They’re BAAAAAAACK!!

Where you ask? We’re back at UCSF!

I don’t say it with excitement; as a matter of fact, I mean it with much disdain. We almost made it to the 6-month post-transplant anniversary without a hospital stay but low and behold, Christopher has managed to keep us on our toes once again and we’re here.

Yet, this time around Jason and I were a lot less worried because it innocently started with symptoms of the stomach flu, in particular diarrhea and vomiting. Last Saturday, while we were vacationing in Reno, Christopher started to vomit. It wasn’t his usual I’m-sick-of-the-meds vomit; it was everything he ate or drank came right back up. At first we thought he ate something bad so we wearily backtracked on the past couple of days. It became so bad (as in 10-15 episodes of vomiting and diarrhea) that we reluctantly took him to urgent care at the local hospital fully aware that to re-hydrate, they’d have to stick him with IV meds.

When we got there, we went over his long, nauseating (no pun intended) medical history and waited for the doctor. To our surprise, the doctor’s advice was to give him a nausea medication, give him Pedialyte, and call it a day. It was the best feeling ever! Expecting the worse and getting the least – Christopher would be spared the IV.

And what a wonder drug it was! Chris transformed instantaneously like he was invincible. We returned back to the hotel.

To our dismay, Evan apparently showered my dad in his latest feeding. He caught what Chris had! At that moment, I knew it was going to be a sleepless night. Taking care of sick twins with vomit and diarrhea – now this I had to see.

And an experience it was! That night I basically slept on whatever part of the bed was semi-dry. I felt really bad for housecleaning as we went through towels like they were table bets. The bed and bedding was a whole other game!

We somewhat survived to the next day but knew the car ride home (which ends up with Evan throwing up anyways) was another experience in itself. Four hours of uncertainty didn’t sit well in my stomach.

The first hour I spent giving each twin several of teaspoons of water slowly so that it wouldn’t upset their stomachs. The next half hour involved cleaning up Chris – no biggie. The other half hour was cleaning up Evan – ehh, thank goodness for the hijacked towels we took. 1 for 1. Evan won the prize by vomiting twice in the car. The next two hours was listening to them cry, whine, gag, etc. It was, by far, the worse car ride ever!

Home at last!

I loaded the one of six laundry loads, tended to Nate and the twins, prepared some soup, and put the twins down for bed.

Grumble, grumble, grumble. “OMG! I know I didn’t get what they had! That’d be too cruel!”

First down was my sister Jamie. Next down was me. Jason soon followed. Dad was next and Mom was last. Nate, miraculously didn’t get it!

And what a feeling it was. I only vomited twice and it was horrible! I couldn’t imagine what Christopher was going through but man, he’s one strong kid because I sure couldn’t do!

Another sleepless night, Jason and I took turned running for the toilet, giving fluids to the twins, wiping up their mess, and getting a wink of shut-eye. In an urge of selfishness, I was tempted to call the ambulance for myself but realized no one would be there for me and I wouldn’t be here for my kids. I’d have to tough it out and Christopher was my inspiration.

Jason and I and the rest of the family got better; everyone except Christopher. In fact, he seemed to get worse being lethargic, inability to walk, and still vomiting and stooling. I assumed he wasn’t well yet because his immunity is lowered from the transplant medications. By Wednesday night, Jason and I resolved that if Christopher wasn’t better by Thursday, we’d make the call to UCSF.

Fast forward to today and here we are. Christopher was still throwing up on Saturday with no end in sight. His energy level picked up a little thanks to the IV drip that ran since Thursday afternoon. We asked for the wonder drug again and it’s done its job so far.

According to the doctors, Christopher is suffering from C. Dif. infection (google it). It’s highly contagious and nothing to take lightly. They started the antibiotic regimen on Sunday and Christopher is still stooling a lot. We’ll see what happens over the next couple of days.

Not sure how long we’ll be cooped up here again but it’s a bad sign when the nurses remember you and some even remember THAT name. Sigh…

P.S. I have trouble sleeping here.  3am posting is correct.