Do you see that dot on Andy's hand? You know, on the back of his hand? No? That's because it's not there. It's on the other hand that you can't see. And the "dot" in question is where the first IV needle attempted to connect with a vein. And failed.
The second IV needle went in the crook of the arm and Andy was fairly unhappy at being stabbed for a second time.
I thought about saving this tale for the Christmas letter, but I finally decided that the word "constipated" doesn't belong in any kind of Christmas letter.
So, the short story goes like this. Andy stayed home from school on Monday with a fever, which got worse as the day wore on. He just lay there all day, complaining that his tummy hurt. By evening, he was in tears at moments about the pain in his gut.
So early the next morning, I hauled his hiney to the ER just in case it was that dern appendix. I had already poked him in the appropriate spot on the abdominal region but I couldn't tell anything. I teach history, for crying out loud. So they began working to get his fever down, got an IV in his arm (yippee), xrays, blood tests, peeing in a cup (he thought that was intriguing) and the kid was having a mini-vacation, minus the stabbing. Several hours later, the ER doc comes in with his conclusion.
"Fever of unknown origin" means virus. It appeared to be in his lungs, but it was not pneumonia. As for the pain in the gut....well, apparently, his appendix was fine and dandy and his white blood cell count was low. So, I repeat, what about that pain in the gut?
"The radiologist can see that he's...well, he's constipated."
Seriously? I dragged my kid into the ER, with a large deductible looming over my head, because he's constipated?
Don't get me wrong. I certainly am not wishing that my kid needed major surgery or anything like that at all. I'm sure the ER doctor wondered for a moment if I was one of those mothers, those Munchasuion mothers (I'll have to go look up that word). But good grief, constipation?
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