My son was overdosed on morphine

I have taken a while to write back because I didn't want to go on presenting false information.
Deep breath.

My three year old was accidentally overdosed with morphine and no one caught it! The anesthesiologist has yet to own up to it, but we have word that he was given twice the recommended dose for his weight. He tried from the beginning to tell me that he was just sensitive to morphine, turns out they dosed him wrong. I knew it.

What we think happened was he was dosed for 29 kilos when he is only 29 pounds. Either way he was admittedly overdosed by accident. They are doing all that they can to really get to the bottom of it so that it doesn't have to ever happen again to another child. This was the first time it ever happened to anyone at this surgery center. I am working with the staff and administration to help them so policies can be changed.

That is what I want, I want new procedures on release. There was a lot of negligence there and I am not done. I am going to write everything down and present it before them. There were so many mistakes made with Judah's life. I am not sure if I can trust again. I also found out some very interesting things about Codeine and how Ethiopians can possibly metabolize it at a faster rate turning it into morphine quicker and in turn having morphine overdose from taking Codeine. For those adopting from Ethiopia I will post a note about that and add the links to my research.

I found out that on the way to the ambulance he stopped breathing a few times. He was just digressing so fast. They tried to intuit him but his airways were swollen. He was given the drug Narcan at the surgery center to stop the affects of the overdose. We were never told this information and while he sat up and ate a Popsicle they released him 45 minutes after the dose of Narcan. When the Narcan wore off in 30 minutes he went right back to his overdose state. At that point we were driving home expecting a sleeping child. I still cannot believe my son was OD by the doctors who were supposed to care for him. I contacted a lawyer just to see where I stood in this and they said unless he died there is nothing I can do. It just isn't right. I don't want money or anything like that I just want justice served for the severe negligence on my sons life, but it looks like the surgery center is doing all that I would expect. So unless they start giving me a hard time and trying to cover this up I will leave it and just wait. If they poo poo it or me I will go to every moms board, local newspapers, TV channels, and hand flyer's at Walmart not use this place until new policies are in place.

Update on Judah

This was Judah in the ER, he was sleeping.

After he woke up, he was awake for about 30 minutes total yesterday.
Today you would think nothing happened. He was talking to his grandmother. He put that shell collecting bag on his head and was all over the place. I cannot believe how active he is.

Today I have been in shock, but all is well physically, just tired. Today could have been such a different day for our family. Instead we spent time just hanging out and playing. Judah's recovery is amazing. He hasn't cried once, he is eating oatmeal and Popsicles and even a string cheese. I cannot believe how fast he is moving through this operation. He was playing on the swings, laughing and just being completely normal. You can't keep a good man down. He has just had 1 tsp of Tylenol and that is it!! He says it doesn't hurt!

Anyway still trying to figure out what happened. The doctor called first thing this morning and said he would get to the bottom of this and it would never happen again. That's good to know but I still want to see the records. I have a theory of what happened but I will wait until I get further information. The fire fighters saved his life and we will bake them some yummy cookies we will go down and see them and say thank you in person. Thank you for all of your prayers and support and prayers.

We almost lost our son today

I write this with tears still shaking over 12 hours later. What started off as a normal day, and a routine procedure turned into a nightmare of grand proportions. The kind of thing you hear from a friend of a friend that knew someone. Not me.


Today we were having Judah's adenoids and tonsils removed and tubes put in his ears. The surgery went fine and he was in very good spirits,

I waited with the other kids as Abby has a form of walking pneumonia and they don't allow kids in the surgery center. Gary went in with Judah and we waited outside passing time. I called and they said it went well, then I called Gary again and I heard the nurse in the back ground say it would be another 20 minutes as they had to give him more medicine to re sedate him as he was thrashing about and they needed to suction him. I though that was weird but was still confident all was well.


