Foster2Forever

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Another Emergency Room Scare

“Spit that out!”

“Give me that!”

“Take that out of your mouth!”

Those are words I am constantly saying with our nearly 3-year-old, Lil Bit. I’ve taken a number of objects out of that kid’s mouth: coins, rocks, paper, small toys, etc. (One might think he would have learned his lesson after grabbing what he thought was a pickle off his dad’s enchilada plate.)

child-swallows-object-rectal-bleeding-in-children-emergency-room

Our Lil Bit is constantly putting objects in his mouth. Here as I’m attempting to take a photo at the playground…

I’ve become quite vigilant about this behavior, especially after his emergency surgery last September. Lil Bit was in surgery prep with a little girl that had a quarter lodged in her esophagus.

But if you are a parent of a little one, you know how difficult it is to keep any and every object out of a child’s reach, especially if they can climb like our Lil Bit.

And our worst fear warranted a trip to the emergency room yesterday afternoon!

When I pulled off our Lil Bit’s Pull-Up after an accident, I was freaked out to see RED –

LOTS OF RED!

The number one cause for rectal bleeding in children is SWALLOWED OBJECTS!!!

We rushed him to the emergency room scared of what he could have swallowed that might be lodged in his intestines causing this bleeding.

Surprisingly, our wait in emergency room to see a doctor was relatively short, considering we arrived during a shift change on the weekend.  When the doctor saw what we collected, he was concerned and quickly took a sample to be tested for blood.

I want to say a special thanks to my prayer warriors on Twitter (@sharrellleigh and @KF2Adopt)! Prayer works!

The results from the lab showed no signs of blood!

The doctor released Lil Bit, still perplexed at what caused the red stool.  Lil Bit had drank Cherry Crystal Light, but so had the rest of us without this reaction.

We will just consider this a medical miracle that can only be performed by the one true God! Hallelujah!

How do you keep your child from putting objects in their mouth?

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ANOTHER Investigation of Our Foster Home

A few weeks ago, our 2-year-old foster boy, Lil Bit, climbed onto a dining room chair while our backs were turned and broke his elbow…for a second time! Yes, the exact same elbow!  After our 26-hour hospital ordeal, we knew what was coming next….

The following Wednesday evening at church, as we were enjoying a catered meal of smoked barbecue brisket, Cole slaw, potato salad, and Oreo cookie pie, FosterDad’s cell phone began chirping its techno song alerting him that he was receiving a call.

It was an investigator with Child Protection Services: he was at our home!  FosterDad, always the quick-thinker never wanting to miss a church service, invited the investigator to our church to conduct the interview before our Bible study began.  Lo and behold, it was the same investigator!

FosterDad sat in the sanctuary for his part of the interview while I was herding preschoolers.  (With their affinity to climb onto the pulpit, one would believe they would have an early calling to minister.  My personal belief is that it is an act of defiance!)

Finally, we were able to drop the kids off into their classrooms, it was my turn for the interrogation interview.

The interview process took longer than I anticipated so I was going to be late for class; however, to complete the investigation, the investigator had to visit our home.  So much for “Staying in Love” this week.

I drove home, showed him the infamous dining room chair.

“Sir, notice that we have no coffee table in our living room, just a lone rug amongst the sofa suit. That is because our dear foster child is a climber.”

I even showed him how we have the coffee table lying on its side in a closed-off room. “We are doing our best to keep this child safe.”

By the end of the interview, the investigator says: “My daughter is the same age, and she is a climber, too. Just this weekend, I caught her by her shirt before she hit the floor.”

I feel much more calm about this investigation report….

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Another Investigation

For those of you that don’t follow Foster2Forever on Facebook or Twitter, our family had another traumatic event this weekend concerning our Lil Bit.

Our Lil Bit is 2 years old now, and he is a climber. We have removed the coffee table and end table from our living room for this reason. He is even using his potty chair–as a step stool.  We are constantly getting on to him.  However, we need to grow eyes on the backs of our heads…

On Saturday evening, while our backs were turned, Lil Bit climbed onto a dining room chair and fell onto the tile floor. Onto his previously fractured elbow. Snap!

The Saturday night at the hospital crowd caused us to have a L-O-N-G wait. It must have been “Bring Your Kid to the ER for a Runny Nose” Day at the hospital. (The doctor shared this with me.)  The x-ray showed a much worse fracture than the first – one that would require surgery – that night! At another hospital.

At 11 p.m. on Saturday night, our Lil Bit had his first, hopefully last, ride in an ambulance as he was transferred to Scott and White in Temple.

ambulance-child-seat

Lil Bit had 5 orthopedic specialists working on fixing his little arm. The doctors were concerned about nerve damage that could affect his ability to grasp. After numerous x-rays and consultations, we finally got into a hospital room at 5 a.m. with surgery scheduled for 8 a.m.

Time for a quick power nap!

