He has been so stable...

That was the conversation Billy and I had recently. No ER visits. No crisis. While things are still nutty at our house, they were a calmer version of nutty. :)Ah, but the calm before the storm...

Will thought he was up to the three days of academic testing that our kids take in the spring. Three days this week he got up earlier than normal to go to King George (35 minutes away) and hang out with his friends and take a Stanford 9 exam. So, by Wednesday morning, he was looking tired but said he felt fine. I hate when I ignore instinct. He was actually running around with his friends when I picked him up. It was the most activity I had seen from him in more than a month, and the other moms commented on how good he looked. Will commented on the fact that Joseph Bentz beat him when running and how weird that was. (Not that he is supposed to be running, mind you! Hello? Doctor said no faster than a walk until this neck was fused!)

So I picked him up, dropped him off at home, then headed to Fredericksburg for a meeting. When I arrived home at 7, he met me at the gate and refused to let his brother (who was holding a 44 lb bag of dog food) through the gate. He wasn't teasing. He was just being mean. Shoot. I take one look at him, and I don't even say hello. I order him to let Cam through and then to get the bp cuff and stethoscope and meet me in the kitchen. Yep. 92/38. Grrr...So, I call Brooke, our fabulous nurse, and she drives to my house at 8 PM to access Will's port and start the IV. (This nurse is amazing. She didn't tell me to go to the hospital because she was off for the day, she just said, "I will be down in 45 minutes. Get the Emla Cream on him.")

Fluids started by 9 PM finished at 3 AM. I deaccessed the port, then collapsed in bed. This morning, he is no better. What???? Take his bp. 110/44. Grrrr...Call Brooke, call the doctor, and eventually head to the ER.

So, we have a different nurse than usual. (I did call Diana and ask if she was working tonight...but darn! She worked last night.) But the doctor sees us walk in and said, "Hey! You weren't taller than your mom last time!" It is good to be known...but not necessarily here. It does make life easier in that I don't have to explain everything and basically tell them what I need them to do, but it means that we are here way too much.

So the new nurse was a bit confused as to why we need fluids, but she got the IV going. I warned her that he would likely bottom out partway through. She didn't believe me. Until she experienced it. I hate being right sometimes. She ended up walking with us to the bathroom because she thought he would pass out. He didn't. He just likes to scare everyone. :)

Here we sit. We played three games of backgammon before his bp crashed, but now Will is watching a movie (Yes, the ER bag was ready to roll.) while I catch up on email and the blog. We will see in an hour where we stand when the IV is finished. I imagine we will be discharged and sent on our merry way until the next little crisis evolves. This could be an interesting summer...and not the good kind of interesting. How do you keep a kid who always needs fluids hydrated in the summer??? Somehow, I can't help thinking that we're gonna get to know all the ER nurses really well. :(