Urgent Care & The Emergency Room

 Last Sunday Jared started getting a sore throat and Monday he had signs of the stomach flu. By Tuesday things got progressively worse and by Wednesday he become so dehydrated he had lost 8 lbs., couldn’t swallow, and could hardly hold himself up. He had become extremely lethargic and wasn’t able to keep anything he ate or drank in or down. 

That evening I took him into Urgent Care. We were there almost 3 hrs. They gave him 2 I.V. bags with electrolytes, a hefty dose of
Zofran, and then sent us home. He was able to get a little sleep that night but still wasn’t feeling great and fighting a fever. The Urgent Care doctor really wanted us to follow up with the Neurologist the next day to make sure
things with his new MS rx wasn’t playing a factor. He started taking a new prescription called Tecfidera. It’s an oral medication which Jared loves cuz he doesn’t have to do daily injections. However, it hasn’t been out on the market very long, and it does have some significant side affects like, nausea, diarrhea, stomach upset, and it can affect his white blood cell count. So we needed to follow up with his Neuro. to make sure this wasn’t related to his medication. 

Look at how sad that poor guy looks. 🙁

We called his Neuro. the next morning, and she let me know that since Jared has M.S. that I should always take him to the Emergency Room not the Urgent Care when he gets ill like this. The E.R. is just better equipped and can run more tests and give him the full measure of care he needs. So… I guess I know for next time. 😛

She also sent an order to the lab for him to get blood work done (which she was shocked they didn’t do that night at Urgent Care) to get a white blood cell count and check for other underlying factors that can show up in a blood test. 

We got the results Thursday and they were all normal. His white blood cell count was in the normal range and nothing else appeared in his panels to give us any further concern. She did mention however, that since his body has undergone such a tremendous strain to watch him carefully for signs of a relapse. I have to admit I lost it a little when I got off the phone with her after she said that. We’ve had some stressful things for 2 months now, and I think I just couldn’t handle one more thing, and I had to have a good cry over it. 

As God always does he sent his angels to my aid, and my sweet Visiting Teacher called and asked me if I needed anything and immediately arranged meals to come for the next few days and offered to make arrangements for the kids to go Trick or Treating, and I just felt so much weight lifted. It meant the world to me!!

Friday Jared was doing better but still having stomach flu issues. Which after consulting the Neurologist again she recommended that I take him in to the E.R.