Really Long Day

Yesterday was a day for the record books. Here's how it went.

8:15 a.m. -- Dropped the boys off at grandma's so I could report for jury duty for the first time ever.

9:00 a.m. -- Jury selection process started.

10:00 a.m. -- Selection process still going.

11:00 a.m. -- The benches are getting really hard.

11:30 a.m. -- Still going, but I realize at this moment I will not be selected. The attorney asked if anyone had experience with adoption, specifically adopted kids. I was the only one in the room, and to top it off, I had biological and adopted kids. So did the defendant, with alleged abuse toward the adopted and not biological children.

1:30-4:15 p.m. -- More questions, more sitting. Finally at 4:15 they have selected the jury. I get to go home.

4:30 p.m. -- I call my husband to let him know I will be picking up the boys and heading home. He answers the phone like this: "We have a big problem. Our son just swallowed a quarter." I automatically think it's the 22 month old, he puts everything in his mouth. Nope, it's the five year old. I tell him to meet me at grandma's in two minutes and I call his pediatrician to see what to do. The verdict: if he's breathing okay bring him to us (hospital 20 minutes away), if not, take him to your local hospital (rinky-dink little place).

He was gagging quite a bit, but was breathing fine, so we loaded up for the hospital.

5:00 p.m. -- We check in with the doctor.

5:15 p.m. -- It's time to head over for x-rays. The first one doesn't show anything. My first thought - "Did he really swallow it, or are we here for nothing?" They take another shot. Oh yes, it's in there, way up high. They take another shot - I guess they need a side view too.

5:45 p.m. -- Back to the doctor's office. There's good news and bad news. The good news: the quarter is in the esophagus, not the trachea, which is why he was gagging so much, but still able to breathe. He will need to go to surgery and be put under to get it out. The bad news: No one at this hospital feels comfortable doing that type of surgery. We have to head 30 more minutes down the road to mega-hospital that covers 24 city blocks.

6:30 p.m. -- Everything is in order to head south. Thank goodness my son is so tired by this point (no nap in the afternoon, too busy eating money) that he sleeps all the way to the next hospital. I'm not sure how kids can sleep with quarters stuck in their throat, but he did it.

7:00 p.m. -- Arrive at the ER, get admitted, IV started, and answer the same questions all over again. "No, I wasn't there when it happened. No, I don't know why he put the quarter in his mouth. No, grandma didn't see it happen either. I'm not sure when he ate last, let me call grandma." The only thing that kept me from feeling like a terrible mother was that I was fulfilling my civic duty in court!

8:30 p.m. -- Time to head up to OR for surgery prep. We head the waiting room. More sitting. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

9:15 p.m. -- Okay, we didn't wait that long. The surgeon came out, gave us the quarter, and said everything went fine. He's a little roughed up in there, so take it easy with soft foods at first. Wait some more.

10:00 p.m. -- The nurse gives us an update. He's waking up a little, but having a hard time completely waking up. It will be a little while yet.

10:30 p.m. -- They wheel him out. Okay, where are we going? Oh, they can't dismiss us from anywhere in the OR, we have to be checked in to pediatrics in order to be dismissed. Great.

11:45 p.m. -- He has drank some Sprite and gone pee. Good, let's go home. Where did our nurse go?

12:30 a.m. -- She'll be with us in a few minutes.

1:00 a.m. -- Whew. We are walking out of the hospital. Most normal people would have driven straight home at this point, but no, not us, we were starving. No one had eaten since lunch. We drove through Spangles for my favorite - turkey club on pita - and some ice cream for my son since he was so brave (and because he hadn't eaten since lunch either).

2:00 a.m. -- My head hits the pillow. What a day.

In spite of all this craziness, God was watching out for us in SO many ways. The quarter didn't affect his breathing, my husband and I were both 2 minutes from grandma's when it happened, immediate care was open so we didn't have to go to the ER at the first hospital, the other grandma was working at the first hospital, so she could take little brother home with her, all the nurses and doctors were great, we didn't have to stay the (whole) night in the hospital, AND I didn't get picked for jury duty. I can't imagine if I would have had to report there at 9:00 this morning. Ugh.

I'm hoping for an un-eventful Christmas!!