ER visit(s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)



*Long gone are the days that I can start and finish something in one sitting...who knows how long I've been working on this post but it's definitely worth blogging about...these were two crazy weeks in the MacDonald household!*

I could have put money on that my first trip to the ER would involve Kailee!  My thoughts would have been an injury from climbing NOT from a staple in her finger!!!  I suppose that my odds of only one ER trip in SIX years of being a parent isn't too bad, but the fact that Leevi was out of the country and I was home alone with three kids complicated things.  THANKFULLY, Brandy Dozier came to the rescue and was able to take Luke and Hailey while I took Kai to the German Emergency KinderKlinic (it had it's own children's emergency room!!!!)  

I knew Kai had the stapler and was creating a masterpiece downstairs...I had just started to strip the beds to wash when I hear Kailee coming up the stairs...she is always so quick to let me know when she's done something wrong (broke something, spilled something, etc) and I didn't see her finger but something in her eyes made me say, "Did you staple your finger?!?"  She wasn't crying and I tried my best to hide my reaction when I saw her finger!  Hailey started to flip out and I quickly sent her out of the room!  It was flush against her skin and there was no way for me to tell if it went straight in or if it curved.  I called Brandy, scrambled to pack things for Luke, dropped the kids off and headed to the ER just around the corner (I didn't know how to get there and had JUST a few days before had the thought that once we move, we'll be able to go to an American ER at Landstuhl if needed).  The ONLY time she cried was when we were at home and I told her that we had to go to the doctor.  

Stapled finger and Xray results!!!!!  Soooo many prayers were going up during that xray that the staple was straight!

Playing in the waiting room....it didn't seem to bother her.  If I had a staple in my finger I probably wouldn't have even wanted to move my arm!

They called us back for the initial check and then sent us to a different part of the hospital for the xray(thank goodness that so many Germans speak English!) then we returned to the waiting room until we were called again.  Kailee was ridiculously brave!  She did what they asked of her and like I said earlier, the ONLY tears during the entire ordeal came when I told her that we need to go to the ER!  They gave her some laughing gas (she got to pick the scent...she picked strawberry) and within a matter of minutes the staple was out!  I could be wrong but I can't imagine an American ER going to the extremes that this German ER did. 

She was a trooper and has learned her lesson the hard way!  Glue sticks it is!!!!! 

Leevi got home from Greece that night (Friday) and Kailee couldn't wait to fill him in on our afternoon.  Little did I know that my first trip ever to an ER would soon be followed by my SECOND and THIRD trip a few days later!!!  We went to dinner on Saturday with friends and when Leevi went to bed that night he had the chills (we were laughing because he had gotten a bad sunburn in Greece (rough life, huh?) and his skin was so hot, yet he was freezing.  The laughing ended when he woke up vomiting on Sunday.  We didn't know if it was food poisoning, sun poisoning or what but he had an insane headache, vomiting, fever, chills, shakes, etc!!!  We (all the kids and I...ugh!) took him to the military doctor on Monday and they blew him off as having a virus and told him to come back on Wednesday if he didn't feel better.  He made them take blood and give him an IV of fluids.  I know he was in pain if he willingly allowed me to take him to the doctor!  He NEVER gets sick and if he does, the sniffle is gone the next day! 

Hailey snapped a picture of him laying in the back of the truck while I was sitting in the front feeding Luke...poor guy!!!

He was touch and go for the next few days and come Wednesday he didn't feel like it was worth it to go back to the doctor even though he was still in pain. I put the kids to bed that night and when I came downstairs, he was dripping with sweat, yet freezing!  I asked him if he wanted to go to the ER and he said, "yes".  Once again, Brandy came to the rescue and took the girls for the night and Luke, Leevi and I headed to the German ER around 10pm.  They isolated him immediately (which was good that he was able to lay down in a hospital bed vs. sitting in the waiting room).   Around 11:30 Luke and I headed out to the van so I could lay down and we slept until Leevi was released at 4:30am.  His diagnosis was a sinus infection!  He got a dose of antibiotics and he was told to give it a week or so.  We were grateful to have answers and grateful that it wasn't something contagious! 

Luke and I in the waiting room....he did great and slept the entire time except to eat

Over the next few days, I tried to keep the kids out of the house so Leevi could rest and as the time went by we weren't buying anymore that it was a sinus infection AND we kept praying that one of us wouldn't be next to get sick.  Leevi was in so much pain that he was crying....I know he probably doesn't want me telling the world about that but it's one thing to see your children hurting but when your strong, brave, resilient husband cries out in pain, it's unbearable!  I was googling EVERYTHING....meningitis, tumors, aneurysms, parasites.  And he was sleeping soooo much (20 hrs a day).  It wasn't like he was just laying on the couch feeling bad, he was dead asleep!  His body was definitely fighting something.   

Keeping busy and a Get Well Soon sign

The headache became his worst symptom as the days passed and it was probably a combination from not eating...(he lost 15-20 pounds over those two weeks)  He probably had one meals worth of food in over a week.  He'd have a good afternoon (not so zombie like...he wasn't conversing with me at all....like it hurt his brain too much to respond)  So scary.  At day 10 of this insanity I took him to the American ER at Landstuhl about an hour away from us.  I wasn't leaving until every test in the book was performed...which they did....CAT scans, MRI, bloodwork, spinal tap, you name it, he was tested for it!  They admitted him that night (Tuesday) and for the next FOUR days, the kids and I drove the hour back and forth to visit him.  Finally, on Friday, he was released but still without answers...every test came back normal!  They think it was just a crazy virus which still amazes me that the rest of us didn't get it (PRAISE THE LORD!)  His headache lingered for about another week and it was such a shock to his body that it took his immune system awhile to recoup.  I definitely need to point out that he was released from the hospital the day he was supposed to start a 3 week trip to the States (two family weddings, a week in Hawaii to do maintenance on our house, and a week in Kansas for work).  We were able to shuffle his route and he was still able to go.  I should also add that during those two weeks that he was out of commission, he was supposed to be out-processing from his job in Heidelberg and we were supposed to be prepping the house for the move!  He returned home from the States THE SAME DAY that the movers started packing our house!  His week in Greece, two weeks sick, and three weeks in the States made for an insane July for me with the kids! 

Keeping them entertained in the hospital room!

We were so glad to have him home!!!!!!  (Even though it was just for the weekend!)  Looking back, a month and a half later, it's all a blur and we are beyond thankful that he is healthy and of course the move was complicated but we got it done.  Eventually, I'll get around to posting about our new house...we are really enjoying the area so far!!!