Would you take your child to the ER for this?

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griffin123

griffin123

Joined
Jun 21, 2013
Messages
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My son is on remicade and his next infusion isn't for another 2 weeks but he woke up this morning with stomach pain and having a runny stool. I kept him home from school today and called his GI, they moved his next infusion to Tuesday and the nurse told me to call back if his symptoms get worse. Now my son has blood in his poop, he said there were some floaty chunks and the water was red. I called the office but they closed 10 min before I called so they sent me to the after hours number and the nurse did the run through with me asking the questions about his symptoms and stuff then told me what to do if things get worse, when to call 911 and stuff. As she was running through that list she said since he has blood in his poop and he's had stomach pain all day I should take him to the ER. I've never taken my son to the ER for his Crohn's symptoms, I know that a little bit of blood can turn the water red. I don't know if I should take him in tonight or just wait until the morning and call the GI office and see what they say.
I wanted to see if I could get some of your guys' advice, i'm still new to all this and some of you parents have been through this for a few yrs now. So please ant advice is greatly appreciated. thanks
 
I would take him.

Odds are your right and it might not be a huge deal but.............................
What if theirs a chance it is a bigger deal and taking him in now will help avoid something bigger????

Plus, will you be able to sleep tonight if you don't take him?:hug:
 
I was thinking about waiting and seeing if he has blood in his poop again the next time he goes. In the past he would have blood once but then next time he went he would be fine. I also don't know which ER to take him to. He goes to St. Lukes childrens hospital in Boise which is about 30 min away but there's a St. Lukes hospital closer with an ER but I don't know if they have a pediatric GI on call there. I called and asked and they said they can't tell me that info. I know his GI is the one on call but don't know which hospital he's at. I'm just lost and confused.
 
Can you call the after hours GI phone line? They should tell you which hospital he's at.
We've always been able to talk to the GI on-call. They should call you back with in thirty minutes.
 
I would probably err on the side of caution. But, if you have seen blood before and then had it disappear by his next BM, I would probably wait and see how things go. If anything at all worsens and your gut is telling you that the ER is best, then I would just go - as FW said, if you're uncomfortable with staying home, you probably won't be sleeping anyway. :ghug:

As far as which St. Lukes... call the one you haven't called, explain the situation and that you were told to go to the St. Lukes where his GI is the on-call GI but you've forgotten which hospital it is... I can't believe they wouldn't answer that??? Or trying calling his office - perhaps his answering service will mention will direct patients to his hospital for emergencies??
 
I called them, they are the ones who told me to go to the ER and his GI was on call but they couldn't tell me what hospital he was at. All they said was they were going to send him a message to tell him I was taking my son in.
 
We used to see blood OFTEN and I got numb to that symptom...So I'm not one to give advice here. Maybe I'd just say, You know your kid best. So if You think you should take him... then do it. Good luck and keep us posted. :)
 
This is a guide that was given to us by the GI when Sarah was diagnosed:

When to call the Doctor:

Once you get to know your Doctor you will have a better understanding of what he/she wants you to phone about. These guidelines should be followed for most situations and it is hoped you will find them useful.

Telephone calls to your Doctor need to be separated into there categories-

Routine

Urgent

Emergency

It can also be helpful to take time to get to know your Doctor's secretary or any office staff. This can assist when you are trying to reach your Doctor, whether you are telephoning or visiting personally. You should prepare a clear list of questions to ask, be concise, do not make the list of questions too long and decide what is important before you telephone or visit.

Find out your Doctor's timetable, i.e. when he/she is available at the consulting rooms/surgery you attend. Remember they may attend more than one surgery during the week. Endeavour to ascertain:

Telephone numbers (one or more)
Surgery hours
Most convenient time to call
Whether convenient to leave a message asking the Doctor to return your call

Routine Call

You should arrange to call your Doctor's surgery after a visit, to obtain results of blood tests, laboratory tests, or to report any changes in your symptoms or side effects of new medication.

Urgent Call (but not an emergency)

Any symptom, e.g. nausea, headache, a rash on your body, which you think might relate to your disease or its treatment. It may even be a new symptom of your illness, such as painful tender bumps on your legs which often indicate the start of a flare up (erythema nodosum).

Emergency Call

Dramatic change in your illness could include any the following:

Severe abdominal pain which persists for longer than 1 hour
Significant or new rectal bleeding
Persistent vomiting, accompanied by stopping of bowel movements
Drastic changes in bowel movements without passing gas
Sudden weight loss of over 2 and half kgs in a few days

If you are unable to contact your Doctor in an emergency, you can go directly to the nearest Public Hospital Emergency Section, or the hospital you usually attend. Explain your illness, etc. Give your Doctor's name and identify any medications you are presently taking.

