Sad, sick boy

This sweet boy spent about a month this winter being very, very sick. It started mid-November with Carver vomiting one morning before school. We kept him home that day and he was fine all day and for the next couple of days. Then, he vomited again one morning before school a few days later. So, we kept him home and he seemed fine for a few days. We repeated this pattern over and over. He would randomly vomit and sometimes have diarrhea, and then seem to be ok for a few days and then it would start again.

Eventually, about two weeks in he started getting more and more sick. We took him to the doctor and he was given Zofran and sent home. Then we went back and he was given more Zofran and we still couldn't figure out what was going on. Finally, the week of Thanksgiving he got crazy sick. Horrible vomiting episodes that left him completely drained and exhausted. Diarrhea that we just couldn't get under control. He wasn't eating and lost about 5 lbs in just a matter of weeks. By far the sickest he had every been and we just could not figure out what was wrong.

I was covered in all kinds of gross things over those weeks. Carver slept in a bed on the floor of our room for an entire month and some nights we would be up every hour, yanking him out of bed and holding him over the toilet as his little bony body was just wracked with violent gagging. It was so so sad.

You know when you are SO sick, and you find a position that works and you just can't move from it? This was his.

Then we had the very fun job of  "collecting" a stool sample and rushing it to the hospital (had to be there in 1 hour!), to have tons of tests run on it. And...

Nothing.

So, we were just at a complete loss.

Finally, after 4 solid weeks of this, in mid-December, Carver started getting a little better. He finally went one week, and then two weeks, without any symptoms. And slowly, slowly, our sweet boy finally came back to us. I can't tell you how much I missed him over those weeks. He was so sick, and so quiet, and so tired. Everything he isn't normally.

It was a month of pajamas, and pull-ups, and many many hours spent not leaving the house.

Hydrating...

Hearing him start fighting with Carson again, and watching him destroy the house fed my soul in a way I cannot describe. I'll take his normal crazy self any day, over that miserable emaciated child he became.

We are heading to a pediatric specialist in Atlanta in a couple of weeks, just to double check that all is really well with him now. More precautionary than anything, but I am so so very thankful that he is being himself again.