home from the emergency room

at 5:30 this morning the phone rang.  it was sam, our oldest son.  he was having a hard time speaking and add that to his still audible speech impairment with my hearing impairment and lack of sleep it was a frustrating call.  about all i could understand is that his uvula was so swollen it woke him up. 

i figured we would get home from picking him up, i would shine a flashlight down his throat and find nothing too impressive, but as soon as he got into the truck i knew it was not that simple.

i don't do medical emergencies well when it comes to those i love. not  at all.  so as silly as this sounds it took all i had to look down his throat.  the look on my baby's face as he tried to hide is own feeling of being freaked out about what was going on with his body made me want to hand the flashlight off to my hubby, then momma-mode kicked in, knowing the hubs would say 'eh, its swollen he'll live', i took a peek down his throat and could not believe my eyes.  his uvula was so swollen that you really could not see where it ended.

steph google-d swollen uvula and we found it was not a life or death situation and after reading the causes we pretty much figured out what may have been the culprit..  sam and his friend had walked in 12 degree weather for about a mile, his friends mom seems to smoke like a chimney, and they drink soda like it comes straight out of the faucet. ( i don't think they have ever tasted water.  sam chugs all the soda he can while there since  it is a treat at our house.)   these 3 things probably had something to do with what was going on.

we headed off to the e.r. shortly there after knowing that the uvula would probably take care of itself, but hating to see my baby in misery i was hoping they could so something.  i know if every time i swallowed or spoke my uvula flipped up onto my tongue or it felt like i was swallowing the roof of my mouth i would need to be sedated until the swelling went down.

even in the not-so-good of a situation we found ourselves in,  there was humor.  the lady at the front desk, as sweet as she was assumed that i did not know my own son's legal name and though i insisted it was just plain sam, she named him samuel.  i am pretty sure i am right since i was there for the birth.

the triage nurse who took sam's initial vitals and asked him a series of questions was deaf as a door knob. i assume she was wearing the stethescope more as a fashion accessory than for its usual purpose. i almost let her borrow my hearing aids. 

when she asked sam the question, are you the victim of domestic abuse i began to pray that he would say 'no' instead of something to the effect of 'my brother hits me........pokes me......(thank you God for hearing my prayer so quickly!)

while sam and i sat in the exam room waiting and waiting and waiting my phone announced i had received a text. while trying to locate my phone which no longer was in the cell phone pocket of my purse i found my kleenex, just in time too since my nose started to run....and then they flipped out on the floor.  the little travel pack was picked up by the tips of my fingers and chucked in the trash.  more germs in this place my  toilet. the contents of my purse clumsily being removed by one hand and juggled in my other.... so now that i located my phone, what to do about the runny nose.  sniff sniff.  i spy the box of hospital grade kleenex, which is right next to the trash can where someone barely made it in with a used exam glove. no way, i will use my sleeve, yes it is gross, if i have to. sniff sniff.  no, i did not use my sleeve.  just a thought.
the daughter and i text back and forth on the goings on since she, max, and the hubs...who is sleeping like an old man in a chair are in the waiting room. 

poor sam is so tired all he wants to do is sleep but that pesky uvula just won't let him and i hate that i can not do anything to comfort him.  oh, no.  now that large glass of water i drank before we left has worked its way through me.  i don't want to leave sam, and then the thought hits me.....just how many e.r. patients have been sent into that bathroom with a specimen cup and what sort of germy catastrophe sent them here.....i will hold it thank you very much.......now as long as my full to the brim bladders strength is not challenged with a sneeze i should be ok.




the e.r. nurse was about as warm as a glass of ice water and you could tell it took all she had not to roll her eyes at me for bringing him in, that is until the e.r. doc came in and was impressed, never seeing one that had elongated  as much as his, since usually they swell like pearl onions she said.  after the e.r. doc proclaimed justification for our being there by sheer uvuala girth, 1 1/2 to 2 inches long the nurse warmed up quite a bit.

sam was given a steroid shot to reduce the swelling, but unfortunatly nothing can be done for the discomfort.  it will take about 3 days for the full effect of the shot to take place. 

sweet sweet sam finally got some sleep, and is adjusting to uvulitis giganticus very well.....what a trooper he is.