About 15 minutes later Gary said he was ready to go and put the kids in the car. I did, he carried Judah out and put him in the car seat. He was knocked out completely. The doctors said he was fine and just sleepy. We drove home 30 minutes and he seemed fine. We put him to bed thinking he would wake in a few hours. As Gary was tucking him and sitting by his side and I was getting the rest of the kids in the house things took a sinister turn. Gary called me into his room and asked to get a suction bulb. When I got there and saw him I thought something was wrong. We were only home for 5 minutes before I was trying to call our friend who is a paramedic. My other friend came over to see him and I told Gary to call the doctor, the medical staff was not too concerned. Everything in me felt something was wrong. Things progressed from bad to worse, his temperature dropped to 94 degrees and he was struggling to breathe with retracted breathing, deep gurgling and his lips were looking pale as well. I called the doctor again and spoke with him personally he wasn't worried but wanted to know if he was responsive, I ran to his room and Judah was even worse and he wasn't waking, the doctor told us to call 911. Instead Gary put his limp body in the car and took him to the local fire department 2 minutes away, they immediately began to work on him giving him Narkan, the medicine that stops the effect of morphine. They rushed him away in an ambulance trying to get him to respond. So much of this is blurry and I can't remember how it all goes, the ENT who did the surgery was calling me and the ambulance and my husband. I asked him while trying not to hyperventilate if Judah was going to die and he told me "I don't know"

Eventually all of the Narkan took affect and he started to respond coming out of the deep affect of the narcotic. My dear friend Tara took me to the hospital and my other dear friend Malieka whisked my other two kids away, while my other dear friend Grace assured me he would be okay. I was so scared, I felt I was loosing my son. Every fiber in me felt him leaving. It was like I put one toe over the line of life and death. My entire body reacted I wanted to throw up and faint and hyperventilate and hold my breath all at the same time. I couldn't talk or understand hardly anything that was going on. My girlfriends held me together and guided me through.

I am so confused. I get to the hospital and he is surrounded by nurses and paramedics. They are watching him very close and he is hooked up to tubes and monitors. They say he is okay and was responding but they are going to keep him for a while. Right away I can see he sleeping but his breathing was mostly normal. I just needed him to wake up. Eventually he did and was able to nibble on a Popsicle and have few sips of Gatorade. I was told he had an overdose of morphine and his respiratory system was shutting down.


I poured tears over him and held him. Gary said it was horrible to see the paramedics go into emergency mode, he didn't respond the first time to the drugs and they kept up. I am glad I didn't see that.


Gary asked the doctor if he would have just "come out of it" and he said, not necessarily. they explained that if we had not got him in when we did he would have just stopped breathing all together.


I am so happy he is okay, it is 10:37 pm his surgery was at 9:00 am and he is still not recovered from the narcotics, he woke up long enough to eat a Popsicle and smile for us and now he is sleeping again. I am so mad, so confused and I want to know what happened. I have few details that I need to find out but I know he was released way to early and when the doctor called tonight there was some defenses going up with him. I will write tomorrow about the details that I have when I can sort my head and get the phone records together. Someone did something they shouldn't have. Can someone tell me if it is normal to give a child under morphine Narkan to wake up after surgery? or do they or should they allow them to come back slowly on there own by removing the drug or proper dosing? I was told they gave him a moderate amount of morphine, and that it was normal for his size. This may be true and he may have had a reaction but why in the world would they release him so soon? Obviously he was having a reaction either by accidental overdose or by sensitivity. The big thing I am concerned about is that they told Gary he woke up and was struggling as they were trying to suction him so they resedated him, the doctor told me a few hours ago that his nurse misunderstood and told Gary the wrong thing, that he actually wasn't waking up so they gave him a dose of Narkan, they said he was responsive and met the requirements to be released. The doctor told the nurse to release him after 45 minutes but I think it was more like 20 minutes after that dose of whatever it was they gave him, either they lied and resedated him or they gave him Narkan because he was having a reaction, or the did resedate him and then gave him narkan to pull him out of it, but why didn't they tell us? He was discharged under narcotic overdose. Can anyone shed any light on this? Something is not right.

This was a day I was going to share on this blog, I took pictures to document my little boys first surgery and to keep for him when he was older. I looked at these pictures later and realized these could have been the last pictures I had of him. It was a chilling thought.On the way home from surgery we thought he was just sleeping.On his way to the operating roomWhile we were waiting out side in the courtyard.



This morning on the way to the surgery. He was so excited to get a Popsicle.

