Quite the Valentines Day - Not What I Expected!

We had quite the Valentines Day this year. It wasn't at all what we had expected. But we survived!
We woke up to a deep beautiful blanket of snow. I felt bad that Leif had to take Jakob out in it to get to school. But I was sure grateful I had not plans to go out.... So I thought.

I got a phone call around 10:30 in the morning. Luckily I had finished showering and getting myself and the kids somewhat ready for the day. Because the phone call was Jakob's school nurse. She said that Jakob had gotten dizzy during class and collapsed to the floor. Of course I was shocked and somewhat panicked. My first question to the nurse was whether Jakob had gotten hurt somehow. He has a low pain tolerance and it's not uncommon for him to get lightheaded and sick if he gets hurt. She said that wasn't the case this time. There was no explanation. At that point I remembered the bump/swollen lymph node on Jakob's neck that had come up on Sunday. With that thought I worried that we might be dealing with something bad. Either way I was trying desperately to get to Jakob and take him to the ER. But "quickly" wasn't on the agenda I guess.

First, my phone wouldn't work. It's had a mind of it's own lately and has a drastic delay sometimes when I push buttons. I was trying to get hold of a friend to watch JJ and Caleb for me. Instead, after what seemed like an eternity of trying, my phone decided to call my Dad. Unfortunately he got my frustration when he answered and I was cussing my phone and told him I had an emergency and would call him later. Finally, after I hung up with my dad my phone decided to listen to MY commands. I tried a friend and she was on her way out to go sledding. No worries, luckily I have more then one friend.:) I was able to got a hold another friend and she graciously agreed to take my boys even though she had a full house.

I was finally able to get the boys out the door only to realize that I had a long flight of stairs to carry my little boys down with several inches of snow piled high. And I didn't really wear the right shoes. Duh! But I wasn't about to go back and change. So I headed down with a prayer. The roads were slick and deep with snow. Of All Days! 


Gratefully we made it to the school and I ran in to get Jakob. I was going to call in the car and ask the nurse to carry him out for me so I didn't have to leave the boys in the car. Of course I forgot the paper with her phone number. So I ran in with another prayer that my Little ones would be safe. Poor Jakob looked weak and pale when I walked in to the nurses office. This was all so strange... Jakob was especially upset when I told him that we would be going to the hospital. It took me a minute to figure out why he was so upset. But I put two and two together that he was afraid he would miss his Valentines Party. Of Course! That's definitely our biggest concern, NOT! That's what I thought anyway. But I lovingly assured him that we would most likely make it back in time.

In between all of this Leif was working on rescheduling appointments so he could meet me at the hospital. I put Jakob in the car and headed toward my friend's house to drop the boys off. I was afraid I would get stuck while driving around her little neighborhood that's made with dirt roads. But luckily they had taken care of them. Again, an answered prayer.

FINALLY, we were on the road to the hospital to find out why in the world Jakob had a really swollen lymph node and had nearly fainted.  We live in a small town. So our ER is just an extension of our regular Doctor's clinic. So when we got there our Dr. came in to see what was wrong. After talking with Jakob and getting the full story: he was walking to his teacher's desk at her request and he started to feel dizzy. He told his teacher and she told him to go the garbage can. While on his way he started to feel weak and went to lay down but his legs gave out before he got to the floor. The doctor asked for a few blood tests. We knew this would be the hard part for Jakob. Leif helped Jakob play a game on his phone and the nurses did a great job getting what they needed and quick. Jakob handled it well. Even if we almost had to use the barf bag.

The test results came back quickly and were not what any of us expected. From his symptoms we suspected that he would have low blood sugar and high white blood cell (hypoglycemia and an infection.) He actually had high glucose (130) and low white blood cells overall. Strange!


So with no real clear answers and an appointment to recheck his blood in a week, we left the hospital. I was frustrated and felt like more needed to be done. But it was out of my hands at the moment. And besides, Jakob had a Valentines Party to get to;) So, I went to pick up the boys, went home and made corn dogs for everyone and took them back to the car for them to eat (I had left them in the car), and took Jakob back to school. This time I took the little boys into the school with me. As I walked in I remembered that we had a Speech Therapy appointment for Caleb scheduled for 1:00. It was 12:00. Seriously!? I was not coming back! Luckily the teacher just met with us then, bless her heart! At 1:00 we were finally on our way home for good. My dear friend agreed to pick up Jakob from school so I wouldn't have to go out again that day.

As we climbed the stairs to the front door we were all exhausted, my pants were soaked up to my knees, my shoes were sopping wet, and I was starving! I opened the front door and set JJ down to walk. He took a step and promptly tripped! I picked him up to find blood running out of his mouth. LOVELY! I couldn't believe it!  I couldn't see the cut but eventually the bleeding stopped. JJ's lip was starting to swell. But like I said, we were exhausted. So we all laid down for a nap. I was so glad JJ slept. However, he woke up really mad! He insisted on being held. Well, I set him on the couch so I could turn on a movie. He threw himself off of the couch, I reached to catch him, and smacked his mouth instead. Unbelievable! The blood came harder this time and JJ was not happy. I was at my whits end! Yes folks, Leif and I met once again for a Valentines date at the ER. They had the proper lighting and the bleeding had stopped. So it didn't take long to see that they couldn't do anything for him. But WOW! What a day!!

We got home in time to eat and get ready for bed. Sweet Grandma Baron dropped in just before bed to deliver her traditional Valentines cards. We were so worn out and somewhat traumatized by the surprise and stress of the days events her visit was a nice distraction.

Jakob went to bed with a low grade fever. He woke up feeling fine and his lymph node gradually decreased in size and is no longer noticeable. JJ healed quickly and is fine.

So this ends the very long version of an even longer Valentines Day. Thank you to everyone who helped us get through it!