Through being able to determine (routine - urgent - emergency) nature of calls, you will greatly enhance the relationship with your Doctor. Also it will give you and your family better judgement about when to call your doctor and many people are hesitant to call their Doctor at times.
Remember, always carry with you your Doctor's/Surgeon's card.

Another good idea is to place your Doctor's timetable and telephone number near the telephone. Note any dates your Doctor will be unavailable, plus details of another backup Doctor your Doctor recommend.
Click to expand...

Based on the above I would refer to either of the following. If the blood is a new symptom then I would go to the ER. Also if the pain is severe and unable to be controlled at home I would go to the ER.

If on the other hand blood has been a symptom in the past for your boy and the pain isn’t out of control then I would likely take the wait and watch approach. :ghug:

Dusty. xxx
 
If you haven't left take him to ER at St. Lukes Children, go in the door that faces parking area of same building that GI's office is in and go to the left Pediatric MSTI is on the right. They all can get a hold of the GI doctors after hours. They are open till midnight and after that you would need to take him to regular ER. Good luck
 
One of the GI's should be on call there anyway if it is not who you see, it'll be one of the others from the office and can probably get info to GI quickly.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies, I called the after hours number back and insisted that they page his GI and I wanted to talk to him before I took my son to the ER. The lady I talked to this time was a lot nicer than the nurse I talked to when I called earlier and she paged his GI for me and called me when he called her back. His GI said not to take him to the ER because there's not much they can do for him there since he's just starting to flare today and instead tomorrow morning he's going to get my son in to the GI office to get his remicade infusion. He said he doesn't care what he has to do but he's going to make those nurses make room for my son tomorrow and get him in. He told me to keep my phone nearby me in the morning and he's going to call first thing to let me know what time to bring him in. I really like my son's GI and very pleased at how he handles things and takes care of my son.
 
Glad it worked out, Griffin123!

It's hard to balance when to go to the ER and really, for a chronic health problem, it isn't the best place. I think your GI took good care of you all in this crisis! Hug!

J.
 
Yeah, this is what they did for Jack as well, they put us in another room rather then ther regular room and now they have 2 infusion machines. If Dr. Ellison wasn't an option for us anymore for some reason like he left we would insist on Dr. Burpee. Jack really likes him. Hope it works quickly and he is feeling better soon.
 
Thanks, Dr. Burpee is awesome. Nathan's old GI at Doernbechers Childrens hospital in Portland OR was horrible. Sometimes it would take a couple days to hear back from her and I would have to keep calling and bug the nurses then they would start getting rude with me. I am glad we moved to Idaho and getting my son better care at his new GI, they seem more personable and care more about their patients.
 
I hope things are settling for Nathan and that all goes well today, Good luck!

Dusty. xxx
 
Good call to get in touch with the GI. Saved your son (and you!) the trip to the ER, unnecessary tests and now he will get the right treatment. Sometimes it's difficult to know what to do.
 
His GI was on top of things this morning like he told me he would be last night when I talked to him. I called the office at 9 when they opened and they have been dealing with the insurance since 8 this morning making sure they would approve giving the remicade at 5 weeks and doubling the dose. It took a couple of hours but after many phone calls from the nurse his insurance finally approved it so now we are here getting his remicade treatment and hopefully getting my son to feel good again. On the positive side in the last month my son grew a quarter of an inch and gained over 5 lbs.
 
Glad he's there! Love their insurance lady that deal with all that for us. My husband always says we need to bring her flowers.
Fantastic news on the growth! Hope he is feeling better already.
 
So fab to hear all has gone as planned today and woohoo for the all the growth and weight gain! :dusty:

Sending mega loads of luck that the extra and increased infusion does the trick for your boy! :goodluck:

Dusty. xxx
 
The weight gain and height increase seems like a really good sign to me. Kids in really bad flares don't grow! (Or that's been our experience anyways). Keep us posted :)
 
Thanks everyone for the well wishes, I love how quick the remicade works for him. Nathan feels so much better just a couple hours after the infusion. He has color back to his face, he's not tired anymore and his poop is back to normal. I just hope since this dose was doubled than last time that it will actually last him for atleast the 7-8 weeks. I just want him to be able to go to camp at the end of next month and have fun and not get sick, he can start having symptoms when he gets home but hopefully not when he's at camp lol. His GI wants me to call him a couple days before camp to let him know how Nathan's feeling, if he's starting to show signs of medicine wearing off then he's going to do something to make sure he feels good for camp.
 
Sending loads of luck that all stays well for the camp mum! And so good to hear that the GI has your back. :)

Onwards and Upwards Nathan! :ghug:

Dusty. xxx
 
So glad to hear he's feeling better!

Insurance makes me soooooooo mad sometimes. Drives me crazy that they have so much power over our health. If a doctor says a child needs a certain med at a certain dose, there should be no question. I know it's a bigger and deeper issue than my little rant here, but it's so hard to watch your kiddo get sicker and sicker just because of all the red tape.
 

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