Brenton's 1st Hospital Stay

Brenton's 1st Hospital Stay

Poor Brenton came home Friday from School with another temp. But this time is almost 104, he was also vomiting non stop. All weekend no matter how much I stayed on top of the fever it just would not break. Brenton's poor little body was just exhausted. He had no energy and was just miserable. 

Saturday evening, I just had this awful feeling like I shouldn't go to bed. Every hour I was with Brent changing out washcloths, every 2 hours piggy backing fever reducers, rubbing his back, changing out throw up bowls. By Sunday Morning his fever never went under 103. So at 5am I woke Alan up and asked him to give Brenton a Priesthood Blessing. I just knew something was terribly wrong. Alan, & my In-laws insisted he was fine. But I just couldn't let go of this feeling. Sunday evening was a re-run of Saturday evening.

Fell asleep on the toilet... :(

  I called Alan's family Doctor, and got Brenton a appointment 10am Monday Morning. I told Alan, I would feel better if he worked from Home, so he did. Brenton threw up 4 times between our Car and the entrance to the Building. The Doctor agreed and said it must be a bad Flu bug. But just on the safe side we should run some blood tests. He gave me a prescription for anti-nausea medicine to get some food into him. By 3pm we had the phone call. Dr. Dougual informed us that Brenton's Blood results came in and we needed to drop everything and get him to the Emergency Room at the Hospital right now. That we would have no wait, and the ER would be expecting us. Later I found out that his levels were deadly. 

I grabbed Brenton & left for the ER immediately. Alan called his Dad to sit with Savannah and wrapped up his work. He was 40 mins behind me. We got to the ER, I was amazed how PACKED it was compared to Utah. Within 5 minutes we were in a ER room.

In the ER, Brenton's temp hit almost 105. They hooked him up to a heart monitor, and got a IV in right away to start pushing medicine & fluids. He also had a chest X-ray done.

He finally fell asleep while we were waiting. I don't think he's had solid sleep the whole weekend.

His Fever finally Broke!!! Sweated thru the Hospital Bed Sheets. So they had to come in and change everything.

Grandma Thorpe came and saw Brenton for a few hours. She & Alan went and got Dinner for us and sat with Brenton while we ate in Alan's Car.

The X-ray results came back with a very serious case of Pneumonia. Pneumonia the size of a baseball in one of his lungs. They think it was from being so sick back to back over the past few months. They decided to test his oxygen levels. They were still too low, so they decided to Admit him.

We finally got admitted to the Peds Unit around midnight. He wanted Mom to stay with him. So Alan went home to be with Savannah.

Brenton woke up & his fever didn't come back!!! He did wake up coughing quite a bit.

Still not himself. They brought him juice around the clock to get him to go the bathroom.

First Smile Ive seen in 5 days!!! He was so happy to see the Disney Channel on the TV in his room.

Usually they don't allow siblings under 5 to visit. However, Brenton kept asking for his Sister. He had full on bawled 4 times for his Sister. They caved in, and let her come visit. I think it made his day.

He was so excited to show Savannah his view from his room. The Doctors had retested his blood and his levels were still too high. They decided to keep him for another night. Grandpa & Grandma Thorpe came to visit and brought Jamba Juice for Brent. He was so happy, but only drank a little bit. Mallory also stopped in to say Hi.

On Wednesday, Brenton was starting to feel more like himself again. He kept complaining he was bored and wanted to play with his cars again. They came in a did another X-ray to see if the size went down at all.

Brenton had 7 different Hospital Bracelets, including a tracker.

By 2pm the Dr gave him the Okay to go home. The pneumonia was still quite big, but did see a small decrease. Brenton was to go home and rest for the rest of the week. Brent was to be on a heavy antibiotic for 10 days. And to keep coughing up the junk in his chest, and work on his breathing exercises. 

Brenton riding out to the car. How awesome is this wheelchair for kids?!

After we picked up his medicine on our way home and surprised Alan & Savannah as home. Brent was so happy to be home. You would have thought it was Christmas!!! 

You hope these things never happen. I am so grateful for Modern Medicine, Intuition, & for all the support. Grateful for My Sweet Brenton. Grateful for Alan's Job, excellent Health Insurance, & co-workers sending warm wishes to our family. Alan was able to work from Home all week and it was such a blessing. 

Brenton was super happy to see this little guy...

And as if we didn't have enough Sickness in Our House.
Benson was in the Animal Hospital for getting a Bug as well. Even Benson had a IV & antibiotics.