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Botox, how bad can it be really?

Tonight I put Judah to bed he kept pointing to my forehead "whats this?" I thought I might have had a blemish or something, he was definately amused. He took my finger and pointed to my head. Nope no pimples. hu I think to myself? When he blurts out with a big smile "mommy has train track head"

Nice. I have forehead wrinkles bad enough my three year old thinks they are train tracks.

He did like them though he seemed happy about them. But he is fond of trains so that doesn't surprise me.

What Not to Watch

Here is my list of kids movies and why parents should not let their kids watch these "harmless" flicks.

1. Flushed Away - why? because your kids will either flush various things down the toilet in hopes of finding an underground world ruled by rats and frogs, or in my case your kids will be scared to flush the toilet at all. (Not a pretty thing) Oh and lets not forget the annoying British accents five year old boys like to mimic at random and mostly inappropriate times.

2. Annie- why? I forgot how sexy and drunk Mrs. Hannigan was. whoops.

3. Finding Nemo- why? you can't really expect your kids to snorkel in the ocean on a family San Diego trip after this movie.

4. Charlotte's Web-why? do you like bacon on a Sunday morning, well it is not the same when you four year old is asking for pig and your five year old goes on to describe how humans eat pigs. (used to be a vegetarian so this doesn't sit well with me and breakfast is ruined.)

5. Peter Pan- why? have you ever seen a three and four year old climb to the highest point of anything singing "we can fly" me running in slow motion "NOOOOOOOOooooooooooo!"

6. We already discussed Home Alone, may I remind you of booby traps.

7. I wish I could think of 10 but I can't right now.

8. Evan Almighty-why? if they do decide flushing the toliet is safe after watching Flushed Away and it floods the bathroom most likely caused by over toilet paper usage, they really do believe that the great flood is upon us and they are quite sure the house and all dwelling inside will float away.
# 9 And the very reason that inspired this blog.


Ratatouille -why? Your five year old son will think that anyone can cook and will try to sneak rosemary into the soup plus, access to seran wrap.


Tonight Mason was helping Dad cook a very good chicken soup and while I was mopping and Gary was chopping Mason seran wrapped 2 peppers, a dish and cup and a spoon. Why?

I will ask.



He didn't know, you know just a fun joke. (him not me)

And lead us not into temptation........

Haven't been feeling to well today, Gary finally got home after his trip was extended and pretty much I conked out shortly after he got home. I stayed in bed for a while until the sound of silence pierced my very soul and all my mother spidy senses were on full alert, somewhere, someone was getting in trouble. I dragged myself out of bed and went to where I could hear muffled voices behind the door. I unlocked it and found Abby and Judah covered in Swiss Miss powdered chocolate. They had an easy bake oven and pots and pans and water and yes an entire box of hot chocolate everywhere, the floor the beds, themselves. When I put Abby to bed tonight and I was snuggling in tight to her, I about choked on the hot chocolate still in her hair (apparently I missed this) She has a doctors appointment tomorrow and I will give her a bath or just say it is a new scent we are trying out. I document these things because I want to remember, I think I want to remember. I want them to remember anyway the things they put me through. I can hear some of you saying "Where was Gary?" My poor, tired husband was simply being a good dad and making dinner while I rested.

What Works for Me

Musinex for kids seems to do the trick for loosening a yucky cough.



What doesn't work



Musinex for kids, because while the cough is loosened having a wound up four year old girl lends to a different kind of sleep deprivation.



I am sitting with the prime example of one on my lap.



Abigail. It is 10 pm and she apparently is not tired. We wore boas and made sugar cookies, broke the TV and have talked about everything from robots to who she is going to marry. Actually if you know my daughter she doesn't talk to much but Musinex for kids seems to have loosened more than mucous, she is going mile a minute, shaking her feet and bouncing off the walls. She is like hammy the squirrel in over the hedge.

But it is cute, we must enjoy these moments. With every bite of the sugar cookie she nuzzled against me and proclaimed her love for me reminding me that I was the best mommy ever. She even said she was going to buy me a wedding ring to help me fight bad guys. I am honored.

