The Vile Stomach Virus

I know I promised Greece and TX photos but we've been a bit busy around here. We returned from TX on Sunday night, spent most of Monday and Tuesday recovering from travel and trying to get back to normal, and then Tuesday night...the vile stomach virus hit Finn.
He was sick all day Wednesday but was able to keep some Pedialyte down. I checked his pediatrician's nurse triage and they said he didn't need to come in but we should come if he vomits bile. Well, the next morning, sure enough, he was vomiting bile (sorry if this is too graphic for you). His pediatrician sent us to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital ER and shortly after being there they admitted us. His geneticist wasn't on call so we had to take the doctor who was. I'll call her Dr. MacMeany. About two hours after we got there and shortly after meeting her, Dr. MacMeany told me, "I hate metabolic patients. They can go to fine to dead in four hours." Seriously? What kind of thing is that to say to the parent of a metabolic patient?
Also, because he was so dehydrated they had trouble getting an IV in him, so the poor guy was turned into a pincushion and was poked and pricked dozens of times. At this point Finn was drinking Pedialyte from a cup and keeping it down (they had given him an anti-nausea medication at this point). We decided that Grant would stay the night at the hospital, Maggie was staying with my mom and step-dad, and I went home by myself. Sometime in the middle of the night, despite the fact that Finn was improving steadily and had been drinking from a cup hours earlier, Dr. MacMeany decided that she wanted him to have a feeding tube to get a continuous amount of his medical formula. So our little sweetie had to withstand having the feeding tube put down his little nose and then was so traumatized and irritated by it that he hardly slept the rest of the night. Ugh.
We begged and pleaded with Dr. MacMeany the next day to get the darn thing out and after about 24 hours it came out. We think that a lot of her actions were basically covering her butt and she felt a little out of her comfort zone taking care of Finn (she specializes in birth defects rather than metabolic disorders like Finn has). It was just beyond unfortunate and this hospitalization was really hard on Finn - trapped in his room in case it was a contagious GI virus, a million blood draws and IV attempts, the feeding tube, the successful IV, and the inability to rest due to being bothered by drs and nurses around the clock. He got to the point where he would cry if a nurse or doctor even came in the room. Needless to say it was hard on us, too. Dr. MacMeany reiterated her fear of metabolic patients again a few days later and told me AGAIN, "One minute metabolic patients are fine and the next minute they're dead." I told her, "You should NOT say that to parents of a metabolic patient." Her response? She said, "Oh, well, I don't mind taking care of Finn, but..." Rest assured that we'll be bringing this up with our regular genetics team at our next appointment.
We ended up staying for four days and were released around 7:30 on July 4th (or as I called it, "Independence from the Hospital Day").
Although we hated being at the hospital we're very grateful that Finn got the help he needed, and while we were there I gained a lot of gratitude for my children's health and empathy for families of children with frequent hospitalizations or dealing with something like cancer. Wow. Vandy is such a great place but it's just so sad to think about being there for weeks or months at a time.
All right, go hug your children and thank God for their health!