Hospital... again

Well, Lucy has ended up in the hospital again. She began throwing up Tuesday morning with what seemed like a stomach virus. By Tuesday late afternoon, when the Zofran I'd given her still wasn't helping, we thought about taking her in to the ER. A nurse practitioner friend said we could give her another Zofran (this was about 7:30) and see if that helped. When it didn't, we decided to take Lucy in. They admitted her and gave her IV fluids and IV Zofran overnight. They ran her CO2 levels, which measure blood toxicity (I think). In a healthy person, the number should be in the 20s. Back when Lucy was admitted to the hospital in February, her number was 12. Tuesday night, the number was 6. This was very concerning to the doctors. Today they did a couple of tests (x-rays and ultrasound) to try to figure out what the underlying issue is. Obviously, there is something more going on here so that her little body can't cope with stomach issues. The doctors don't know if it's an intestinal issue, a metabolic issue, a brain issue, or something else. The ultrasound and x-rays didn't show anything abnormal. Tomorrow they're going to do a small bowel follow-through (or something like that), which will show her digestive process to see if anything is out of whack there.

By late this afternoon, Lucy herself had perked up, ate some food, and was acting pretty good, all things considered.

It's definitely hard coordinating "life" with a child in the hospital--figuring out care for the boys, Jon needing to get in to work for a while, etc. But homeschooling definitely makes it easier (no drop-offs or pick-ups to worry about).

Though this is a stressful time, I do feel God's hand at work. After this past weekend, which was the annual women's retreat with church, I was feeling so encouraged, motivated, and joyful. I believe Satan wanted to attack that in any way possible! However, I think God was working yesterday while Lucy was sick. Normally, when one of our kids is sick I waver back and forth when deciding whether to bring him/her to the hospital. It's so hard to decide when is the point that they're "bad" enough to need to go in.... and then I convince myself they're doing a little better and we should wait until the next day to decide. However, THIS time was not like that. This time, yesterday evening, even when her symptoms were no different from times before, it was so clear: we're taking her in. Thank you, God.