Dr. Google is not your friend.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Colin was feeling run down on Halloween and was not his usual self. He was better on Thursday but was still laying down in front of the TV most of the day. Yesterday he was again tired and then started to complain about a stomach ache. When Simon got home, Colin mentioned that he had a stomach ache and Simon got all worried which in turn made things much worse. There are times that I feel like I may be a bit cold, but I know Colin. He is so sensitive, that if we slightly overreact then he will spiral and he gets scared and of course that makes the pain worse and he gets worse.

I calmed him down and he settled on the couch and had supper. He then had a bath and when he got out of the bath the cramps came back again and he was doubled over in pain. I went into the bathroom with him and talked to him and he just started to talk about all of his fears. What if it was his Kidneys? (like Wilhemlina last year and my father this year) what if it was his liver? (like my step-dad who died when Colin was 3 months old) or his stomach (my grandmother had stomach cancer recently) and what if… what if…

The more he talked the more he scared himself and he soon started hyperventilating and was in even more pain. He asked if he had to go to the hospital. (knife insert heart here)

I told him that he would be OK and that he just needed to relax and breathe and calm down and just explained that the more he panicked, the more he would hurt. He asked me how I knew that he would be OK… and all that I could think of saying is that a mom knows. I explained to his that last year, when Wilhelmina was sick I just knew that there was something wrong even though the hospital and doctors weren’t finding anything. I just knew. And though it was so hard to see him like that last night, I also just knew that he would be OK. I brought him down stairs to his bed and talked to him and reassured him and he quickly fell asleep.

I went in the sewing room and before long I heard him wake up, again in pain and again breathing fast and getting stressed out. After about 20 min, I was able to calm him down and then help him fall asleep again and I went to the computer to do a search for maybe an idea of what it could be. Big Mistake! I am not one to worry easily and I am not a hypochondriac but looking up something on Google will make anyone start to doubt themselves and fear the worse. Google is not a way to get simple advice or reassurance. I started to panic a bit even though I still knew deep down that there was nothing wrong, but my quick search had completely put me on edge.

I posted a quick post on my Facebook fan page and had a few comments and luckily the post was seen by our friend Jody (where we had the Halloween party last week) She quickly said that it was the same thing that sent them to the hospital with their daughter in the last week and that her son, Colin’s best friend, was going through nearly the same symptoms.

After talking with her a bit and comparing stories, I felt better. He was not alone and they were experiencing similar things on the same days when they had seen each other 6 days before. I went to see Colin and he was no longer clinging his stomach and sleeping restlessly, but was on his back, totally calm and sleeping peacefully. I breathed a sigh of relief and went down to bed myself not long after.

Today, all is well and he hasn’t even complained once and is his normal jumpy self all full of energy.