I think the Thorpe's are all Sicked out.

Thanksgiving Trivia

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving...

I really wanted to post some Thanksgiving Trivia!

In the Dental Office I work in, I started quizzing the staff and patients on the First Thanksgiving! And came to realization that People in Utah Are DUMB!!! Now I realize that, I have a HUGE advantage here! (growing up I was only 20 mins on back roads to Plymouth. countless trips to Plymouth Plantation, school, dates {yes, dates!!!} and taking everyone who ever visited us to "the rock".) But regardless, I thought everyone knew the basics!!! I only had 2-3 ppl actually know the year the pilgrims came! And only a small handful actually knowing the name of the boat! haha.

These silly questions, made me more aware of how grateful I am. For having a Mother, who stressed the importance of reading about history, and then going to see it in person. She brought History to Life! And I know the reason why I love it so much, is because of her. She made sure we asked even the silliest of questions. That we knew it by heart. And that we became emotionally passionate about it. By the time we learned about it in school. We always had our hand raised, when asked if anyone has been there. We knew more specifics then the textbooks. I am grateful for having the opportunity to live, where we were able to go to all of these wonderful places so easily. There will always be a piece of me missing My Mothers Traditional New England Thanksgiving Dinner. I love the Holidays and Our Family Traditions. I love that she made me love those things, that are now so dear to my heart.

Sooo quiz your family and friends and see if they know the beginnings of why we started celebrating this holiday! Below, (as requested from Dr. L) I wrote down the questions, I asked everyone this past week! Lets see how smart you are! And if you didn't know... Now you Do! ;)


1. In what year, and on what boat did the pilgrims come on?
1620 on the Mayflower

2. Where did the Pilgrims first land?
Most people would say Plymouth, but that is actually wrong! They landed on Cape Cod. More specifically Provincetown. (The Very tip of the Cape) There is actually a huge Pilgrim Monument there today, to commemorate the pilgrims first landing in the new world! They settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

3. What was the date in which the pilgrims landed in Plymouth?
December 21, 1620... 66 Days by ship and another month from the Cape to Plymouth!

4. What artifact can you still find today in Plymouth that was from the pilgrims?
Plymouth Rock

5. How many survived from the Mayflower and made it to the 1st Thanksgiving?
Only 50%! 53 Pilgrims & 90 Indians!

6. What Religion were the Pilgrims, and where did they come from?
They were Puritans & they came from England.

7. What was the name of Plymouth's first and acting Governor during the 1st Thanksgiving?
Governor William Bradford

8. What was the name of the Indian Tribe that helped the pilgrims and attended Thanksgiving?
The Wamonoag Indians

9. What famous tribal chief attended the first Thanksgiving?
Chief Massasoit, who made a peace treaty with the Pilgrims

10. When was the 1st Thanksgiving held?
Fall of 1621

11. What did the Wamonoag Indians teach the pilgrims?
They taught them how to grow crops, where to hunt, fish and even build.

12. More specifically, what crops?
Corn, Pumpkin, Squash, Beans, Sunflowers, & Melons.

13. One of the things the Indians taught the pilgrims were to use fertilizer in there crops. What was it and what kind was it?
Fish -- Herring

14. Who was the famous Indian, who spoke English, and helped the pilgrims and the Wamonoag Indians communicate?
Squanto

15. What is the size of Plymouth Rock today and why?
The original was estimated around 20,000 lbs! It is now 1/3 of that size! People started chipping away at the rock to take souvenirs. It is now in Plymouth Harbor, protected in a outdoor Monument.

16. Where did the Cornucopia come from?
It's a symbol for abundance. Literally means "Horn of Plenty". It was also apart of Greek Mythology. The pilgrims used a basket form on the table.

17. Why do we have turkey every Thanksgiving?
The pilgrims replaced goose with wild turkey because they were more abundant and easier to find than goose.
Why Goose?
Queen Elizabeth (16th Century) used goose during Harvest Festival and in celebrations. So the pilgrims replaced it with something they had.

18. How long was the first Thanksgiving?
It was a 3 Day Celebration! Full of Fish, Lobster, Turkey, Deer, Seals, Eels, & there crops!

19. Who and what year was Thanksgiving made a national holiday?
President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Thanksgiving was held on the last Thursday of the month.

20. Who, when, and why did they change Thanksgiving?
President Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 to the 4th Thursday of the month. In hopes to help stimulate the economy by adding 1 more week to the Christmas Season.

Photos are from Plymouth way back in 2001!!! So aka why its so grainy...