Don't go to the pumpkin patch!

Gabriels first Halloween

We all took our turns at the stomach flu this week.  Its never fun to share all the yucky things that go along with a stomach bug.  Gabriels cousin Ryder was weak, and lethargic, the big strong Uncle was stuck on the couch when it was his turn, and I didn't feel any better than they did.  When it was Gabriels turn to take on the big bad flu, he seemed to break the rules.

I expected Gabriels flu to be horrible, to knock him on his butt, and require a few days of recovery.  Sure Gabriel's food came up, and thats not pleasant for anyone, but he did abnormally well.  Gabriel jumped up, and bounced down the hall, and yelled, in a sing songy voice "Mommmm I feel much bettttterrrr now!"  Not quite.  He was threw up in his bucket several more times that day, and told me that his belly was hurting him.  At 8am, in between bathroom trips, he dressed himself, and got ready for the day, he had an incredible amount of energy, he was playful.  Im not sure if its his history of feeling yucky, or his tolerance, or maybe that 'normal' to him feels uncomfortable and painful to us......or maybe his body is a worse demon than any bug or virus- but the flu was not so bad for this little guy.


For the second year in a row, Gabriel was sick on the day his class went to the pumpkin patch.  Sure, this year I knew better.  I had made other arrangements for Gabriel that day- because the pumpkin patch is the worse place for an asthmatic. (Tell every asthmatic you love-buy you pumpkins at the grocery store) Last year I had no idea.  Last October I was nervous for the field trip.  I knew that dust and hay may not be ideal, but I stayed up the night before and packed all of his medicines, and a fun lunch bag with all of his favorite snacks anyway.  I dropped him off at school, and drilled the teachers on his breathing signs, crossed my fingers, and went to work.

About an hour after I dropped him off- long before they left for the field trip Gabriels teacher called me at work.  "Gabriel-----blue lips----cold"  I had no idea what else she said but I raced to his school. His preschool was only 5 minutes from my work- I kept him close to me incase of emergencies like this.  When I got there he was laying on the ground next to the teacher, curled up in a sweatshirt that wasn't his.  His eyes opened, and looked at me, and then closed again.  I pressed my ear against his back and listened to the balloon like sound of air moving through his lungs.  clear.  He was moving air just fine, "Gabriel whats wrong hunney?" He moved his eyes to focus on me again, before he closed them.  Gabriel would not talk, he couldn't sit up, he couldnt hold his head up.  Lethargic wasn't a good enough word- he seemed barely conscious.  Because I felt comfortable with his breathing, and really, in a bad decision, I put him in the car and drove him to the hospital.  That, too, was only minutes away.  Funny, 99% of the time I don't get a phone call to pick him up, and 99% of the time we stay away from the hospital, but that 1% its awfully important to be close.  I rolled down his window, and talked to him the whole way.  I begged him, "Please baby, stay awake, we're almost there."

I had no idea what was causing this, or how dangerous it may be.  We were admitted, and hours later, transferred to a different hospital.  The hospital ran lots of tests, and was concerned with his extremely high white blood cell count.  They watched him closely, and considered diabetes, or a strange allergic attack.  They finally called it a possible seizure for lack of other information.

When Gabriel recovered, I took him to the pumpkin patch myself.  We stayed for a half hour, washed our hands, and took a dose of the inhaler on our way out.  No matter what daily preventatives he takes, no matter how short our visit was, Gabriel landed back in the hospital shortly after the trip.  It was one of his worse attacks, his oxygen stats had dropped to numbers that scared me, but they treated him, and he slowly recovered from that as well.  The pulmonologist told me that pumpkin patches were off limits, they were not safe for Gabriel even in small doses.  It scared to me consider that would have happened if Gabriel was stuck at a pumpkin patch, with a petting zoo, all day with his class.  If 30 minutes caused so much damage, what would have happened if he wandered the whole day?  I'm thankful Gabriel couldn't go.  Maybe it was no coincidence that Gabriel couldn't go to the pumpkin patch with his class last year.  The name Gabriel means "My strength is in God."  Maybe someone else, maybe a higher power kept Gabriel strong, and away from the pumpkin patch that day, and again this year.  Life Saving coincidence, or divine intervention, I'm thankful.