Welcome back to another double dose edition of the one and only The Beat Within. This is the only magazine where everyone speaks their truths, and shares their stories without having to be judged in a negative way. This editorial note is by OT as he shares with our community, about his families very daunting experience that happened to him recently…Here it goes!
Today I will be sharing a very personal story that happened to me and my family just this past October. This editorial is kind of hard for me to write, and I’ve tried to write, edit and rewrite it. This time I’m going forward to tell you a very painful story which will be published over the next couple of issues. It’s about pain and hopelessness, but also about faith and being resilient in the face adversity.
On October 19th around 1am Sunday, just three weeks shy of his very first birthday, my son woke trying to throw up but couldn’t. My girl was a bit more alarmed than me (she’s usually dramatic), but we decided to stay up all night until he could throw up because we didn’t want him choking on his throw up.
We hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary. Saturday, we spent the day at Walmart doing some shopping. My girl cooked some chicken and pasta, which my son JD short for (Jayden David) really enjoyed eating. He went to sleep, but he couldn’t sleep because he would wake up each time, trying to throw up, but couldn’t. That was the first alarm.
By this time, we’re in the living room, with the TV on, not knowing exactly what to do. So, we were up all night, and he would sleep for about few minutes and then wake up and dry heave, but nothing.
Six am, came around he did eventually throw up. He threw up whatever he had eaten on Saturday, but the dry heaving didn’t stop. By this time, I’m holding him the entire time and it was like clockwork every 10 minutes. He would make a dry heave but nothing would come out but mucus. We contacted his pediatrician and she responded with a few medication things that I should get him. We thought it might have been a stomach virus.
So, I briefly left the house to go to the pharmacy to buy some electrolytes, and some medication. We never ended up giving him the medication because the heaves start coming more frequent. He was so brave as he didn’t cry at all. My little baby was out of it, and even though he was out of it, he still smiled at me, and does what he always does, which is snatch my hat off my head. Except this time, he didn’t have the strength to fully grip it or snatch it. I knew something was wrong there.
I’ve seen him sick, high fever, and he always snatches my hat off my head because he is very strong for a baby. Shortly, there after came the loudest alarm. He pooped, sorry not to be overly descriptive, but it was bloody and not normal dirty baby diaper.
I mean the first thing when I saw it, my mind just raced like I was in a McClaren Porsche going 240 mph. My heart dropped. My girl’s eyes were glassy. You know when you see blood you tend to think the worse, especially him being so tiny and young (not even one!).
My state of panic didn’t allow me to think straight. Many thoughts soaked inside my mind like a sponge thrown into the sea. Cancer was the main one. My girl was teary eyed and crying. I know she was thinking the worse. I had to be strong and tell her that everything would be alright.
We packed some clothes, diapers, wipes because we knew we were going for the long haul. We are fortunate that we live literally a three minute drive from The Main Children’s Hospital in the Capital of Managua. We caught an Uber to the hospital.
It was a somber and short ride. Immediately upon getting there I was reminded that males are not allowed per country wide policy. This is for security reasons, to limit incidents with burglars, sexual predators, and anyone looking to harm women or children. Males are only allowed during visiting hours for one hour in the morning, one hour at lunch, and one hour at dinner time.
So, my girl went in and I had to wait outside on a hot and sunny side up, Sunday. They had security guards all over the hospital, and honestly, as frustrating it may sound, it didn’t bother me, but I couldn’t only wait outside, it’s my son. I was yearning to know an update on my son so bad. My girl was also texting me and telling me to make something up so I can come sneak inside somehow.
I decided to put my gift a gab to work and after many failed attempts, I managed to convince the security at the gate to let me through. I lied and told them that they were asking for his birth certificate and that did the trick.
They were going to do X-rays. Immediately the nurse recognizing that I shouldn’t be there starts to kick me out but then realizes he needs help.
I’m inside now, so there’s no way I’m going back out! Now, we have to wait. The MRI was next, but they didn’t have the proper staff there to do it. They were now going to transfer him in ambulance to an adult hospital close by. My girl was the only one allowed to ride in the ambulance but was accompanied by about five other mothers and their kids that also needed an MRI.
The ambulance took them all to a local hospital about five minutes away. As I followed up in an Uber and again, this time around I wasn’t allowed to enter. You know how nerve racking that was? Again, I decided to finesse my way inside. What luck, the security guard who worked the door happens to live in my neighborhood, like three houses away from me. I asked him to please let me see my son and he did (I bought him a coke, in appreciation).
I went inside and tracked down my girl and my son. She said the MRI concluded that he needed an intussusception which is a serious, often emergency, medical condition where a part of the intestine folds or slides into an adjacent section, similar to a telescope. “Telescoping” causes intestinal obstruction, blocks food and fluid passage, and restricts blood supply, potentially causing tissue death (necrosis) or perforation(a rupture, a hole or tear).
An emergency surgery was needed to cut him open and place the intestine back in place. My blood pressure dropped (or spiked). What the? How could this be happening so suddenly to my beautiful, healthy, happy baby boy? Again, I told my girl and my son, “Everything’s going to be okay…”
Stay tuned for the next part of my story on our next issue. One love to everybody. Long live David and The Beat keeps going and going…
OT, thank you for your bravery in sharing this deeply personal and traumatic experience with The Beat Within community. We are sure many readers can relate to the challenges of the health care system. Especially the feeling of being helpless, when suddenly we are faced with the ultimate need to relinquish control to the medical system.
OT really left us standing on the ledge, wondering and worrying with him. As he and his family try to navigate a super scary health emergency crisis with his eleven-month-old baby boy, Jaden David (with his middle name in honor of The Beat Within’s amazing founder and creator David Inocencio).
OT, we hope everything went well for Baby JD and we hope he was able to have a full recovery. It will be really hard for all of us to wait for your next installment of the editorial note, so that we can hear the rest of your family’s story…