Med Reaction.......

Yesterday was one of those days you pray will never be repeated.

Dirk was away on a jobsite 2 1/2 hours from home. He was sick.

He had called starting at 2am but I had forgotten to take my phone up with me to bed.

Finally after calls back and forth I decided to head out to get him anyway rather than "wait for the crew to be done at one..or two" (or who knows how long it actually takes to get on their way)as doc said he needed to be seen TODAY by someone. He made an appt at 5pm.

Tessa and I headed east. I asked him to be brought somewhere to meet at rather than trying to find this jobsite as Dirk was mumbling so bad I could not understand his directions at all.

We met at a gas stop somewhere in the middle of Iowa. As I walked in I seen the worst sight I hope to ever see. Our big strapping son could barely stand up, was shaking something fierce, he was burning up with fever, and his eyes were so bright red I thought they were bleeding. When he moaned out "moooomm" to me I screamed knowing for sure this horribly sick person was MY son. He sure didnt look like our Dirk.

Then I screamed at the very kind employee to direct us to the nearest hospital.

And away we went. Honestly I should of never driven even those 6 miles to the hospital.... I know that now.

The small town hospital was anything but quick. But once the nurses got to the ER they were some busy gals. And when the blood was being drawn their work load stepped all the more as they had a big strapping, swollen, fire engine red rash from head to toe patient became a fainter on their hands along with one freaked out mom whose legs buckled under her.

Through this all calm ol Tessa I think may have found her calling. She was as terrified as I with the sight of her brother but remained so calm and unruffled. I am so very thankful for the person she is!!!

So when they decided to transfer Dirk to a bigger hospital so an Infectious Disease doctor could see him Tessa was the one to drive Dirk's car home while I rode in the ambulance with him. Daryl, the kids, and a friend were at the hospital awaiting our arrival and guiding her across Iowa.

Once we finally made our 2 hour trek in the fast moving (very scary) ambulance ride the doc there diagnosed it to definitely be a bad reaction to the antibiotics (that has "sulpha" in it) Dirk was on and not so much an raging full body infection. Five hours later he was up and walking and being ornery. We took him to the only fast food open anymore to feed this boy that hadnt kept anything down for well over 36 hours. To say he was hungry would be putting it very mildly.

What we learned from this huge lesson.

All and any medication can have reactions.

Some bodies dont have the "normal" reactions.

Some bodies like to react in a huge way.

Call your doc IMMEDIATELY when the med makes you sick.

IF you have ANY questions on how it makes you feel sick...ASK THE DOC.

We also learned that he has muscle damage due to the dehydration that the reaction brought on.

I will always have the questions unanswered of when the crew he was working with was finally going to haul him in for medical attention. These guys know him as they work with him every day. I can only imagine that they were very relieved to have off their hands this kid that couldnt even carry a board.

The medical staff informed me he arrived on time as he was on the verge of collapsing soon.

Today he is doing well. He is back to being himself. Looking like himself. And occasionally the ornery self shows too!!

The "red man syndrome" is gone for the most part. And he is itchy today so I am taking that as a good sign.

Dirk has never been a fainter before. He use to donate blood regularly. He just had an IV a few months ago when he had his wisdom teeth removed so for him to faint dead away and convulse like that to have blood drawn I knew his body had about all the stress it could take. He was where he had to be.

So please if a medicine makes you sick from day one, notify your doctor.