My date with Flynn

 Late Thursday Flynn decided to  get a bit of a temperature. Simon took him for his immunisations but they wouldn't do it as his temp was 38.3 degrees. I knew it was going to be a long night, and I got his temp down to 37.5 with the trusty panadol but by Friday morning he was having a bit of trouble breathing and had started throwing up a feed at 5am and a feed at 7am. Because he was throwing up, the panadol wasn't able to do its job and his temp started rising again. I got his meds down at 8.30am and they stayed down which was fantastic but rang the dr and given his CAH condition, I got in straightaway. Dr D took one look at him (his temp was now 39.6) and called the ambo to take us to the LGH.

I knew Dr D was worried about an adrenal crisis. An adrenal crisis in SWCAH (salt wasters) people can come on real quick so we got a ride from Deloraine into Launceston. I wasn't overly worried because with Hallie having the same condition, I am used to it, but I was a little concerned because Flynn is a baby. On the way they had Flynn strapped in his car seat in the ambo, which left me to lie on the bed strapped in (safety reasons they said) but all I could do was laugh at myself being on the bed. I said to the paramedic that he wouldn't be used to having a 'well' person on the bed. They gave Flynn oxygen but he wanted to chew on the mask more than anything.

Once down in Emergency we waited for the Dr and to pass the time Lisa (my sister) and Kylie Bailey, came to visit and bring me lunch. I told Simon to stay at home with Jonty until I knew more of what was going on. Lucky I did because we now have a new bigger emergency department that was just opened up last Monday and they have become really strict about only letting in one visitor at a time. A security guard even escorts you to visit the patient so you can't sneak past either. So poor Kylie had to wait outside while Lisa visited me.

When the bloods were being done, I saw that Lisa was a bit teary because Flynn was so upset. I had forgotten that I was like that too many years ago but its not that I have hardened over the years of doing regular bloods with Hallie and now Flynn but that I'm just used to it now. I hope the Drs didn't think I was a mean Mum and my heart did go out to Flynn but it was just simply something that has to be done. I was touched however that Lisa was upset for Flynn. She might be Flynn's new favourite Aunty. :)

After the bloods were taken, the Dr decided Flynn had croup, bronchiolitis and a bacterial infection (due to a high white blood cell count) so they decided he should be admitted because they weren't sure if he was going to get worse again and wanted to monitor him. As a CAH patient, he doesn't produce cortisol, the hormone which protects us from illness and injury so it is easy for CAH patients to get sicker with normal illnesses that other people can produce more cortisol to fight it.

We started giving him stress doses of his normal meds which is just tripling the amount of cortisol he normally takes. When we get sick we naturally produce more cortisol but CAH people don't produce any so it has to be done for them. His sodium levels were down too because I had stopped giving him his salt saline, knowing he would just throw it up, so we started that slowly up again. Once that all started kicking in and he wasn't throwing up anymore, he started improving quite quickly. If he had kept throwing up, the meds would have been given by IV.

Last night, after Simon and the kids had been,  Lisa (K) and Lisa my sister, visited me bringing goodies and keeping me company. They made the night so much better. Even though I was in a four bed room, I was the only one there so it was also great not to worry about other people hearing Flynn cry all night. Lisa (K) took these photos on my iphone and it wasn't until this morning I realised that she got out of being in any. ;) Lisa said it was strange to be up on children's ward again after all the times she was here with Noah and the many times Noah was admitted, it almost felt like home for her. We had joked earlier in the day, that maybe if I said that I know Noah, I could get a private room.  Lying in my little sofa bed last night when it was dark and quiet and I was left to my thoughts, I could appreciate the time that Lisa spent in here with Noah and the memories the children's ward holds for her.

                                      

Only one problemo with Flynn picking this week for our one-on-one date, today was the Make-A-Wish fun run and I did not want to miss walking for Noah. We had been planning it for a few months and now with Noah's passing, it had taken on a more tender meaning. So last night, Lisa (my sister) and my niece Emily, kindly offered to come and sit with Flynn at the hospital while Simon and I and the kids joined with the Kings and family and friends to walk for a beautiful son, brother, grandson, nephew and friend.

This morning, just after I fed Flynn and was getting ready to go to the Make-A-Wish run,  the Drs came round and said although Flynn was still miserable, he could be miserable at home and if he got worse really quick then to ring the registrar and we could bypass emergency and go straight to children's ward. I just have to keep giving him stress doses and bring them down to his normal doses when he is well again. So I left Flynn with Lisa and ducked off to the fun run, happy that I was able to still walk for Noah and happy (and maybe just a little tired) to be going home today.