Sunday, Oct 18th 2020, he was a little extra clingy since morning. Surely something was bothering him. Kids that age would cry or throw some tantrums to fight the discomfort. But he is a born fighter. He learnt to deal with physical discomfort from the very beginning of his life. At the age of three months he had already visited ER (EMERGENCY ROOM) and gone through general anesthesia for a small procedure on his scalp. So crying is not his style ! But as parents we could sense that something was bothering him. 

By afternoon Giaan developed a low grade fever. Season was changing from summer to Fall and the weather was getting cooler. Low grade fever is not very alarming during this period. We gave him OTC (Over The Counter) medication and that brought down his fever. Viral fever usually stays for 3 days so we decided to wait and watch. After Medication within 30 minutes he would go back to his normalcy and forget about fever and any discomfort! All is well !

Three days went by. 

With continued fever every 6-8 hours.

Fourth morning he refused to get off our lap. Totally refused to keep his foot down on the floor. Entire morning he constantly kept clinging and sitting on my lap. Again not crying and letting us know that something is hurting. He was in some kind of pain for sure but we couldn’t make out what it was ! By afternoon he again developed some fever and then we decided to take him to his pediatrician. We immediately got the appointment and reached to see the doctor. Due to Covid restrictions only one parent was allowed inside the doctor’s office. I went in and showed him to the doctor. He did his usual check up, no ear infection, no throat infection but since he is refusing to walk there was something to do with his leg. Doctor asked to take him to the emergency room at the hospital. Before that doctor did his rapid covid test and made sure that it was safe to go to the hospital. 

We already had three Emergency Room (ER) experiences before this so we were aware of their procedures. As per the last experience, during Covid, we knew they also allow only one parent inside the ER so I took him in and Daddy went home to be with our elder son. 

As I took him in and checked in as per the procedure I generally asked if Daddy can come in too! To my surprise they said yes! But only parents are allowed, not siblings or friends.Yet it was a big relief for me because it’s really very hard to be inside a hospital dealing with medical tests, explaining everything to all the doctors and nurses, making decisions, signing papers etc… all with super cranky baby screaming constantly in your ears ! I immediately called Daddy and asked him to drop Gaurav at a friend’s place and come back to the ER as soon as possible. 

As I was talking to Daddy we were called inside. The pediatrician had called the ER and told them that we were coming with so and so problems. So we literally didn’t have to wait outside waiting for our turn. Immediately we were assigned a room and within 5 min the nurse took his vital stats like his temperature,  BP, heart rate etc. He didn’t have a fever that time because just before coming to the ER he had had Tylenol, OTC fever and pain reducer. It was around 4.00pm and he had not eaten anything after his lunch at noon. He was getting restless but I had to keep him distracted until we finished all the tests and found out what the issue was.

Within 10 min a pediatrician from the hospital came in and checked him. By this time his leg pain was reduced or because he was still under the impact of Tylenol it was reduced for a while. The pediatrician was a very senior old guy. He checked him thoroughly and said that he ‘doesn’t think’ it’s anything to do with infection. Usually when kids come in with any infection that area is always swollen which is not the case here. There was no swelling but since he is complaining about pain and he also has fever there is a ‘possibility’ of having infection. Another possibility was that he could have a toddlers’ fracture which is very common and easily cured at this age and the fever could be just viral. But we need to make sure and for that we need to get the X-Ray done.

In a few minutes the nurse took us to the X-Ray room. He was still clinging on to me, refusing to get off. As I put him on the X-Ray table he used his top vocal cords and started screaming and crying! Not sure how much time it took but X-Ray was done after 3 attempts. Keeping him stable under the light wearing that heavy jacket on my shoulders and following the X-Ray operator’s instructions while calming the screaming baby was too much to handle. Coming out from the X-Ray room as I was thinking to call Daddy and check when he was reaching we found him standing right outside the room! Phew! Some relief!! He heard the baby cry and followed the sound to find where we were! 

By the time we went back to our ER room it was around 5.30pm. Tired and hungry he fell asleep on my lap while we waited for the doctor with X-Ray reports and next plan of action. At this point we didn’t know what to expect! Fracture? Infection? Viral fever? Or anything else?? 

