Yesterday afternoon, Marissa was trying to find the new song they have been learning in Primary, in the Song book. It is a New Song that was in the children's friend magazine and they are learning it for the primary program later in the year. http://lds.org/churchmagazines/FR_2010_01_00___09261_000_000.pdf She was sad to know she couldn't find it in the children's songbook. Then, Liam started to sing along with her. He has been learning it in Junior Primary too!
A few minutes later I hear the piano in the other room. Liam had gone in, sat down at the piano, and was 'playing' and singing his new primary song. So sweet!!!
Bill was packing and getting ready to go on a trip (to New Mexico for the next 1 1/2 wks). Liam wanted daddy to play a game with him. He came downstairs, got a game took it up and set it all up ready to play on our bed upstairs. Bill had to come down and get something to pack, and by the time he got back upstairs, Liam was asleep, waiting for dad to paly with him... Poor little guy! Daddy owes him a game when he comes back home.
This morning we had some really pretty snow, too bad it will all be gone by the time the kids come home from school. :-( Sad face!!!
By the time we took dad to the airport to go on his trip, it had stopped snowing completely and in just a short drive (a couple of miles south) you had to look really hard to even see any evidence of snow at all! We left dad at the airpot, and headed off to physical therapy for Liam. We had driven Bill's truck, since my van has tires that are nearly bald, and when he had been out on the roads durring the snow, they were getting pretty slick. I hopped over to the driver seat and off we went... I learned to drive on a standard/stick shift car, and though I don't drive it often I do know how. However,I was having some issues this morning. SOmething didn't feel right. I didn't feel like I had much pick up/get up and go. I wondered if I was shifing to the next gear to soon, or perhaps not soon enough, so I tried both, but nothing felt just right. I had a short drive, but by the time we got near the Physical Therapist office, I was in real toruble. If the drive way had a pass through from the road (Hughes), I'd have made it into the parking lot, but no... I had to go to the light and u-turn to get to their office.
I didn't quite make it! I got stopped at the light, and could no longer get the truck into any gear at all! I had been driving for all of perhaps 5 minutes??? How could I have broken the truck?!?!?! I finally found the emergency flashing lights button, but not before several people got annoyed with me for sitting there through the green turn light! Sorry People, I tried to tell you to go around me! 3 police cars drove right past me and my flashing lights, and eventually a 4th car stopped to see what was the matter. He thought I might have burned out the clutch (which considering I thoguht it was the transmition, might not be such a bad thing...). He did manage to push me out of the turn lane in the road, and onto the median of grass. I called the insurance and they got a tow truck on the way. I managed to talk to Bill before he got on the plane, he said the clutch was probably on it's way out. Oh well...
The good thing was Liam had fallen asleep and so he wasn't annoyed thatwe were just sitting there going nowhere, and the Physical Therapist didn't have anyone else today so, by the time we were able to get across the street and inside we were 30 minutes late (I had called), and she still had plenty of time to work with Liam today. Also, we had a ride home, Amanda was home from school sick today, but I was able to drag her out of bed to come rescue us. Poor girl, really feels horrible, but she sat with Liam (well, she tried to just sit off in a corner) while Liam had physical therapy so I could go outside and wait for the tow truck to arrive an take the truck away.
So, what a start to the week! Hope the truck doesn't cost to much to get fixed, and at least Bill isn't here and we have plenty of time to get it done! I hope that Amanda gets feeling better soon! And that there are no more mishaps in any of our lives while Bill is gone.
Showing posts with label sick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sick. Show all posts
Monday, February 8, 2010
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Christmas with the Robertson's (part 1)
Christmas 2009
We decided to take a trip and get away for Christmas. We knew that if we stayed home, we’d have children and parents all in various rooms, watching different shows on different t.v’s or playing on different computers, etc... we’d be thinking about all the work that needed to be done around the house, and more than likely we’d just be grumpy with each other, and that wasn’t what we wanted. So we found a cabin/house up in the Smokey Mountains in Gatlinburg, TN that was still available the week before Christmas, and we made our reservations.
Rebekah came home from college on my birthday (Friday, Dec. 18th) – what a nice birthday present!
The night before my Birthday, Bill and I attended a Work Christmas dinner at the Space and Rocket Center. It was a nice dinner, and I’m glad Bill at a really good meal. It’s pretty much the last thing he ate for nearly a week. That night Bill started feeling ill – chills and fever! By morning he could barely get out of bed, he felt so bad! I get the kids off to school, dropped Liam off at his school and went to a hair apt. I had scheduled as my birthday treat. Afterward, I went home and tried to keep all the kids who were excited aobut the Christmas break, and home from school early after a half day, just a little bit quiet so dad could rest. Bill barely got out of bed for the next several days. Sunday when we came home from church, he asked for an I.V. so I hauled him out and he got an i.v. and some shots of antibiotics and pain killers and I brought him back home to bed. Monday morning he felt somewhat better, and got up and attempted to go in to work. On his way he stopped at the Dr’s again, and they gave him a breathing treatment as he couldn’t take a full breath, and told him he had pneumonia. Oh, and he had lost abt 10 lbs since he hadn’t eaten much of anything in days!
