We had to rush my son to the Emergency Room on Friday night.

He starting spewing blood like one of those horror movies, it's the only way I can describe it. There was so much blood, and we were so scared!

We were getting the kids ready for bed. He was in his PJ's, in his bed, and just laid back on his pillow when he made this choking, gagging noise, and out poured blood from his mouth. I freaked out! We had just given him his medicine, which is red, so when I yelled to my husband that he was spitting up blood, he said it was just the medicine. He wasn't there and I yelled to him that it was blood. He came in our son's room and grabbed him and ran to the bathroom. He was crying and spitting so much blood into the toilet. I yelled to my daughter to get shoes and socks on, and a jacket and get in the car. We then drove to the local ER.

By the time we got there the bleeding had stopped. The ER staff checked him out and wanted us to stay around for an hour or so for observations. About the time that they were considering letting us go home, he starting spewing blood again, but this time worse. They put an IV in him and called for an ambulance. They were sending him to Children's hospital in downtown Minneapolis. My husband went with and I drove myself there, after a quick stop at home to let the dog out of his kennel to poyty and grabbed my phone charger. Five minutes later I was off to the other hospital, where a surgeon was waiting to rush our son back into surgery.

A very good friend of mine was able to come to the hospital and pick up my daughter and keep her over night. Thank goodness for very good friends! She was able to keep her until about noon and then took her over to my in-laws house here in town.

When I got to the hospital there was so much construction I didn't know where to park. Finally, without even knowing where I was going I pulled into the correct parking ramp and parked the car. Luckily, since it was so late at night (it was just after midnight when I got there) there was parking right by the hospital entrance. I was a little scared...that downtown area is pretty bad, with crime and whatnot, so I was very relieved when I made it inside the hospital.

After two security checks I was directed to the ER where I just barely caught my husband and son as they were taking him into surgery. I got to see him off, give him kisses, and talk to the surgeon and anesthesiologist.  He was in surgery about half an hour when the surgeon came to talk to us. She said that everything went well. She removed a blood clot from his throat about the size of a golf ball and re-cauterized the seeping veins. He was in recovery and we'd be able to see him in about 45 minutes.

From recovery he was taken to a hospital room on the 6th floor. It was about 2:30 in the morning by this time and he was really tired and groggy, as were we. At about 3:30 my husband and I we able to lay down and get a little sleep on a tiny fold-out couch in his room. Various nurses came in about every half our to check on him and do vitals. He finally fell asleep and it was obvious that he was comfortable, so we laid down too.

When he woke up in the morning it was immediately clear how much better he was! He had his color back (he's been kind of a whitish/blueish/greenish color for days before) and he had the spark in his eyes back. He looked so much better! He was hungry and ate 2 Popsicles, juice and some chicken broth. He wanted to controller for the Xbox360 that was in his room and was sitting up, playing video games with Daddy. It was great! He was also getting up and walking to the bathroom.

He was discharged to go home at about noon. He is on a soft food only order for a few days but he was starving, so we went to KFC on the way home for some mac n cheese and mashed potatoes. He ate all the mac n cheese before we even got home.

That night he slept from 7:00pm to 5:00am. He calmly asked for medicine and a Popsicle, no more screaming and crying in pain, then he went back to sleep until 9:00am. We were shocked! We all slept until 9:00am! I guess we were all pretty tired.

He has been a totally different child ever since. He is sleeping through the night and doesn't even ask for pain medicine every few hours. We give it to him when he needs it, but he isn't in pain, crying for it.

Thank goodness! He still has to be home for a while, not really sure when he can go back to school, but we'll play that by ear...see how he's feeling.