What a weekend!

Gosh, am I glad that weekend is over! As I'm sure Zachary is too!

We spent the better part of it in the ER with him. I'll tell you now, he's fine. It was a severe case of constipation - which he still has pains from and we're working on.
But because the symptoms presented much like an Appendicitis, or the less common Ladd's Band that I had a couple of years ago, the Dr in Steinbach was very thorough, and even sent us to the Children's hospital in the evening on Saturday. We didn't get home until nearly 2am.

It all started on Friday; Zach had been at a birthday party so we attributed the tummy ache he woke up with at 12:30am to indigestion (gotta love hotdogs and cake, right?). However, it didn't go away after several bowel movements and it really hurt for him to lay down.
I was up with him until 6am, when I think exhaustion finally gave him a break and we caught a few hours sleep.
He woke up in even more pain, so I took him to the ER. They did blood tests to check for infection, and took a urine sample - it was all fine, so they sent us home.

He lasted at home until about 5pm when he was doubled over holding his stomach. So back we went. Another blood test (totally traumatic for him) and an xray this time. The xray showed a lot of stool in his intestines.
I have to admit, I was pretty surprised. He eats well - lots of veggies, fruit, and high fiber foods. He also has a BM daily.
What Dustin and I did think, is that he isn't getting enough liquid. That's the only way I can figure how he could get like this.

Watching him in the pain he was in, was probably one of the worst experiences of my life. I was begging God to let me do it for him - to put the pain on me instead. He shook and thrashed against the cramps as we waited for test results. I had to physically sit on my hands to keep from reaching out to stroke his hair or feet even because every time I touched him he asked me to stop. At one point, he asked me if he was dying, which I assured him he wasnt. An enema finally relieved some of the pressure, though again, it was pretty traumatic for him.
The Dr gave him a strong anti-nauseant, that I think combined with how exhausted he was from lack of sleep and physically from dealing with the cramps, made him calm down enough to sleep. But by this point, I had called in Dustin (who dropped Brad off at my inlaws for night) because I couldn't take watching Zachary in so much pain and was ready to fall apart. We'd been there for hours already and there was only so much I could take.
As soon as Dustin showed up, I went to the washroom and had myself a good cry. I also experienced one of the first full fledged panick attacks I've had in probably over a year. Not fun.

The Dr in Steinbach was pretty sure it was constipation, but felt compelled to send us to Winnipeg Children's Hospital for a second opinon - mainly because of what I had a few years ago, which she didn't know much about.
Zachary slept the whole way there, and through most of the waiting. I got to see his xrays at this hospital, and there is no mistaking that he is definitely full of stool. The peditatrican knew more about Ladd's Band and assured us it was not that.

So we came home, Zachary still asleep in the backseat. We all slept until nearly noon the next day, and with the help of some laxatives, Zach is starting to feel better. I kept him home from school today, and he asked me if he could nap, so he's not totally back to himself yet. We're still working with some gentle laxatives.

The moral of this story - fiber alone doesn't do anything to keep someone regular - water (or liquid) is just as important! I knew that, honest I did - but i didn't realize that Zach wasn't drinking enough. He takes a water bottle with him nearly everywhere we go, I just assumed he was drinking it! I feel like such a terrible parent...