He went on to work with a couple of new prescriptions and tried to get a few things taken care of. Those who saw him at the office told him to go back home! He really didn’t look like he was well at all, (and that was the first day he looked almost like himself again)! We were a little concerned that he was not going to be well enough to enjoy our Christmas trip to the Smokey Mountains... We started making him smoothies full of protein powder to help him regain his energy. That, and the i.v. he’d had made a huge difference. Tuesday he stayed home in bed, and the rest of us gathered and packed things and got things ready to go. I was very behind! I REALLY wanted to go to a fun ornament x-change, but never finished my ornaments, and as it was I didn’t get to bed till after 3:30 a.m. after getting things organized as best as I could.
Wednesday we didn’t get going quite as quickly as we’d originally wanted, but we eventually got on the road. We had planned on driving us all up in the van, but with the possibility of snow up the mountain, we decided to drive two vehicles, so we could shuttle everyone up to the cabin/house in Bill’s truck since it has 4 wheel drive. We later were glad we’d made that choice!
Just as we were packing up Rebekah made the suggestion that the kids all ride in the van and she and Amanda would switch off driving, and Bill and I could ride up in the truck together, and have time to talk... What a nice present that was. We were able to talk and visit, on the 5 hour drive, or listen to the 80’s music channel, and the kids got to listen to all the silly songs and sing and be loud and crazy, and it didn’t drive us nuts! It was great!
We decided to take a trip and get away for Christmas. We knew that if we stayed home, we’d have children and parents all in various rooms, watching different shows on different t.v’s or playing on different computers, etc... we’d be thinking about all the work that needed to be done around the house, and more than likely we’d just be grumpy with each other, and that wasn’t what we wanted. So we found a cabin/house up in the Smokey Mountains in Gatlinburg, TN that was still available the week before Christmas, and we made our reservations.
Rebekah came home from college on my birthday (Friday, Dec. 18th) – what a nice birthday present!
The night before my Birthday, Bill and I attended a Work Christmas dinner at the Space and Rocket Center. It was a nice dinner, and I’m glad Bill at a really good meal. It’s pretty much the last thing he ate for nearly a week. That night Bill started feeling ill – chills and fever! By morning he could barely get out of bed, he felt so bad! I get the kids off to school, dropped Liam off at his school and went to a hair apt. I had scheduled as my birthday treat. Afterward, I went home and tried to keep all the kids who were excited aobut the Christmas break, and home from school early after a half day, just a little bit quiet so dad could rest. Bill barely got out of bed for the next several days. Sunday when we came home from church, he asked for an I.V. so I hauled him out and he got an i.v. and some shots of antibiotics and pain killers and I brought him back home to bed. Monday morning he felt somewhat better, and got up and attempted to go in to work. On his way he stopped at the Dr’s again, and they gave him a breathing treatment as he couldn’t take a full breath, and told him he had pneumonia. Oh, and he had lost abt 10 lbs since he hadn’t eaten much of anything in days!
He went on to work with a couple of new prescriptions and tried to get a few things taken care of. Those who saw him at the office told him to go back home! He really didn’t look like he was well at all, (and that was the first day he looked almost like himself again)! We were a little concerned that he was not going to be well enough to enjoy our Christmas trip to the Smokey Mountains... We started making him smoothies full of protein powder to help him regain his energy. That, and the i.v. he’d had made a huge difference. Tuesday he stayed home in bed, and the rest of us gathered and packed things and got things ready to go. I was very behind! I REALLY wanted to go to a fun ornament x-change, but never finished my ornaments, and as it was I didn’t get to bed till after 3:30 a.m. after getting things organized as best as I could.
Wednesday we didn’t get going quite as quickly as we’d originally wanted, but we eventually got on the road. We had planned on driving us all up in the van, but with the possibility of snow up the mountain, we decided to drive two vehicles, so we could shuttle everyone up to the cabin/house in Bill’s truck since it has 4 wheel drive. We later were glad we’d made that choice!
Just as we were packing up Rebekah made the suggestion that the kids all ride in the van and she and Amanda would switch off driving, and Bill and I could ride up in the truck together, and have time to talk... What a nice present that was. We were able to talk and visit, on the 5 hour drive, or listen to the 80’s music channel, and the kids got to listen to all the silly songs and sing and be loud and crazy, and it didn’t drive us nuts! It was great!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Huntsville Hospital...
So, Friday night, Liam started running a little fever. He hadn't napped, so he fell asleep at about 8 p.m.
