Dr Spock and Why I Love Him and Am Eternally Grateful and Will Never Take His Name in Vain:
When Ammo was three months old, he began throwing up shortly after nursing. He would be in pain and then be ok after he threw up until the next nursing. At first I just thought it was gas, or a little intestinal "thing". But by 11 at night, he seemed very uncomfortable. I went to my Dr Spock and found a reference to intussusception, a knotting of the intestinal tract that requires surgery, and can be fatal if not treated. All the symptoms fit. I called my pediatrician , told him what I suspected, and he met us at the ER. He did a quick exam, called a surgeon, and sent me immediately to Children's, on the other side of Dallas. It was about midnight by now and he wouldn't even let me go home and get Dan. I've never been so scared in my life. Dan called a friend to come stay the night with CW and he met me at the hospital. I hope you never have to go through something like this. Hearing the screams of your infant as they try to find a vein big enough to start the IV, looking in as they give him a barium enema and prop him on a little stand for x-rays-I swear he looked crucified. Finally the surgeon met with us-he was a real SOB-and said-as if we had intentionally planned this to deprive him of a night's sleep--that while he suspected intussusception, that on rare occasions, the force of the barium enema somehow actually straightens things out without requiring surgery, and this was the case with Ammo. They would keep him the rest of the night and then we could go home. The funny thing is, as we were waiting for Dan in the morning (he'd gone home) I nursed Ammo and he threw up all over the floor.
And they didn't care. They just told me to go home. I never did figure it out.
So I love Dr. Spock---whatever else weird he said, I think he saved Ammo's life. |
