thing I love about Dr. Duddy is he realizes how stressful this situation is for Ethan and his parents. He always asked how Ethan and I are doing!!! When I got off the phone I felt a new sense of encouragement and hope…. And then Dr. Bernstein walked in………………….