We were in the middle of Marissa's birthday sleepover party... Around 10 pm Liam, who was asleep in our bed, started gagging a bit, and Bill who was in the room with him, got him up and took him to the sink. He started calling for someone to come. Bill thought it might have been blood, but when I looked, it was soooo dark, I thought he must have gotten into some chocolate. Vomiting blood is just not the first thing that popped into my mind!
He watched T.v. for a little while and then fell back asleep. He woke up around 2 am to potty, and was quite warm again, so I gave him some children's Tylenol. At around 5 am he woke up and started crying and throwing a fit, Bill thinks looking back on it, that he may have not been completely in his right mind even then, as it was really unlike him. Then he started jerking a bit and was sort of unintelligible. I told Bill to turn on the lights, so I could 'see' him. His hands were sort of jerking, and his legs were stiff and straight out. I called our family Dr. and yes, woke her up at 5:20 a.m. After running through everything, she suggested it might have been a febrile seizure, which is quite common among children his age, and more so with boys than girls. She suggested we watch him, but make sure he is conscious, can respond to us, and that it is also normal to sleep after a seizure. So, that is what we did.
Liam spent most of the morning snuggling or sleeping in someones arms, while I finished up with the party stuff. The birthday party girls left at 10:00 a.m. and shortly afterward, Liam started fussing again, and then sent into a similar seizure type activity, getting stiff and his hands shaking, and eyes sort of rolling back in his head. Afterward, he went into the deep sleep again, but he was absolutely pale! He had NO color in his face, and his lips were white! IT was very frightening. I decided it was time to take him in...
Amanda, Sariah and I took off with him and we went first to the urgent care center right outside our neighborhood. We got inside with him and they told us they just couldn't do anything for a child with seizures there, and we needed to take him to the E.R. in town. This time I held him in my arms, while Amanda drove us to Huntsville Hospital. He had some color at that point, and was a bit responsive, but was still so out of it. I kept monitoring his pulse and breathing all the way as we drove to make sure he was still doing o.k.
We pulled up to the ER and we got out and I left Amanda to park the van. We were actually taken right back, and only had to sit in chairs in the ER waiting room for a moment. We were back in a room before Amanda even got parked and came inside. I asked the guy at the door to please bring her back to me when she got inside. We found out later they usually only let two people back with a patient, but since they were my children, they allowed them both back. At first they were quite upset, and crying, and I was amazingly together - my heart was pounding in my chest and I felt shaky, but I didn't cry at all. The girls helped as we gave the report about his health history.
They ended up needing a urine sample so they had to catheterize him, and he also had to get blood drawn and an i.v. started. The I.V. took forever, since he was so dehydrated at that point. They had to stick him at least 4 or 5 times to get the first needle in. They tried to draw blood but he just had so little to draw, it was clearly not good. They started the I.V. bolus to hydrate him and later were able to get the second I.V. line in, and it worked much better and they were able to get the blood they needed to run the tests. All this time, the girls were very helpful trying to help hold him down, gently but firmly so that he didn't' fight. Liam cried which made Sariah cry, she is still very sensitive to him and worries anytime he gets sick, that he will 'GET SICK' and here we are! Anyway, after a while, the girls were helping to hand stuff to the nurses, and picking up after them, and they were doing a great job helping out. The nurses all commented on how much help they were! and that they should train to be nurses...
The E.R. Doc had also asked me if he had had any diareah or anything unusual. I then recalled that on Thursday or something he had had a BM that had been very dark, almost Tarry looking. I didn't' give it a whole lot of thought at the time, as kids eat various things and then they will have a BM that is a strange or unusual color... So the Dr. also ordered a stool sample. They got that, and put it on the slide. They put the stuff on it and it immediately turned bright blue, meaning there was definitely blood in his stool. They ordered a CT scan and abdominal x-rays.
They got things ready and were going to admit us upstairs into the Pediatric ICU. I was actually amazingly calm throughout all of this. I guess, even though he was quite sick, they seemed to be giving us answers and talking to us more than they had when we went through the 'mystery diagnosis' 3 1/2 yrs ago with him. It had been so scary that time, as he had been so small - just 10 days old.
As we were about to be moved from the E.R. up to the PICU; Liam threw up again. It was thick and black, but definitely blood. They told us his hemoglobin levels were down to 4. (normal is 12). So they had us set up and he got a blood transfusion when we got upstairs. Dad and Brother L. arrived shortly after we arrived up in PICU. Liam had been asking for his daddy all day so far. (several times during the 2 1/2 hrs we'd been here). Dad and Bro. L gave Liam a blessing. Dad, mom and Liam stayed, and Amanda and Sariah gave hugs and kisses and then drove home with Bro. L. Later The girls came back with a change of clothes and some sweats to sleep in, and some toiletry items. I had sent home a partial list of a few things I needed, but they did a great job of thinking what we'd need immediately.