Things that can be in a boys pocket

This is what keeps me going despite the below rant. My kids are so funny to me. So we are sitting here watching TV and I am wandering how I am going to make it through the night and Mason begins changing into his PJs on the couch, he stands up and says, lets see what is in my pocket, (now remember we had just gotten back from Walmart) He starts to pull things out of his pockets. This is the list.

1. bandanna
2.hole puncher
3. pen
4. bad guy
5. rock
6. dental floss
7. post it notes
8. last but not least, an entire vest for his rainbow club.

I rolled over laughing as he pulled the vest out of his pocket! Why? wait let me ask.

Oh, just in case he needed it. See I told you there is always a good answer.

Grocery store

Well today at Walmart I payed for a Paula Dean cooking Magazine. Of course you know I didn't buy this or should I say I didn't pick it out, I payed for it but apparently Abigail is a fan of Paula Dean. Anyway I caught this one, AH HA! she took it off my bill. On the way out of the store I began to wander, "Do my kids not know that this is wrong?" So I briefed them once again on grocery store etiquette. You know I could have kept the Paula Dean magazine had I 10 pounds of butter! But alas, I just bought some store bought brownies to drown myself into tonight. Gary is gone for the next three days and there isn't even a hint of a referral on the horizon. I am waiting on the Lord and watching and rejoicing with others but that is all I can do. Abby has got a terrible cough, it is the kind that is next to uncontrollable. This kept me up from 11 to 4 this morning, not that hanging out with my daughter watching "Over the Hedge" was fun at 2 am but ..... sleep would have been nice too. Now I am wandering if I am going to be making another trip to the urgent care with all the kids in tow. Pray I don't.

Why?

This time I decide to ask "why?" I mean who knows maybe there is a good answer.

"Why is there toilet paper taped to my dining room chair Mason?"

"Oh that is a bad guy elevator booby trap."

See I told you there would be a reasonable explanation to this.

Smarty Pants

Woke up after a very long night of being up with sick Abigail, I am also limping because I broke my toe. Rubbing sleep from my eyes, Mason is already up and dragging a chair across the floor to the pantry where I keep the food "locked" ya right. I asked him to shhhhhhhh! Abby is sleeping and he was making a horrible racket. He made his sad face as I grabbed the chair from him. I asked him what he was doing and he, defeated mid task ,said "I am forging for food" (Okay don't feel too bad for the boy his dad had just made him a big bowl of oatmeal) I bet he was going to climb to the top of the pantry, unlock it and eat sugar. That's my guess.

Why?

This is a simple question. Why? That is what goes through my head when I find things in my house that are out of the ordinary. (really I know why?, it's because they are kids)

1. Why is there dog food in a Christmas ornament? Why is there still a Christmas ornament hanging around?
2. Why does Abby think it is okay to flour surf? (this is where you sprinkle flour on the floor and slide in it. I thought "pillow surfing" was bad. Flour surfing is much worse.
3. Why do the kids climb the tree in the back yard? when literally there is a very nice playground set 15 feet away in our yard with ladders, rock climbing wall, tire swings.
4. Why does Abby feel like she needs to stamp everything? She found my orphan business account stamper and stamped Mason, my books, the floor, herself. So all day she wore the image "Pay to the Order of Bank of America, deposit only Kim and Gary's Orhpans Fund"
5. Why does Abby climb in the linen closet and get her self stuck every time?
6. Why does Judah fill his cup with almonds and top it off with water?
7. Why does Abby take the lids off the containers that holds her toys but only plays with the lids, building a lid house to crawl under?
8. Why does dog food taste good to 3 and 4 year olds?
9. Why would Abby dump all the things out from the bathroom vanity and hide there even after being punished 3 times in a row for doing the same thing?
10. Why is my brain fried?
11. Why are there 4 pairs of shoes tied together? oh ya booby trap.

