Finally on September 26th, Joel got discharged from Children's Hospital. No more hospital. No more sleeping in the hospital. No more McDonald's. No more IV on Joel. I am so thankful that this experience is OVER! Thank you God!! Joel is doing wonderful now. I think (besides the pain of the surgery) Joel's 2nd issue was the IV stuck on his arm and that hurt him while moving. Doctor's orders were to walk walk walk the next day after surgery. Joel gave me so much trouble every morning because he didn't want to get up and walk around. There were three important things the Doctor looks in a patient right before they let them go home... 1)Walk around, 2)No Fever and 3)Appetite. Obviously, the walking and the appetite for Joel were a little hard but at the end he worked on them and passed. When we got home, you could see a difference in Joel... he could move around more freely and he could get on and off his bed so much easier than in the hospital. Now, he was able to laugh a little more without feeling pain.Today, September 29th, Joel returned to school. Of course, there are some important things Joel needs to avoid for 3-6 weeks and those are strenuous activities such as rough play, bicycle/skateboarding riding, contact sports, and P.E. Talked to the school and his teacher about them and they even made copies of those instructions so that they are aware of it. I'm glad that little by little things are coming back to normal. On October 7th, I'll be taking Joel to his Follow-Up appointment in the afternoon and for the doctor to take off the tapes he has on his tummy (hopefully, it's not too painful for Joel).
My overall view of Children's Hospital
I think Children's Hospital is a really nice hospital for kids. I didn't had a bad experience while I was there. All the nurses and the volunteers were there to help the parents and for the parents to be comfortable while staying there. On Friday (which it was a little late for me), a volunteer came by our room to let me know about some programs the hospital have and mostly was about The Ronald McDonald's House (which is just across the street from the hospital and above the parking lot). That Friday night, I went for Free Dinner at that house. I couldn't believe how beautiful that place is. They have 40 rooms for parents that can't afford hotel while their child is in the hospital and they provide all the necessities for the parents... food, showers, laundry room, etc. and free of charge. I think that is wonderful!! Also, another thing I would've loved to know was that the hospital (and that was in the same floor and close to Joel's room) has a shower place for parents... they just had to ask for towels but you must bring your own shampoo, conditioner, etc. Bummer! I went home to take a shower and knowing that would've saved time and gas.
Also, this hospital is great for kids. There are tons of things for the kids to keep them busy while in the hospital. Joel had his own Wii system and that thing had a lot of games... and besides that, he could watch movies. Bad part was that the room we were in didn't had a tv hooked to cable so we watched movies most of the time. At certain hours of the day, the hospital opens this Play Room where the kids can walk there and play... they have Wii, Xbox, PlayStation, books, movies (dvd's and for vhs), a hockey table, tv's, computers with Internet, and more!! I took Joel several times there so that we can get movies and board games so that we both can pass the time quicker. Everybody was so helpful!! Even before Joel's surgery, a woman came by (I think she is the Social Worker in there/or in that floor) and she explained to Joel why he was having this surgery, where his appendix is, etc. and she did it with this doll that had like a human anatomy from the inside so that Joel could see where his appendix was. She also explained where the nurse was going to take him just before surgery and who he was going to meet there. She also talked about putting him to sleep and what he was going to feel. I think that was very nice of the hospital to do for kids that are going to surgery... that explanation with pictures and with that doll help kids not to get too scare or nervous before their surgery. So, I didn't had a bad experience while there.
Also, this hospital is great for kids. There are tons of things for the kids to keep them busy while in the hospital. Joel had his own Wii system and that thing had a lot of games... and besides that, he could watch movies. Bad part was that the room we were in didn't had a tv hooked to cable so we watched movies most of the time. At certain hours of the day, the hospital opens this Play Room where the kids can walk there and play... they have Wii, Xbox, PlayStation, books, movies (dvd's and for vhs), a hockey table, tv's, computers with Internet, and more!! I took Joel several times there so that we can get movies and board games so that we both can pass the time quicker. Everybody was so helpful!! Even before Joel's surgery, a woman came by (I think she is the Social Worker in there/or in that floor) and she explained to Joel why he was having this surgery, where his appendix is, etc. and she did it with this doll that had like a human anatomy from the inside so that Joel could see where his appendix was. She also explained where the nurse was going to take him just before surgery and who he was going to meet there. She also talked about putting him to sleep and what he was going to feel. I think that was very nice of the hospital to do for kids that are going to surgery... that explanation with pictures and with that doll help kids not to get too scare or nervous before their surgery. So, I didn't had a bad experience while there.
That tummy ache Joel had Tuesday morning... turned into vomiting almost all day Tuesday. I got very concerned about Joel's health because he couldn't keep anything down and even the Pedialyte was coming up. I was very worry of him being dehydrated. Tuesday night came and Joel wasn't feeling any better and now he was complaining of more stomach aches. By this time, no vomiting and it looked like he didn't felt the "need" to vomit anymore which was a good sign for me. Still, he was complaining of his tummy hurting. The first thing to came in my mind was that maybe Joel's stomach muscles got sore because of all the vomiting he did during the day. He went to bed and I went to bed thinking that it wasn't that big of a deal and his tummy was just sore from throwing up.
If only there was a medicine to make it all better. Joel's sick. This morning, he told me he had a tummy ache. I thought he needed to go to the bathroom and that it wasn't that bad. I almost took him to school but thank the heavens I didn't. At around 8ish, he threw up. Had to wash his blanket, pillow, and clothes because they were puked on. Joel then told me he felt a little better (yaay!). I thought, oh good... maybe that's over. Wrong! It is now around 2:35 pm and Joel has threw up like maybe 6 or 7 times... nothing much to throw up because he haven't eaten. I tried to give him a piece of toast but he didn't even finished it half way. I don't know what's wrong with Joel or why he is sick. Seth's fine. I'm fine. I just hate it so much when one of my kids get sick like this. Is like, I would give anything to take their sickness and for me to suffer instead of them. I just hope this is something quick that he catched and it's out of his system soon. Hopefully, Seth doesn't catch it.
I found out about this Operation Aloha album just yesterday... as my husband hit the play button, I began to listen to "Failure" and I totally felt in love with that song. Thank goodness for good ol' iTunes!! This album was just released May 12th. It's funny that this album was created in Hawaii with friends and some musicians that went to a secluded island in Hawaii... they stayed in a treehouses for 30 days with NO running water, electricity, cell phones, expectations. They had microphones, instruments, and whatevet musical related they can carry... they also drained wine bottles that ended up becoming percussion instruments. It's awesome that they came back with an awesome tan and a this new record.