Liam had the pulse oximeter on his finger, a blood pressure cuff (on his ankle since his one arms was already immobilized), all the heart electrode leads to monitor heart rate, and breathing, then he had the I.V. going with a bag of fluid, and a bag of blood hooked up to two separate iv's and his little arm taped up and immobilized on a board thing. Along with all of this he has had a low grade fever most of the time we've been here. He has been pretty miserable and slept a lot, but he did get a bit more animated after he started to get the IV fluid and the blood transfusion. We knew he was coming around when the Dr. was standing talking with us, and I was sitting on the end of his bed. Liam told me to move, I couldn't figure out why, but then realized the t.v. was on the wall behind me, and I was blocking his vision and was in his way! He wanted to watch Hannah Montana that was on the t.v. ;-)
Well, it's been a long couple of days: Sunday he was doing better, and no longer critical, he was released out of PICU and able to go out to a regular room on the pediatric floor. That way he could have more visitors (ie:his sisters could some and dote on him all they wanted...) (the PICU Dr. even said that was definitely one of her considerations to releasing him to the ped's floor). There were/are plusses and minuses to that. Having been through this part of the Hospital once before, we knew that it was great news, as it meant he was doing so well, but also that we would have to deal with the staff. There is comfort in the continuity of care, of having basically one (or limited) care givers. They know the history, they know what they have been doing for you so far, and so can build on that base. When you are out on the floor, you have to deal with multiple care providers, interns and students. You have countless people coming in and out of your room, often in a large group. They ask irritating questions, such as, "what has he eaten recently?" or "How is he eating?" when he has NOT been ALLOWED to EAT Anything for several days!!! Just the mention of food in front of him is rough, since you have to tell him no he can't have anything, because someone else has brought it up in front of him? (Bill and I had been taking turns going out of his room to eat, so that we didn't make him feel bad, and want food he couldn't have!)
It is aggravating to have to retell his whole medical history every time someone walks in the room, since they have NO idea who he is or what his situation is and what his treatment is or should be!
Liam, doesn't always warm up to new people in new situations very well. For that matter, it often takes a while for him to warm up to people he knows! SO... here we are in this new environment where it is quite scary, and mostly horrible, since he has been poked and prodded, probed and annoyed. You have each new nurse or student, and each new set of Dr, and their entourage, of students, that comes in the room and expects him to talk and interact and be happy to see them or something! Liam has basically shut down or tried to ignore when this parade comes through his room. He doesn't look at them, more often than not he frowns, and often cries. Some of them have shown a bit more compassion than others, and we appreciate them! Others, we want to string up, or possibly draw and quarter...
The first day he got the two IV's in his little arm, and all the other yucky things that he had to go through. At least whenever they needed MORE blood from him for this test or that, all they had to do was to get it through one of the i.v. lines already in place. By Monday, that was no longer working. They had to get blood from a vein directly. Well, this is like a world wrestling federation wrestling match! I have generally been laying on the bed half on top of him trying to help hold/pin him down. Bill has had to help hold his arms or legs to keep tehm from flailing or kicking, and at least two nurses have to work on it. Along with all of this, he is screaming, in hysteria, that "you can't do this to me!", "STOP! You're Hurting me!" Owie, owie, owie!, etc. etc. It is awful! I understand that they need some of these tests, however, sometimes, I think it is still just to 'check' a box on a list somewhere, and doggone it! If you don't have your BEST person come to the room to do this to my kid and get him on the first stick, instead of after a minimum of three sticks for everything he's had done, I think I am going to LOSE it!
This morning they wanted another blood draw, to make sure his platelets were up and that his clotting was good before doing the procedure. The nurse in the middle of the night comes in and mentions to me, during one of the countless times they came in to take his temp, or get his Blood Pressure, that they had it scheduled for 2 a.m.! WHAT?!?!?! I asked how long it would take to get the results back, she said it would depend on who was in the lab, etc. but average, an hour. I said, His procedure today wasn't scheduled until around NOON! couldn't they wait until a more humane hour of the day to do this? especially since he was actually sleeping through, most of the BP and Temp checks. She was able to put it off until about 5 am, but still... Of course somewhere around 3 am, they decided his temp was up, and that he needed tylenol or motrin. Now, he's had a fever low grade, sometimes higher than others, since we got here, and he had up to this point only had tylenol or motrin administered twice. But this time all of the sudden he 'required' it right now! While he is sound asleep at 3 in the morning! SO, we got to wake him as they are trying to shove it down his throat, (squirt it, into his mouth), and he is fighting and spitting it out. Not so pleasant either.
The blood draw was horrible! They are telling us that the UAB Dr's (in charge of the Ped's floor) want two more blood draws from him (one today/tonight, and one int he morning). However the G.I. Dr. who did his actual procedures, told us he doesn't require any more at all. He told us he'd try to talk to them, but I don't know that it will do that much good. We can try to refuse, but it might get ugly.
