ER Scare

On October 24, as we were eating our dinner, we had one of the most terrifying experiences we've ever had with Verity. We heard her sputtering (a sure sign of reflux and vomiting to come), and before we could do anything, she was spitting up blood out of her mouth while blood shot out of her G-tube, up the extension tubing and into the syringe. As Ted wiped her mouth and tried to calm her, I took a hurried photo and posted it to one of my Trisomy groups, asking what was to be done. Quick responses confirmed out gut feeling: we needed to take her to the ER ASAP! I packed an overnight bag, and we passed the childcare torch to the teenagers (Charis was just returning from a babysitting job herself).

Many people began praying for us as we posted to Verity's page. There are multiple things that could cause bleeding like this, many of which are pretty dire. I sat in the back seat with Verity, trying to keep her awake and praying like crazy. We've made trips to the ER with children before--even with Verity before--but never had I experienced the feeling of such a weighted question hovering unspoken in the air: Would this be goodbye? The beginning of the end? 

We were ushered quickly into a room in the ER, bypassing everyone else in the waiting room. The serious look on the doctor's face only intensified our feelings of dread. It didn't help any that Verity had another bloody coughing episode soon after we got there.

Verity was a little trooper, getting her IV like a champ. She got chest X-rays and a CT scan done, and then we proceeded to wait and answer questions as people came and went. The doctor was on the phone multiple times with a specialist in Denver, and about 3 hours later, we had an answer!

Of all the possibilities, this was an answer we could handle: a nosebleed down the back of the throat! Whew! Poor baby...it made sense, with all the suctioning we have had to do in recent weeks because of her progressively worsening reflux. But oh, it was scary! Everyone assured us we absolutely needed to come in to verify that it wasn't anything worse, but when she was in such good shape and the tests were not showing anything, not even an infection (though we discovered a UTI a few days later, sigh), we were relieved to be able to take our sleepy baby and our tired selves HOME.