Horatio's Hospital Adventure

> This is my grandson Horatio who is 4 months old. He just recently was released from St Paul Children's Hospital in Minnesota. On February 1, 2008 Horatio was dropped off at my place in Wisconsin around 11:00 AM. When he arrived, he was lethargic, eyes were glassed over, he felt like he was running a temperature and he was trying to cry but all he could do was wimper and squeak. His breathing was terribly labored and he had no tears although he was obviously trying to cry. I asked his mother and her step dad what was up with this and they responded with, "He's getting over a cold but he's better now." They left and I immediately took his temperature rectally and it was over 101 degrees F. I thought he was probably feeling a little dehydrated so Grandpa gave him a couple of ounces of water but he really was having a difficult time with it. I gave him some generic tylenol and he slept for a while. By 5:30 PM it was apparent that he was getting worse. I took his temperature which was over 102.8 degrees F. I called the medical clinic here in Amery. They called me back about 10 minutes later. I described his symptoms and she asked if his chest was caving in when he inhaled. I checked and they were. She told me to get him to the emergency room right away, if I couldn't drive him...call 911. He was in Respiratory Distress. We live two blocks from the Amery Hospital so I drove him over to the emergency room right away. They were waiting at the front lobby for us and they rushed him back to the emergency room while I checked in. By the time I got down there, they had him hooked up to a respirator, heart monitor and were putting in an IV to give him fluids. The doctor said he had pneumonia, both ears were inflamed and he was severely dehydrated. He was in fact, a very sick little boy. They airlifted him by helicopter to St Paul Children's Hospital in Minnesota. They felt he was in to critical condition to take a chance by transporting him by ambulance. My husband and I drove down immediately to St Paul, after calling my son to let him know what was going on and to have him call Horatio's mother. My son, met us down there. At Children's they confirmed the diagnosis that was made in Amery Hospital and said that it was a viral pneumonia called RSV. A very dangerous virus that attacks young infants and adults. Being viral, antibiotics don't help for the pneumonia but they did continue administering it for the ear infections. As you can see by the above photo, they were doing everything possible to make him well again and comfortable. He had an IV in his head keeping his fluids up, he was on oxygen through his nose and on his foot he had a monitor keeping track of his heart beats per minute and also the amount of oxygen he was taking in.

The first couple of days we were in the Short Stay area of the Emergency Ward. Then we were finally moved into a room with a couch. After a couple of days, Horatio started to look and feel better, his temperature was finally staying down, he was rehydrated and started to fuss and complain a little. He was such a good boy but he kept trying to get to all of the tubes and stuff coming out of him so a nurse brought in a pair of "no no's" which are made of styrofoam and velcro. They go over the arms so that they can't bend at the elbow and reach the head and face where his IV and his oxygen tubes were. I was so surprised that he didn't fuss more about being confined. They were actually better than swaddling his arms at his side with a blanket like we had been doing before the "no no's".

I forgot to mention that his mother showed up at 3:00 AM Saturday morning and stayed for a total of one hour. Then her and her step dad left, but not before her step dad had to order her to go over and touch her son and give him some comforting. She didn't come back again until Sunday afternoon and again she only stayed for an hour. I practically had to force her to give her son a bottle while she was there.

We found out later that she had known that Horatio was really sick and needed to see a doctor because on Thursday, the day care lady told her that he was very sick and needed to go to the doctor. Mom decided to ignore this and didn't tell anyone including her step dad because she had a big weekend planned and didn't want to have to cancel if I wouldn't take him sick. We are now meeting Friday with Social Services again to determine what to do about this situation. Obviously staying at her step dad's isn't working because his wife is now working nights and isn't able to supervise Mom and Horatio like originally planned. Instead, they have allowed Mom to care for Horatio alone without much supervision at all. My husband, my son and myself want him out of there immediately. He is now with us recuperating from his illnesses and will remain here until the end of February. It looks like we are going to have to file a petition to take him away from Mom and stay with us until my son can get on his feet again and get a place of his own to raise Horatio in.

This is my son, Will. He spent alot of time at the hospital with his son. He has just started a new job yet he took the time off when he could to come and help out with his son and to give him the love and care that he needed. I spent 24/7 with Horatio at the hospital, only going down to the cafeteria for meals. I slept right by his side all night and took care of his everyday basic needs of changing diapers, feeding him his bottle every two hours, holding his hand or hands to keep him from pulling on the IV"S or the oxygen tubes, and just basically entertaining him and making him feel safe. We finally got to take him home Tuesday evening even though, by now he was vomiting and had diarrhea. They thought he'd be safer at home with us so he didn't pick up anymore problems in the hospital. It's been tough here at home for the past few days. He was on pedialite and formula at first but now he's finally back on his full strength formula. Still needs tylenol sometimes at night because he's pulling on his ears still but I really think he's on the mend finally. He's still has a runny nose and coughs some but they said he would do that for a while.

And this is me and my beautiful grandson, Horatio. I have to say that I was very impressed with the Amery Hospital and St Paul Children's Hospital. Everyone was so helpful and kind. I also want to thank the helicopter people who airlifted him from Amery to St Paul. They did an excellent job transporting him safely and quickly. Something like this could have been avoided if the people who were supposed to be taking care of this child would have done their job and seen that he was taken to the doctor before it got this bad and this critical. Unfortunately the district attorney of Washington County doesn't think this is negligent or serious enough to warrant removing the child from the mother or this home. I, for the life of me, don't know how bad it has to get in order for them to realise that this woman is irresponsible and incapable of caring properly for this child.