Anyway, we have been through all sorts of crazy emotions! Fear being at the top of the list! I have been amazingly able to hold it together this time. I really like the t.v. show House, where people with strange illnesses come in and he and his team of Dr's try to figure out what the mystery diagnosis is to treat them or cure them or whatever it is. I however, really do NOT enjoy living an episode of the mystery illness show!
The original thought was a gastrointestinal bleed. Well, even that being the case, they had to find the reason for the bleed in the GI tract. The GI Dr. figured that if it was lower GI the blood wouldn't have made it's way back up to the upper GI tract to be able to be vomited out. Although he only vomited the two times, it was clearly (he thought) an upper GI bleed.
Saturday, until they thought they had a good idea what was causing the bleeding, and they didn't see any more fresh bleeding, they didn't want him to eat or drink anything. His poor little mouth was dry and his lips were getting a bit cracked. Bill asked me if I had any lip stuff, and the only one I had, that I had grabbed out of the van while we were on our way into the hosp, and I put it in my pocket was a lightly tinted frosty pink. We used it a few times on him since his little lips were so dry. After he threw up in the ER, Sariah got him a wash cloth to wash off his mouth and teeth, etc. When we were up in the PICU room, he asked for something to chew on. Several of us had been chewing gum, so I hoped that wasn't what he was referring to. He doesn't usually chew gum (hasn't figured out how to NOT swallow it yet). It occurred to me that he was chewing on things
Sunday evening, Liam was finally able to eat something, albeit, only a clear liquid diet. He hadn't eaten anything since sometime Friday afternoon. He had fallen asleep before we got the pizza for the birthday party girls. Bill asked him if he wanted soup to eat. When the 'soup' arrived and it was just broth and didn't have any NOODLES in it, Liam was pretty unhappy! Poor little guy! He did try to eat some of it, with his sisters encouragement, however, it was so strong and salty, that he really didn't eat very much of it, and he even started coughing, from drinking in the salt. Poor kid. He wanted food so bad!
Monday morning Dr. Mc did an endoscopy. Liam had a slight bit of sedation through his IV line, and the procedure to take pic's of his upper GI and stomach, took only about 4-5 minutes. What it showed, were viscosity's, of the esophagus. It was in actuality one of the things he was looking for, although we were really hoping it was just a bacterial infection that had caused an ulcer somewhere and would be an easy fix with some antibiotics and some antacids.
He surmised that the esophageal viscosity's were a result of something called 'cavernous transition of the portal vein'. This would be the lesser of the possibilities for the problem that he was having. So, he was sent for another C.T. scan, this time of his stomach instead of his head, to determine what the cause of the varices. Then we came upstairs and Liam was finally allowed to actually EAT something. Soft, but food, something he could actually chew on... Mac n' Cheese, Mashed potatoes (or as Liam decided, it was 'yucky stuff'),Rice, ICE CREAM, and Chocolate Milk are however his favorites!
We waited most of the day for the results from the C.T. scan. We asked the UAB Dr. if those results were back, and she said she'd check on them. She called Dr. Mc and he told her he'd come talk to us. When he came over to talk to us about the results, he said he really wasn't sure about them, since none of the three Pediatric Radiologists were working on Monday. He had gotten sort of second hand info that the Radiologist (who generally only works with adults,) didn't think he had seen what Dr. Mc had been looking for. Which was not exactly good news, he tried to lay everything out for us, saying he didn't see how it could be the worse situation with cirrhosis of the liver, which would require care at a bigger medical center either in Nashville at Vanderbilt or in Atlanta. But, since Liam did not have any jaundice or high bilirubin counts, or any other signs, he didn't see how that could be the cause.
Dr. Mc said he had called one of the ped. radiologists at home to have him take a look at the ct scan, but hadn't heard back from him yet, so he really hated to tell us any of this. We told him that we understood that, but that we'd been waiting all day and had sort of pushed him to tell us something before he had all the info he wanted in order to talk to us. While we were talking, he got a phone call from the ped radiologist. He went out into the hallway, to talk. While he was gone, Bill, who had been trying to hold it together all day just broke... he'd been reading on line all day about various scenarios, and he knew what cirrhosis meant, Liver Transplant. Which also could mean a lifetime of worry about rejection, if we even got a liver to be able to transplant, etc, etc. I amazingly felt a little numb, I don't know why, but I just couldn't let myself deal with that as a possibility, until I heard that there were no other possible causes, and solutions. Since Dr. Mc wasn't ready to give in and go with that diagnosis, neither was I.