Few minutes later, another doctor walked in with the X-Ray reports. He showed us the X-Ray, explained a few things and gave us the next plan of action. They didn’t find anything wrong in the X-Ray. They did see a small black line on the bone but it was not too clear if it was a fracture and the reason for his discomfort. So now next comes the Ultrasound! Ultrasound would give them a better picture to decide the cause.
Again we waited until the Ultrasound room was available. By then he was woken up from his nap and was getting restless again, probably because now he was hungry. We had left home around 12.30, after lunch, hoping to see the pediatrician and come back in an hour or 2 but now it was almost 7.00pm and we were still at the emergency room, trying to find out the cause of his discomfort and fever. He was certainly very hungry now. I had a small snack packet in my bag and I gave that to him. As soon as he finished eating 2 biscuits the nurse came in to take us to the ultrasound room. She saw him eating and said that he should not eat anything now because after the ultrasound they might need him for an MRI!!
MRI?? For a 2 years old baby?? Why?? What is so wrong that could not be found in X-Ray or ultrasound?? We had tons of questions but now we had to go to the ultrasound room. The ultrasound technician was very friendly and knew how to handle a terrible two. She could get a few pictures in a short period of time. We came back to the room by 8.00 and again waited for the doctor. 

We didn’t have to wait for too long. A young doctor along with a nurse came to the room with the ultrasound reports. He explained everything very calmly and also gave the next plan. Apparently they found some infection on his right hip bone which he said is very common and curable but the treatment is very lengthy and could be tedious for this age. A long dose of an antibiotic is what it takes to cure this but since the infection is inside the bone, the antibiotics need to be administered via IV. So for a few days we need to be in the hospital and he will be put on IV. If he cooperates well we can go home after 2-3 days and they will teach us how to administer the dose at home. It was not a very easy task but we didn’t have any choice! The course of antibiotics has to be finished to avoid any future repercussions. 

To check how deep the infection has spread, they wanted to get the MRI done. For a 2 years old, to get into the MRI machine they need him to go through general anaesthesia (GA)! By the age of 2 he has already gone through GA twice! This would be the third time!! As we know for GA he is not supposed to eat anything for at least 12 hours. We told the doctor that around 7.30ish he ate a little snack.
We were taken to the MRI room where we met the MRI technician and GA specialist. It was almost 8.30pm now and the baby was getting cranky by the minute. X-Ray, Ultrasound, doctors, check ups everything was way too much for him to handle and he was a little scared to go into the new room now. He started screaming as we went to the MRI room. I was glad that the single parent policy was lifted out and they allowed both the parents to be there!! They told daddy that since he ate some snacks they can not put him under GA but they will do the test early in the morning and we need to get admitted in the hospital. When we asked if we could go home and come back early in the morning, little prepared for 2-3 days of stay in the hospital, they denied. They wanted to make sure he does not eat or drink anything until the test is done.

We were immediately sent to the 5th floor where they gave us a room. The nurse knew by then that the little boy was very hungry, he hadn’t eaten anything for a good 7-8 hours by now. The GA specialist and the doctors told the nurse that the little boy can not eat anything after 8.45pm until his MIR is done. We were totally unprepared for this kind of stay! And we didn’t even have time to go out and get something for him to eat. He only had 15 minutes until he could eat or drink anything! The nurse was very prompt and very kind. She quickly grabbed a few boxes of apple sauce and orange juice from the pantry and gave us to feed him. He was very scared to be in that room where he could see a big bed/crib, some wires around the wall, some beeping machines and different nurses coming in to check on his vitals. He hugged me tight all this time and refused to eat much. When the nurse saw his citation she went outside the room, asked everyone else to wait outside so the little boy would get comfortable with his parents in that room and eat some apple sauce. That trick definitely worked well. He was so hungry that he quickly ate the sauce and drank the juice. Phew!! 

The time for the MRI was not clear yet. They said they will try to get him at the earliest, as soon as they find an empty spot but it won’t be until 10.00am! Once we were settled and the baby went back to sleep, daddy decided to go home and pack a bag for 2-3 days of hospital stay. Now that the baby was settled and we knew the cause of his discomfort, the plan of his treatment was in place and the stress we were dealing with since the time we came into the emergency room kind of started settling down. Gaurav, our elder one, was with our friends. We called them and talked to them. 

Daddy stepped out to grab some food and get our bag from home. In a few minutes, the resident pediatrician came into the room to check the baby. He checked all the vitals and all the reports and told me the next immediate plan. If the fever comes back and if they find in MRI that the infection is spread much inside the bone, they would need to do a procedure on him immediately and clean the infection. That means, one more GA and operation cut! Administering antibiotics with IV seemed a lot easier after listening to this!! 

