Night and Day at Kosair's Children's Hospital

Robert arrived via ambulance to Kosair Children's Hospital downtown Louisville around 11:00 at night.  He was asleep the entire time he rode in the ambulance (which was such a blessing because he had been throwing up just prior).

Robert has been in a state of lethargic sleep since he we first put him in the car to go to the ER.  He wants to keep his eyes closed at all times.  Once we were admitted to Kosair we weren't seen by a doctor until ten till midnight.  Dr. Davis admitted Robert to the ICU as part of  TCU care (trauma).  It took almost another hour to get him hooked up to all the monitors, IV, and answer more (of the same) questions.  From a practical point of view this makes no sense.  We were at Kosair ER, transported to Kosair ER and then to Kosair ICU.  Kosair should electronically transport information so that parents do not have to waste so much time repeating the same information over and over.  All in all Robert threw up about 10 times Sunday night/Monday morning.  Betsy finally laid to bed right next to Robert at 3:00 am.

It was a miserable night.  Although I was exhausted from nauseous care and concern, fatigue and the late hour, the noises of the ICU were almost too much to ignore.  The room situation is very strange.  Patients do not have private rooms, just a curtain that is pulled between beds.  I could hear every beep, buzzer, child's cry, door closing, siren, etc.  I was glad to be there with Robert (and couldn't imagine it any other way) but it was a horrible night's sleep. I was up at 5:00 for more tests on Robert, and then again at 6:00 am with Robert throwing up again, and again.  We both went back to sleep until  8:40.  The doctor came around 10:00 am to check on Robert.  He wants to keep him another night while I strongly want Robert to come home.

Robert continued to sleep most of the morning.  I was able to get him some bread and rolls to eat (ever so slowly) to see if he could keep food down.   I knew he needed food because he had fasted his breakfast meal which meant that even though we had just eaten enchiladas for dinner, there wasn't any reserve after throwing up the enchiladas.  He needed something to settle and bread would be perfect with just a little water.  It worked.  At first he only wanted one little bit of bread.  When the rolls came, he ate bite after bite until the whole roll was gone (they were good).  He was also able to get some sips of water down.  That made him tired and he went back to sleep until Mark and Marissa showed up around 2:00 p.m.

Robert played cards with the three of us for about 45 minutes when he needed more rest.  He ate another roll and then fell back asleep.  We let him sleep until the nurse came to move Robert to a normal room - no more ICU!  Yippee!!  Robert was moved to room 725 where he had his own room and bathroom.  He still hasn't moved out of bed but it is good to have more privacy and peace and quiet.  Now that Robert is awake we played more card games and waited for his dinner, doctor and hopefully discharge papers.

Robert had a nice surprise.  Bishop Hill came to visit Robert in the hospital.  Robert was looking very good when he came.  He was alert and even smiling from time to time.  We had a good chat with him before the doctor came.  She examined Robert and said he could go if she got approval.  When the Bishop left, Robert's dinner came - he ate some chicken and a few bites of mashed potatoes.  Then the doctor came back to let us know he could go home.  YEAH!!!  After packing up and waiting on papers we left the hospital at 8:00 p.m.

It was almost 24 hours exactly that we had spent in the hospital.  Robert felt a bit sick on the drive home but he was very happy to be home!