We haven’t been to the ER this many times in so few weeks in a long, long time. Hopefully, this weekend has seen the end of it.
Namine has not experienced any abdominal pain since yesterday morning. This marks the longest stretch of pain-free time since she first came down with whatever this is, so things are looking up.
We were convinced — and not just Jessica and myself, but pediatricians and hospital staff as well — that this pain was being caused by a UTI. The repeated tests all came back negative, however, resulting in the conclusion that the cause was viral, not bacterial. As such, nothing could be done but wait it out.
That’s all well and good to say, but it’s another matter entirely when Namine is in the bathroom, screaming so loud that our neighbors must think she’s being tortured. So of course we called Special Needs, and their answer was of no surprise to us: bring her in, and we’ll admit her. We can do nothing but give her stronger pain medication, but at least we can make it easier to bear until this passes.
So we did bring her in again, but the ER docs didn’t want to admit her. They prescribed a different medication — something similar to what she was already on, something to lessen the pain of her bladder and intestines — and sent us home again.
The first medicine Namine had been put on was working for a few days before the pain came right back. And now we’re back in the same boat: Namine has been pain free for a couple days, as of tonight. We’ll see if it lasts. But this new medicine has a couple unpleasant side effects: it makes her groggy, but worse yet, it dilates her eyes. No wonder she’s been complaining of headaches lately.
All that said, however, Namine remains in high spirits. She’s one tough cookie — persuading her to tell us when she’s in pain is difficult enough — and she doesn’t often act out her frustrations at home or out and about. She’s been having more nightmares, though, and after all she’s been through lately, I’m not surprised.
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