The Fates decided to make today the opposite of yesterday.  Today was the scariest day for me as a mother.

The other day, I blogged about our geothermal unit needing to be replaced.  Last night, we noticed that we were no longer getting cold air, so I called Bob and he thinks that all of the Freon he pumped in yesterday has leaked out.  FOUR POUNDS OF FREON.  So where did it all go?  No one knows.  Neil (second opinion) told me yesterday that the leak could be in the coils, yadda, yadda, yadda.  I’m surprised I remembered the coils part.  I asked Bob today if he could give us more Freon and he said, “remember your question from the other day about a leak being a health hazard?  It’s become a health hazard.  I can’t put more Freon in for you because it’s not safe knowing that we lost 4 pounds in 36 hours.”  You’ve got to love Bob!  He is a straight shooter, and I love that about him.  So, my house is 80 degrees.  But that is the least of our problems.

I called B to update him and to ask how his call went with the folks who installed the geothermal unit originally (5 or so years ago).  B mentioned the water tasting funny and said that he’d read online that our unit has been found to leak Freon into the water tanks that the coils are submerged in.  RED FLAG, RED FLAG.  I asked, “you mean, the coils that Neil thought are the source of the leak?”  Yes.  OK, no biggie.  We’re not drinking that water, right?  Or are we?  This conversation was at 10:40 this morning.  M went down for a nap 50 minutes later.

M woke up at 12:06, which was a short nap for such a tired guy.  He fussed a bit, but I finished getting dressed.  When I went in to get him, he was soaked.  I figured he had been sweating because the house is hot, but then I noticed that he smelled like vomit.  His crib was soaked, he was soaked – so I figured I’d give him a bath.  As I got the water ready, he threw up on me twice.  I bathed him, he was getting more and more lethargic, so I called B to tell him to call the geothermal people to talk about the Freon leak and the potential to get to our water.  The reason I was concerned was because I’d made oatmeal for M just before his nap – and I made it with tap water prior to B telling me it tasted funny.

As I bathed M, I thought the water smelled different.  I did taste it, and it tasted fine.  But there was a smell to it.  After his bath, he threw up on me two more times (up to 5 times now).  My friend, Denise, was on her way over to bring me lunch so when she got here, I was in a panic and told her what was going on.  As I was telling her, he threw up again.  It wasn’t slowing down, and the volume was not decreasing.  Every time it happened, his eyes would roll to the back of his head, he’d lurch, gag, and then lay limp in my arms whimpering.  It was awful – and terrifying.  What was going on?

B was on the phone with poison control, the geothermal guys, and the ER.  Two different geothermal companies said that yes, even though highly unlikely, that Freon could have leaked into the water supply.  Poison control and the ER said to come in right away.  I waited for B to come home because I didn’t want M in the back seat, throwing up on the drive down, all by himself.  As we waited, M threw up again (7 times now).  I kept wondering if I was wasting precious time for M – was my waiting for B going to be the difference between a long healthy life, and a life of challenges due to poisoning?  B got home quickly, we headed down to the ER while M threw up again.  As we checked into the ER, he threw up down my back (a complete stranger came up trying to help clean me off.  People are so nice to mothers.  That was really thoughtful of her).  It was a sight – M was in nothing but a diaper and socks, wrapped in a blanket.  Brian was in his work clothes.  I was in a random T-shirt that I’d grabbed after I got drenched once before and a pair of running shorts that didn’t match.  We were a wreck.

And then it stopped.  As we waited (only a few minutes) to be called back, M perked up and even smiled and cooed.  What in the world was going on?  The triage nurse asked how many times he threw up.  I hadn’t counted, so I said 6 or 7.  In how much time?  An hour and 20 minutes.  “Whoa,” was the response from the nurse.  I asked if that was a lot.  The answer was yes – that frequency is abnormal even for the flu.  I sat there and counted up the times and came up with 9 times for sure, but I think there were 1 or 2 more.  We got back to see a doctor right away.

Blood was taken (twice, because the first draw was a bust), I had to step out because I couldn’t take it, we talked with the doctor, and waited.  We were allowed to feed M an hour after his last vomit, but he was barely interested.  He was exhausted and just wanted to sleep.  The verdict?  We don’t have one.  He’s perfectly fine now – we were discharged and told to come back if it starts up again, and to definitely go back tomorrow for more blood work because his liver enzymes were just very slightly elevated.  There was nothing in his blood work to suggest poisoning.

M is perfectly fine now.  It was 2 hours from hell, and now it’s over.  He’s eaten well since being home (liquid diet only of mom’s milk), has played with all of us – kitties included, and was even standing himself up in his crib without help (a first this morning!).  You would never know he had the day he had.

We’re all sleeping in the basement tonight.  M is down there now, snoozing away.  The main floor is just too darned hot.  I think it will be fun to all sleep in the same room together, especially after the day we had!

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