As we know doctors here are known to tell you all the pros and cons of any treatment which is very overwhelming for us! But they are doing their job to keep themselves safe from any legal procedures.
Doctor prescribed oral antibiotics to start with the bone infection treatment immediately and instructed the nurse to give him tylenol only if he developed a fever. Giaan went off to sleep after taking a dose of antibiotics. Daddy came back with a bag and food. I told him about the procedure that the baby needs to go through. That one night was the longest night ever!! Not knowing what to expect and how to react we just kept faith in those doctors and decided to take every minute as it comes!
As of now, my concern was the baby will be hungry as soon as he wakes up in the morning and we don’t know for how long we need to keep him like that without any food or milk for his MRI was not scheduled at any specific time. I was just praying that they will take him into the MRI room at the earliest. To my relief the nurse came to the room around 7.30 in the morning to get the baby for his test.
Giaan was already up by then and was trying to explore this new place he woke up at. He didn’t have any fever since last evening which was a little soothing. As we reached the MRI room Giaan got this feeling of dealing with machines and started screaming on the top of his voice. We were sleep deprived, stressed and exhausted. The GA specialist took him from me and immediately went inside the MRI room. The MRI technician told us that the test would take at least one hour and asked us to wait in the waiting room until then. We both went to the cafeteria, grabbed some coffee and waited in the waiting room. 10s and 1000s of thoughts came crossing my mind. What if the infection is spread inside, what if he needs to undergo another procedure (operation), what if … what if… what if… there was no end to these ‘what if’s! Nothing was in our hands and the only thing we could do was wait and watch. So we did… trying hard not to think about anything. The waiting room was on the 6th floor. We could see the vast spread of New Jersey from the window. October had brought fresh fall colors to the treetops. The Crispness of the weather had thickened the steam coming out of a few chimneys. And finally we heard a nurse calling Giaan’s name. As per Covid-19 new protocol, only one parent was allowed to be inside the recovery room so I went in to be with him. 

There he was.. in the same room, same spot he was about a year ago for his 1st procedure for the boil. He was fast asleep, still under the influence of anaesthesia. I waited there for him to wake up. Meanwhile Daddy got a call from the pediatrician to get the updates. We were still unaware of the next plan. Operation? Or antibiotics via IV?? 

As soon as he woke up the nurse again got him some apple sauce. He had some milk and applesauce and hugged me tight. Waited for me to take him home. The nurse directed us to the room again where the doctor was already talking to daddy and they were discussing the next plan of action.

So the infection was not spread that bad and antibiotics via IV was good enough. Phew!! Big burden was dropped off our hearts. Now the only problem was to keep him at one place while IV was attached to his tiny hand! And to convince Gaurav to be with our friends until we come back home. Gaurav took this very maturely and stayed with his favorite Atya, kaka and didis. He was all pampered there while his virtual school and homework was all monitored by didis and Atya.

First day went by very slowly. Giaan was still under the anaesthesia effect and was not very active yet. The IV syringe was attached to his tiny hand and every 6 hours the nurse came to connect the IV. The plan was to be in the hospital for 3-4 days, check how he takes the IV and then the nurse will train us to administer it at home. 

Next day onwards he started coming back to his own character! Started to walk around the corridors, smiling at nurses, waving at doctors, playing with balloons. He was getting comfortable.Other than parents nobody else was allowed to come inside the hospital. No visitors whatsoever! All because of Covid-19 protocols. It would have been easier if visitors were allowed but here we had to do it all by ourselves. Especially keeping him entertained the whole day inside that tiny room was a tough job. Our friends kept sending food for us. Some friends sent breakfast, homemade hot tea, some of them sent yummy dinners. We are very lucky to have such friends around us! They all helped a lot to boost my energy every minute! Thanks to phones and whats app, we didn’t feel alone. They all used to come to the hospital and park the car under our window. Window was sealed and couldne be opened but just a wave from up there was good enough to feel blessed.  

The hospital was very well maintained. Every corner of it was kids friendly. Colorful walls, cartoon characters, balloons, a bid fish tank … everything helped Giaan spend his days happily. They also had a small playroom that was filled with lots of toys! I booked a few spots for Giaan to play in that room. The attendant in the playroom was very caring and friendly. Giaan connected with her instantly and played with her very nicely, that certainly gave me little break from constant babysitting! All the nurses were very friendly and very prompt. They all knew Giaan by name by now and took very good care of him throughout the stay. Two little pantries were filled with applesauce, juice, crackers, jellos and off course coffee that got us going all day long. Small library in one corner was filled with kids books and lots of movie DVDs. 

3-4 days turned into 10 days and finally on the 29th the doctor gave us a green chit to go home. They wanted to make sure that the main course of antibiotics was taken while he was in the hospital.They prescribed oral antibiotics after 10 days and then let us go home. They ensured that the infection will not relapse. This is kind of common in kids and they have not seen any relapse. We just had to finish his oral antibiotics course for another 7 days.

These 10 days, life had come to a halt for us! But we are glad that baby Giaan got a good treatment at the right time. Within 2 days it was halloween and our little pineapple along with his “minecrafter” big brother was out trick or treating, collecting treats from his beloved friends and family.