Marcus's Trip to the HOP-SI-TAL!!

We have had an exciting week, not the kind of excitement any parent wants but still... exciting!

Sunday and Monday Marcus was sick so Monday morning, I took both kids to the pediatricians office. Marcus's tonsils were really swollen and he said he just had a cold, he gave us some antibiotics and sent us home. All afternoon I watched him and he slept for like 4 hours, and he just kept getting worse he seemed weaker, and weaker and was so pale. I thought to myself.. this doesn't seem right. He wouldn't eat any dinner, and finally about 7:45pm he got up off the floor and said he had to go potty. So he went and I went in to check on him and the whole toilet was full of blood!! I panicked just slightly... Jeremy came running in and we immediately called the Doctor, and they said take him to Primary Childrens ER immediately, so we did. After a 2 1/2 hour wait Marcus went to the bathroom again, we gave the nurses his urine sample and they immediately rushed us in, and started running tests! I thought did you not believe me.. I told you it was blood---- But they started an IV and and drew a bunch of blood. He was the bravest little boy!! He just sat perfectly still while they put the IV in and he didn't even cry!! We waited for another few hours while they tried to figure out what was going on... Marcus watched Shrek and all of the nurses loved how brave he was. He wowed them all with his Optimus Prime Transformer Jammies!

First they thought it was his kidneys but then determined it was something going on in his blood. Very scary--- you kind of need your blood!! So they admitted us to the hospital and about 4 am we got into our room and went to sleep for a couple hours.

The next morning we waited for the doctors to come in and tell us what they found, they came and drew more blood! Very traumatic to a 3 year old! The kidney doctors came in and said that his kidneys were okay and they were turning it over to the Hematologists, the blood doctors. The blood doctors came in and said they were looking at his blood through microscopes to figure out what was going on, but it looked like a hemollytic anemia. His hematacrit had dropped very low and they were concerned that he had lost so much blood. Dr. Yaish this great Blood doctor said he felt like he knew what it was and he was going to test his blood again later that day and the next morning to see if it matched up.

Marcus started to improve on his own, his urine started to lighten up and his color strated to improve, he turned a yellow color, like a little jaundice baby! They kept him on fluids and monitored him but he was getting better. They did an ultrasound on him to check and ran more tests. In between all of that, his grandmas came to visit him and brought him toys and balloons. He got to visit the hospital Playroom which is a little slice of heaven to a sick kid! He loved the race car town and he got pretty good at playing with an IV pole hooked up to him. He loved walking around the hospital looking at the fish. Tuesday afternoon he went to the bathroom and got so excited and shouted... "I'm all better now, I have yellow pee!!" Tuesday night Uncle Sean and Aunt Kara came to visit, he was so excited.. he got another present and then he proudly escorted Sean and Kara to the playroom! Grandma and Grandpa Brenda and Dave also came back to visit! He loved having visitors and was so proud to tell them all about his IV and his ouwies!!

On Wednesday morning we met with the Hematologist, Dr. Yaish again and he said after all of their studies he had determined what type of Hemollytic Anemoia it was, It's called Paroxzyzmal Cold Hemaglobinuria. Basically he got a cold virus, and his body made antibodies to fight it and those antibodies started attacking his red blood cells, making them explode and come out in his urine. But the rare thing about this case was that the Antibodies that were attacking his red blood cells were only made in his body when he was exposed to cold. On Saturday he helped Jeremy clean out the garage and he was in the cold a lot that day. The doctor said he published a study about this particular thing about 25 years ago, and he hadn't seen a case like his in 5 years. There were 3 other children recently that had this same type of thing but they were all much worse. Most of the time kids have to go on steroids for weeks to suppress their immune system enough to get this under control. Some kids have to have blood transfusions, and all kinds of things. Needless to say we have witnessed a miracle in his quick recovery!!

Wednesday by noon they were sending us home, with strict orders to keep him out of the cold and keep him eating and drinking! He said a sad goodbye to his nurses and they gave him toys and a blanket. He got to visit the play room one last time and then we were on our way!

We feel so blessed to have been given such a wonderful gift as a little boy! What a Champ he was at handling all of this! We know that we witnessed a miracle watching him recover so quickly! Primary Children's Hospital is a very awesome place, all of the volunteers, and staff were amazing! We are happy to be home and have him doing better. Now if i could just get him to eat! He still seems weak and tired and has no appetite, but he is on the mend! Here are a few pictures from before we left the hospital....