Cannulas and other catastrphes

Poor Ruby recently spent 5 days in hospital with acute pyelonephritis. It came on very suddenly at, as all illnesses seem to do, 3 o'clock on a Saturday morning. She called me, as she does every night, to take her to the loo and then complained of a pain in her tummy. As she complains of pains in her tummy, legs, arms, head, ankles etc almost every night I got her a hot water bottle and told her to go back to sleep, assuming it was her usual attention seeking ploys.  She did go back to sleep but at around 7 she suddenly went from looking like a kid with a mild tummy bug to a kid who was very sick. She went grey before my eyes, started shaking, vomited and then couldn't stand up straight from the pain. So it was straight up to A and E. My initial thought was appendicitis, but after her urine dip test "lit up like a Christmas tree" as the nurse said, she was commenced on IV antibiotics.

It took 4 attempts to cannulate her, and in the end the vein they used was the only place they hadn't used the numbing crème, so we used Entanox to help Ruby through the procedure, which worked like a charm with Ruby giggling like a maniac.

So we stayed in hospital from Saturday until Wednesday evening while the course of antibiotics was completed. By Monday she was feeling pretty well again (how lucky are we to have such miracle drugs? We are in a world of trouble when everything becomes resistant...) and attended the hospital school during the day, where Brett's sister happens to be the principal, so Ruby was happy to hang out with Auntie Kim (though not so happy to have to do actual school work lol).

I got to 'sleep' on my 'comfy' recliner chair, which was a hoot, as always. But also no where else I'd rather be. It's weird how time stretches and changes when you're sitting in hospital with a sick child, everything shrinks to that small world and the timetable it operates on. At night, once Ruby was asleep I would sometimes walk downstairs to the Birthing Unit and have a chat with whoever was working that night and grab a cup of tea. One of the perks of working at the hospital I guess.

We're home now and Ruby is back at school, feeling fine. We have a round of follow up appointments and tests to do over the next few months to check that there has been no damage to her kidneys. I'm anticipating trouble with those... I clearly remember having the same tests done, 32 years ago, like it was yesterday, as I also had recurrent UTI's as a child. I haven't told Ruby about them yet, no point giving her something to dwell on before she needs to.