When he came back in he told us good news: which is subjective, since it wasn't the best news we had hoped to get that morning originally, but the ped radiologist confirmed what Dr. Mc hoped/thought, that is was the cavernous transformation of the portal vein. Basically what he described this to be is that the vein(s) taking blood flow into the liver, is blocked, somehow. A jumbled mass/mess of veins. As a result, the extra blood that was not making it's way into the liver, was being shunted back up to the esophagus, and with that extra blood volume and pressure, the veins in the esophagus expanded. Since the esophagus is soft tissue, there is just not a lot of protection for those enlarged veins, and they can be scraped or scratched by hard foods, or just break open from the pressure on it's own.
What this meant, however, was to go back in and band the viscosity's (under surgery, although for an adult it would be a procedure done just like, and during the endoscopy, but since he is little, the tool to do the banding, is small enough to fit, however, it could compress the airway, and so it needed to be done in the O.R.). What he would be doing was to go in and essentially tie off the vein that was enlarged and cut of the blood supply to it, so that it would no longer be enlarged, and the blood flow would stay where it was supposed to be, and over time the body would self heal and actusally should grow other pathways for the veins to the liver. DUrring his first 10 years this should get better and he should have outgrown it. (We can hope anyway).
There were three varicose veins, but one was large, and the others are still a bit smaller and will have to be done at some time most likely over the next year or so. It is also likely that over the next couple of years he might end up having more varicosities form, and needing them to be banded as well. At least we know some symptoms and idea's to watch for if he has more of these that bleed and will get him to help imediately. The GI Dr. did say it is good that we don't live out in the toolies, so we would be far away from help if we needed it... but on the other hand he didn't act like we should be freaking out or anything.
This morning, after taking blood, which was a horrible fight, three pokes, as I already stated, we saw the UAB Dr, and entourage, and the Dr. wanted two more blood draws, one tonight, and one tomorrow morning. We did ask that IF we had to do it, we requested the Nurse Richard again, since he was so good. However, after the procedure, we talked to Dr. Mc about it. He didn't feel like he needed any more blood tests. He is only the 'consulting' Dr. so he can't write orders, but he can give his oppinions, etc. He did that, but it never got changed in the orders by the UAB Dr's. When the night nurse came on tonight, she talked to us, and we told her that we felt like if the Dr. who actually was caring for him, ie: doing the procedures, and treating him, didn't feel it was necessary to get more blood, then that was good enough for us.
Now we are just hoping that we don't have problems with being released to go home tomorrow.
Wednesday, we are supposed to go home. The Pediatric Radiologist did ask for an ultrasound in the morning, before we leave, so that he has a base line to start with so we have something to follow, as Liam grows and we can see if there are changes.
As we have been going through all of this, I am thankful for family and friends. For everyone who stepped in and helped. It really is wonderful to know I don't have to worry about my other kids, and that everyone and everything is being taken care of. I'm also thankful for those that helped with meals, for my family as well as for us here. I'm also thankful to all those who were so willing to help. I am thankful for modern technology, and the ability of the Dr's to find and fix what is wrong. I am also thankful for technology and for being able to put Rebekah on video phone on the computer so that she can interact with Liam, and sing him songs and try to help him feel better, even though she is far away.
I am so thankful for prayer, and for all the many, many prayers that have been going out for Liam and my family. For family and friends, across the country and around the globe that have been praying for us, and also for those who have put Liam's name on the temple prayer rolls. And for friends of friends or family who have also been praying for my little man!
Well, that's most of the story... I have taken lots of pic's to document this newest adventure in our lives, and one day hope to get some of them put on here.
As for now, we had to plead, beg, fight, cajole and bribe Liam to finally get a dose of motrin into him earlier. It was about an hour process. After which, I told him he could have more ice cream, although he's had several different kinds today already. ;-) He finally took it, and then got to watch more movies, and daddy read him books, and I fed him ice cream! What a life... if only, he wasn't hurting, misserable, and in a hospital!
We were in the middle of Marissa's birthday sleepover party... Around 10 pm Liam, who was asleep in our bed, started gagging a bit, and Bill who was in the room with him, got him up and took him to the sink. He started calling for someone to come. Bill thought it might have been blood, but when I looked, it was soooo dark, I thought he must have gotten into some chocolate. Vomiting blood is just not the first thing that popped into my mind!
He watched T.v. for a little while and then fell back asleep. He woke up around 2 am to potty, and was quite warm again, so I gave him some children's Tylenol. At around 5 am he woke up and started crying and throwing a fit, Bill thinks looking back on it, that he may have not been completely in his right mind even then, as it was really unlike him. Then he started jerking a bit and was sort of unintelligible. I told Bill to turn on the lights, so I could 'see' him. His hands were sort of jerking, and his legs were stiff and straight out. I called our family Dr. and yes, woke her up at 5:20 a.m. After running through everything, she suggested it might have been a febrile seizure, which is quite common among children his age, and more so with boys than girls. She suggested we watch him, but make sure he is conscious, can respond to us, and that it is also normal to sleep after a seizure. So, that is what we did.