Parent Tricks That Work For Me

Partly I am blogging this for my own sake and partly in hopes that you all will share what really works for you. I am not talking what the experts say enough of that, I mean like real life advice. I know I struggle with consistency, or lack of. God bless those women who don't. Routine makes me sick. Just the other day the thought of one more peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread, literally brought tears to my eyes. I opened the fridge and my head collapsed in the crook of my elbow as I was leaning on the freezer and I cried, I am not joking. (Wow sidetracked) Sorry consistency rocks but I prefer the lure of the unknown, like "ohhhhhh what are we having for lunch today?, Indian curried rice? hummus? enchiladas?" yesssssss! But PB and J is much easier to whip up so for the last 5 years we used more peanut butter than I could have ever imagined. (We ended up by the way having tuna).

Okay on with the show,
What is working for me right now parenting kids close in age.

When they get into a fight, and one hits the other and the other hits back, instead of a big lecture, I simply say, "both of you are wrong, I am going to punish both of you, or you can take care of it for yourselves." they opt for the latter (self preservation) and quickly make up. After all of that I say, "okay now you have to make each other laugh" this works because they get to put on a show and be silly, (you will need to moderate this as the word "fart" and "poop" are guaranteed to cause much inappropriate laughter. One hundred percent of the time they are happy as can be and resume playing like nothing happened. The bible says not to get into silly arguments, the whole "she hit me first" etc. doesn't fly. If they both hit they are both wrong end of story. We don't even discuss it. They know that and don't argue it.

So as not to appear as a know it all, I will add what doesn't work for me.

Letting the kids play hide and seek with the cordless phone to keep them occupied while I am on the other phone talking to the bank. ( Offical rules of this game are, brother hides the cordless phone from sister, mom pushes page button and both kids run like crazy through the house to find it) That doesn't work because when the chicken roasting in the oven is sizzling out of control and you really need to switch to the cordless phone so you can not only talk to the lady at the bank but stop an oil fire..., well you get the picture, it doesn't work.

What Happens at the Grocery Store Does Not Stay at the Grocery Store

Well if you have ever in your life taken three or more kids to the grocery store, no need to explain the above picture. If you haven't then let me tell you, don't. This is the food my kids "bought" while I wasn't looking.

Now not to disclude parents of one child or two this has happened to me at every stage and with every child, (Julia your not going to get out of this!)

The first time was with my oldest, he was 3. I found a giant pomegranate candle and a huge bag of beef jerky. You can imagine my surprise when I was putting groceries away. A joyful Mason claimed them and told me he "bought" the candle for me. I looked at the receipt and the jerky alone was 15 dollars!!

Now Abby has done this too, she "bought" a pack of "pies" (smuckers uncrustable peanut butter sandwiches)

But today for the first time they both had a hand in the shopping and you may ask "How could you not notice?" my answer to you is, well I don't have an answer. I have a theory, bear with me.

Abby going in and out of the cart, taking her shoes on and off, sitting down in the middle of the isle to do so. (would not let me help her)

Mason hanging on the cart, off the cart, under the cart on the side of the cart. (no I don't allow this so hence the 15 shopping disruptions)

Judah in my purse, putting a toy in taking it out, whining all the way, he didn't actually "shop" but I think his part in the little plan was distracting me.

Come to think of it, I vaguely remember scanning a box of juice, but for the rest, seriously I don't even know how it got to my cart. The kids "helped" me load the items on the conveyor belt and after that it was history. Free and clear. We don't even eat Rice a Ronni.!!

Embarrassing Moment 1

Well( it )happens enough times to be bloggable, so I have dedicated a label to "Embarrassing Moments With My Kids". This is officially number 1.

We were in Home Depot (hate that place) getting paint for my husband. I , being the very intelligent woman that I am, didn't bring a cart to the paint section. (I was not thinking ahead) When the nice gentleman mixed the 4 gallons of paint for us I realized I couldn't carry the load, but I being the resourceful mom I am, decided to put my kids to practical use by letting them each carry a gallon of paint. (I know, I know). Anyway, I was aware that people were already staring at us, so I made even a bigger production about it, kinda showing off what a great mom I was. "Oh okay kids, let me see your muscles, wow!! okay who is going to be mommies biggest helpers?, okay lets go," In between looking up the staff ,smiling and squeezing the (tiny) muscles on my kids arms looking like a show off mom with the "my kids are the cutest around and I am the best mom every" We proceeded to leave the area, each small child (3,4, and 5) straining aganist the full cans of paint, when ..... (now some of this is blurry), I looked behind me and Abby was standing, mortified, in a oozing puddle of sandstone : 765342. My heart stopped, and before it restarted Judah had run through it, sloshing paint on me and leaving cream foot prints behind him. The thought did occur to just run, but I am 34 I had to stand and take the hit. Well everyone rushed to my side after I yelled for help, while I stood feeling like the biggest dope in the world, I told them I would just give them some money and go, but the nice man said he would get me another gallon of paint. So I had to stand there for 10 minutes, while everyone cleaned our mess and the line grew longer and longer at the paint station. Embarrassing.

