The Crappiest Fourth Of July EVER!

WARNING: This is a long one!!

July 4th landed on Sunday this year, which, in Utah means the celebrations mainly take place on Saturday the 3rd. We had plans to go to James and Lisa's for fireworks and fun, but those plans were quickly changed...

"Mom, I've swallowed something REALLY BAD. It's REALLY BAD!!"

Crap! Carson and I were in his room trying to take a nap...well, I was trying to nap, HE was playing with some little alkaline batteries. Three little alkaline batteries - the kind found in hearing aids and little light up toothbrushes. Now we have only one of those batteries. The other two are somewhere in his body.

Jake and I both tried to get him to gag them up (which you are not supposed to do, but we panicked). I called the InstaCare and they told me to bring him in. They need to know where the batteries are. So after some frantic words (it's no secret that we don't do well under pressure!), Jake took the third battery and Carson down to the clinic.

Jake called about 20 minutes later saying we needed to go to the ER, but the ER in Riverton didn't have the equipment they needed to pull out the batteries with a scope. So Grace and I hopped in the car and met Carson and Jake at the Riverton Hospital to drive downtown together. Jake said the nurse at the InstaCare almost wanted to send him by ambulance, but she trusted that we'd go directly to Primary Children's Hospital. And we did.

As we were checking in at the front desk, I see Sandy, my dad's wife, walking down the hall. Her eight year old granddaughter was hit by a car that afternoon. Wow. I'm so glad Carson only swallowed a couple of batteries! She's ok, but broke her leg in two places and has some other injuries, but nothing life threatening. She was just baptized that morning. Poor thing.

So Grace, Jake and I get settled in while Carson gets checked out. This was at about 4:30...if we hurry, maybe we can still make it to set off some fireworks.

We were seen by a doctor, a few nurses and then finally a surgeon (very young, very green). He says we will probably do a live xray (I forget what it's called) and if the batteries haven't dropped to the lower intestine, they'll insert a scope down his throat and remove them. Once they drop to the lower intestine, it's best to just let nature run it's course and poop them out. The surgery that would be required at that point, would be too unnecessarily invasive. The acids in the esophagus and stomach could corrode the seal on the batteries, causing the batteries to leak and possibly burn his intestines. YIKES! But once in the lower intestine, he 'should' be out of any danger.

Now it's 7...no way will we make it to James and Lisa's. Maybe we can still see some fireworks on the way home.

We were told we just needed to wait until the "Greenie" asks his "boss" what procedure he wants to do. Then a few minutes later the nurse comes in and is ready to take Carson upstairs. FAST! GREAT! There was some minor confusion as to whether or not we signed a consent form - we said we did, the nurse said we did not. When we got upstairs and met Dr Black (the "boss" surgeon), he said, "this is a pretty short surgery, about 30 minutes or so. You can wait in the waiting room and see him when he wakes up. Then, if all goes well, you can take him home in 2 or 3 days"..........silence...........Jake - "Whoa, wait, no one said anything about surgery. I don't think we are quite there. I mean, if it comes to that - but no, no one said anything about surgery. I don't think I understand..." Then he proceeded to tell the surgeon what he understood to be the next steps - you know a little xray and maybe a scope. Dr Black says, "No, I can't do this surgery with a scope, it's a small incision for the appendectomy." THEY BROUGHT UP THE WRONG PATIENT!!! (hence the questioned consent form).

Whew! We all had a little laugh of relief and Dr Black confirmed that the batteries will be removed with a scope and Carson's appendix will be left as is. :)

So we went back downstairs to wait some more. They had already set up the room for the appendectomy and could not squeeze us in...dang.

We waited and waited and waited. Poor Grace was such a trooper! We thought about calling someone to take her, but then since we were not sure how long we'd be (or quick we'd be) we figured we'd just stick together.

Finally, the anesthesiologist came down to get him ready for his iv. Wait...why does he need an iv for an xray??? After ANOTHER miscommunication with "Greenie" and ANOTHER 40+ minutes of waiting, we were told they would do the scope first and the xray only if they could not find the batteries. I don't understand why, but by this point I don't really care why. They have so many different doctors and nurses checking in and giving their version of what is going to happen...we were utterly confused.

Around 9:45 they finally took Carson upstairs again. The docs were calling him the "Energizer Bunny", so we knew they had the right patient this time! Carson picked out the cotton candy flavored mask and was whisked away. Jake had taken Grace for a ride in the car to see if they could see any fireworks (which they did get to see a few small bursts) so I went to the waiting room. About 10 minutes or so later, Dr Black came in and told me the batteries have 'moved on' and that we'd have to keep an eye out for them in his poop. Great. He said to wait about 10-15 minutes for Carson to wake up and then I could wait with him to be released. They like to keep them for about an hour after waking up to make sure there were no complications with the anesthesia. Jake and Grace made it back to the waiting room just a few minutes before the nurse called for me at about 11:00. I thought they forgot about us, but they said that Carson was just so sleepy that he wouldn't wake up. Hello...it's ELEVEN O'CLOCK!!!

Grace got to get on the bed and ride along with Carson. It was cute. The nurse said Carson was "so stinkin cute"...I happen to agree :) We passed room 101 and he said "Isn't it funny that one hundred and one is just 1 0 1? That is so funny"...No Carson, YOU are so funny!!

So we waited in Carson's recovery room and watched Deadliest Catch (nothing else was on). Carson and Grace both got to lay on the bed and eat root beer slushies. Around 12:30 we were out of there. CARSON was out of there. I carried his limp little sleeping body out to the car and our little family went home.

He had his first "movement" this morning. No batteries. I don't know if I can do this part of motherhood.

Carson has been so cute during this whole thing. He knew he did the wrong thing by putting those batteries in his mouth. He knows not to eat things that are not food. I felt so sorry for him having to admit that he did something wrong. I KNOW he won't be doing it again. He has done everything I've asked him to do today...I just have to follow my request with "it will help you poop" and he's all over it!! He took a nap because "it will help you poop", he ate a big bowl of broccoli because "it'll help you poop", and he did some exercises ....

I love that smart little man more than anything...or as he told Jake the other day...

"I love you more than the earth and the sky and the EVERYTHING...except the family. I love the family the same". He is my family and I love him.