Liam spent most of the morning snuggling or sleeping in someones arms, while I finished up with the party stuff. The birthday party girls left at 10:00 a.m. and shortly afterward, Liam started fussing again, and then sent into a similar seizure type activity, getting stiff and his hands shaking, and eyes sort of rolling back in his head. Afterward, he went into the deep sleep again, but he was absolutely pale! He had NO color in his face, and his lips were white! IT was very frightening. I decided it was time to take him in...
Amanda, Sariah and I took off with him and we went first to the urgent care center right outside our neighborhood. We got inside with him and they told us they just couldn't do anything for a child with seizures there, and we needed to take him to the E.R. in town. This time I held him in my arms, while Amanda drove us to Huntsville Hospital. He had some color at that point, and was a bit responsive, but was still so out of it. I kept monitoring his pulse and breathing all the way as we drove to make sure he was still doing o.k.
We pulled up to the ER and we got out and I left Amanda to park the van. We were actually taken right back, and only had to sit in chairs in the ER waiting room for a moment. We were back in a room before Amanda even got parked and came inside. I asked the guy at the door to please bring her back to me when she got inside. We found out later they usually only let two people back with a patient, but since they were my children, they allowed them both back. At first they were quite upset, and crying, and I was amazingly together - my heart was pounding in my chest and I felt shaky, but I didn't cry at all. The girls helped as we gave the report about his health history.
They ended up needing a urine sample so they had to catheterize him, and he also had to get blood drawn and an i.v. started. The I.V. took forever, since he was so dehydrated at that point. They had to stick him at least 4 or 5 times to get the first needle in. They tried to draw blood but he just had so little to draw, it was clearly not good. They started the I.V. bolus to hydrate him and later were able to get the second I.V. line in, and it worked much better and they were able to get the blood they needed to run the tests. All this time, the girls were very helpful trying to help hold him down, gently but firmly so that he didn't' fight. Liam cried which made Sariah cry, she is still very sensitive to him and worries anytime he gets sick, that he will 'GET SICK' and here we are! Anyway, after a while, the girls were helping to hand stuff to the nurses, and picking up after them, and they were doing a great job helping out. The nurses all commented on how much help they were! and that they should train to be nurses...
The E.R. Doc had also asked me if he had had any diareah or anything unusual. I then recalled that on Thursday or something he had had a BM that had been very dark, almost Tarry looking. I didn't' give it a whole lot of thought at the time, as kids eat various things and then they will have a BM that is a strange or unusual color... So the Dr. also ordered a stool sample. They got that, and put it on the slide. They put the stuff on it and it immediately turned bright blue, meaning there was definitely blood in his stool. They ordered a CT scan and abdominal x-rays.
They got things ready and were going to admit us upstairs into the Pediatric ICU. I was actually amazingly calm throughout all of this. I guess, even though he was quite sick, they seemed to be giving us answers and talking to us more than they had when we went through the 'mystery diagnosis' 3 1/2 yrs ago with him. It had been so scary that time, as he had been so small - just 10 days old.
As we were about to be moved from the E.R. up to the PICU; Liam threw up again. It was thick and black, but definitely blood. They told us his hemoglobin levels were down to 4. (normal is 12). So they had us set up and he got a blood transfusion when we got upstairs. Dad and Brother L. arrived shortly after we arrived up in PICU. Liam had been asking for his daddy all day so far. (several times during the 2 1/2 hrs we'd been here). Dad and Bro. L gave Liam a blessing. Dad, mom and Liam stayed, and Amanda and Sariah gave hugs and kisses and then drove home with Bro. L. Later The girls came back with a change of clothes and some sweats to sleep in, and some toiletry items. I had sent home a partial list of a few things I needed, but they did a great job of thinking what we'd need immediately.
Liam had the pulse oximeter on his finger, a blood pressure cuff (on his ankle since his one arms was already immobilized), all the heart electrode leads to monitor heart rate, and breathing, then he had the I.V. going with a bag of fluid, and a bag of blood hooked up to two separate iv's and his little arm taped up and immobilized on a board thing. Along with all of this he has had a low grade fever most of the time we've been here. He has been pretty miserable and slept a lot, but he did get a bit more animated after he started to get the IV fluid and the blood transfusion. We knew he was coming around when the Dr. was standing talking with us, and I was sitting on the end of his bed. Liam told me to move, I couldn't figure out why, but then realized the t.v. was on the wall behind me, and I was blocking his vision and was in his way! He wanted to watch Hannah Montana that was on the t.v. ;-)
Well, it's been a long couple of days: Sunday he was doing better, and no longer critical, he was released out of PICU and able to go out to a regular room on the pediatric floor. That way he could have more visitors (ie:his sisters could some and dote on him all they wanted...) (the PICU Dr. even said that was definitely one of her considerations to releasing him to the ped's floor). There were/are plusses and minuses to that. Having been through this part of the Hospital once before, we knew that it was great news, as it meant he was doing so well, but also that we would have to deal with the staff. There is comfort in the continuity of care, of having basically one (or limited) care givers. They know the history, they know what they have been doing for you so far, and so can build on that base. When you are out on the floor, you have to deal with multiple care providers, interns and students. You have countless people coming in and out of your room, often in a large group. They ask irritating questions, such as, "what has he eaten recently?" or "How is he eating?" when he has NOT been ALLOWED to EAT Anything for several days!!! Just the mention of food in front of him is rough, since you have to tell him no he can't have anything, because someone else has brought it up in front of him? (Bill and I had been taking turns going out of his room to eat, so that we didn't make him feel bad, and want food he couldn't have!)