I thought I should be a reporter because my second instinct after "run" was "blog" so I am. Lucky for me, I had my camera phone and I quickly snuck a picture of the poor lady cleaning our mess. Poor lady if you ever read this know that I am so very sorry.

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Our Crazy Dreams

Okay weird night for entire family.

I dreamed I was never getting a referral and that I had "gone Brittany Spears" and was running crazy down this long hallway with a ton of doors and I just wanted to find the end. It was in some building like a warehouse, I finally found the end and it was a bathroom I locked my self in a stall and just sat there. Knowing there was no where else I could run. It was not a good dream. ( This is a no brainer)

Gary stuttered this morning and he could barely say he dreamt about "adop, ad, adopt, " he couldn't bring himself to say it and I was laughing so hard. Apparently in his dream he was in the country with Eric Estrada and they were in a field and talking about airplanes and Eric Estrada and him were talking adoption.
Mason dreamed of booby traps
Abby had some bad dream and ended up in our bed
Judah snored all night.

Cracked up

My eldest son and I were sharing a moment when he looked up at me with love and asked if grown ups can get cracked necks. (that means wrinkles) I was ready to explain to him that when grandparents get older they get wrinkles, but as I pondered briefly on how to say it delicately, he blurted out, "Oh cause you have a million trillion on your neck."

Heres your sign.

Okay you know you need to stick to your new years resolutions or at least stop making Walmart your one stop shop, when your youngest son, 3 years old, comes rounding the corner with your underwear draped across his body and his arms in the leg holes saying "I got my jacket on" ya. I will spare you pictures.

You know you are in denial when you think to yourself,

"Ya but he is really small for his age."

Todays booby trap

Well if any of you have ever had "moon sand" you will relate immediately to this post. It is this sand like substance, it never dries out. I really don't know what it is to be honest. Yes I do. It's a total pain in the butt. It goes everywhere and gets into everything. I leave it outside but today Abigail decided to make a potion to catch bad guys. This is what it was, moon sand mixed with water from her barbie tea set in my bathroom.

Hair care confustion

This is my daughter, she did her hair,nice but she used Judah's African American hair lotion to fix her hair. Needless to say it was soft for the next few days.

Booby Traps

I have one word of waring to anyone who remembers the movie Home Alone.

Do not let your kids watch it, especially if you kids include a 5 year old boy.
You will be unraveling, tripping over, and cleaning up booby traps for months to come, in my case years.

Not to mention that there are a few bad words and bad attitudes, but honestly you can contain those things.
Booby traps are another story. Today for instance, I apparently tripped a wire (thread) hooked to a broom and a wire from Judahs remote control construction truck, napkins all over my floor to help me slip, I knocked over a glass of water. Mason yells out "Mom you messed up my booby trap!" Like I did that on purpose. You know that was just one booby trap in the past year I have fallen victim too. There have been countless designs and purposes to his booby traps. Lately though it is to catch criminals, he has them set up at every entrance of the house at various times of the day. And noone is safe, not even the dogs as he had something going by the doggy door tonight. Our poor fat dog is already terrified of the doggy door aftere it got stuck on him a few months ago. He is just recovering from that so I was hasty to remove what items Mason had put to trip up the hound.

I must say, it is okay and most the time amusing to have booby traps set up by one five year boy but when that five year old boy tells all the five year old boys in the neighborhood you have a certified problem. I found Mason at the park with scissors and thread, and heard some rumblings between his friends of catching bad guys. Who knows where and who will fall victim to whatever he and his friends built.

Next time I will include pictures.