Did I mention that our other son, JD, was with us? Awake the entire night!  However, he had slept 6 hours before we took him to Temple.

We awoke at 7 a.m. when Lil Bit was wheeled down to the operating room for the 8 a.m. surgery. The surgery lasted 45 minutes plus the surgeons were able to correct the fracture from last time.

Lil Bit slept most of Sunday so he wasn’t discharged from the hospital until last night.  He slept well last night and is playing and laughing this morning.

We’ve reported the injury and now just waiting for the next investigation into our foster home….

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Our Foster Home Is Now Under Investigation!!!

If you don’t know already, on the Fourth of July, our 22-month-old foster boy, Lil Bit, fell off the sofa and after an afternoon at the hospital, we discovered he had fractured his elbow.

As a licensed foster home, we reported this injury of our foster child, both verbally and by completing an injury report.  We went through the arduous process of getting him medical care from an orthopedic specialist through Medicaid.

The weekend after this unplanned, busy week was one for our family to relax! Sunday after church, we were all lounging around VERY comfortably.

3:00 p.m. – DING! DONG!

Our 4-year-old, JD, runs to door to answer. ‘Wait!” I exclaimed. FosterDad, comfortable in his boxers, tries to hand the baby to me to make his quick exit out of the living room. I’m handing the baby back.  He’s handing the baby back to me again.  Then I had to grunt, “I don’t have a bra on!“ All while JD is answering the door.

The man at the door was wearing a badge: Texas Department of Children Protective Services from Austin.

“Oh, you’re hear to check on our foster baby.”

“Yes, ma’am.  Is there a room where I can set up my laptop for the interview? I will be interviewing each of you separately.”

“Yes, right this way. Here is the spare bedroom.”

The investigator interviewed FosterDad first. A one-hour interrogation interview.

Then it was my turn for the inquisition interview.  “I will need to record this interview. Do you have an issue with that?”

“No, sir.”

For a State agency, the laptop was very high-tech with a recording program, rotating monitor, and a program and stylus to record signatures onto documents.

I won’t go into too many of the questions, but it was very intense with every little detail being questioned.  “Where were you sitting? What were the others doing? Which way were they facing? What were you reading?”

I felt as if early-onset Alzheimer’s had gotten me at the tender-young age of 46!

After my one-hour ordeal. The investigator asked if JD would talk to him. “You can see.” He questioned JD alone for a few minutes before he closed up shop to leave.

5:50 p.m. Not the relaxing weekend we had planned.

The experience was nerve-racking, not because there was anything wrong, but just because of FEAR.

  • FEAR in knowing that children have been removed from families for less than a broken bone.
  • FEAR that there was a very small possibility that our baby could be removed just a few months before adoption.

Now we are simply waiting for the final report. Our caseworker has indicated that there is no issue, but until then we have to put our faith into this verse:

Fear-not-Isaiah-Bible

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Our Foster Baby Broke His Arm!!!

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Foster child playing with a cast

If you follow Foster2Forever on Facebook or Twitter, you know that our Independence Day began with our 22-month-old foster boy, Lil Bit, falling off the sofa.

It was a short fall. A freak accident. However, when he stood up, Lil Bit was holding his right wrist.  FosterDad is a former P.E. teacher and knew something wasn’t right by the way he was holding it.

We were visiting family in East Texas, so we took a trip to the local hospital emergency room.  The x-ray confirmed our fear.  Our baby boy had a fractured elbow.  It was not his wrist, as we first suspected.

However, due to the location of the fracture, the E.R. physician was concerned about it affecting Lil Bit’s arm movement.  She requested that we take Lil Bit to an orthopedic specialist in the next few days. Her concern was that he might have to undergo surgery and physical therapy to prevent problems with mobility.

We arrived home late Monday night and Tuesday morning began all the follow-up to:

  • Report the incident to our foster home case worker, Lil Bit’s caseworker, and a quick FYI to our attorney;
  • Complete a report for “Serious Injury of a Foster Child” to turn into both caseworkers;
  • Call the Medicaid insurance provider (StarHealth) to get a list of orthopedic specialists;
  • Call the list of specialists and learn than none take Medicaid;
  • Make an appointment for out-of-town orthopedic specialist;
  • Visit Primary Care Physician for a referral to the orthopedic specialist;
  • Visit orthopedic specialist!!!

The visit to the orthopedic doctor went better than expected! Another x-ray showed that the bone is healing well and surgery will not be necessary.  A hard cast was put on Lil Bit’s arm, and he returns in 3 weeks to see how it is healing.

For Lil Bit, the broken arm has been more of a nuisance to him than anything. He gets frustrated that now he can’t climb on the couch or sleep tucked on his tummy.  He is eating well with his left hand.  He now has to drink out of a sippy cup with handles.

However, for us, as foster parents, we are not out of the woods. As we are in the final stages of Lil Bit’s adoption, the State is now conducting their followup investigation into the injury.

I’m Clever

Sway