It is aggravating to have to retell his whole medical history every time someone walks in the room, since they have NO idea who he is or what his situation is and what his treatment is or should be!
Liam, doesn't always warm up to new people in new situations very well. For that matter, it often takes a while for him to warm up to people he knows! SO... here we are in this new environment where it is quite scary, and mostly horrible, since he has been poked and prodded, probed and annoyed. You have each new nurse or student, and each new set of Dr, and their entourage, of students, that comes in the room and expects him to talk and interact and be happy to see them or something! Liam has basically shut down or tried to ignore when this parade comes through his room. He doesn't look at them, more often than not he frowns, and often cries. Some of them have shown a bit more compassion than others, and we appreciate them! Others, we want to string up, or possibly draw and quarter...
The first day he got the two IV's in his little arm, and all the other yucky things that he had to go through. At least whenever they needed MORE blood from him for this test or that, all they had to do was to get it through one of the i.v. lines already in place. By Monday, that was no longer working. They had to get blood from a vein directly. Well, this is like a world wrestling federation wrestling match! I have generally been laying on the bed half on top of him trying to help hold/pin him down. Bill has had to help hold his arms or legs to keep tehm from flailing or kicking, and at least two nurses have to work on it. Along with all of this, he is screaming, in hysteria, that "you can't do this to me!", "STOP! You're Hurting me!" Owie, owie, owie!, etc. etc. It is awful! I understand that they need some of these tests, however, sometimes, I think it is still just to 'check' a box on a list somewhere, and doggone it! If you don't have your BEST person come to the room to do this to my kid and get him on the first stick, instead of after a minimum of three sticks for everything he's had done, I think I am going to LOSE it!
This morning they wanted another blood draw, to make sure his platelets were up and that his clotting was good before doing the procedure. The nurse in the middle of the night comes in and mentions to me, during one of the countless times they came in to take his temp, or get his Blood Pressure, that they had it scheduled for 2 a.m.! WHAT?!?!?! I asked how long it would take to get the results back, she said it would depend on who was in the lab, etc. but average, an hour. I said, His procedure today wasn't scheduled until around NOON! couldn't they wait until a more humane hour of the day to do this? especially since he was actually sleeping through, most of the BP and Temp checks. She was able to put it off until about 5 am, but still... Of course somewhere around 3 am, they decided his temp was up, and that he needed tylenol or motrin. Now, he's had a fever low grade, sometimes higher than others, since we got here, and he had up to this point only had tylenol or motrin administered twice. But this time all of the sudden he 'required' it right now! While he is sound asleep at 3 in the morning! SO, we got to wake him as they are trying to shove it down his throat, (squirt it, into his mouth), and he is fighting and spitting it out. Not so pleasant either.
The blood draw was horrible! They are telling us that the UAB Dr's (in charge of the Ped's floor) want two more blood draws from him (one today/tonight, and one int he morning). However the G.I. Dr. who did his actual procedures, told us he doesn't require any more at all. He told us he'd try to talk to them, but I don't know that it will do that much good. We can try to refuse, but it might get ugly.
Anyway, we have been through all sorts of crazy emotions! Fear being at the top of the list! I have been amazingly able to hold it together this time. I really like the t.v. show House, where people with strange illnesses come in and he and his team of Dr's try to figure out what the mystery diagnosis is to treat them or cure them or whatever it is. I however, really do NOT enjoy living an episode of the mystery illness show!
The original thought was a gastrointestinal bleed. Well, even that being the case, they had to find the reason for the bleed in the GI tract. The GI Dr. figured that if it was lower GI the blood wouldn't have made it's way back up to the upper GI tract to be able to be vomited out. Although he only vomited the two times, it was clearly (he thought) an upper GI bleed.
Saturday, until they thought they had a good idea what was causing the bleeding, and they didn't see any more fresh bleeding, they didn't want him to eat or drink anything. His poor little mouth was dry and his lips were getting a bit cracked. Bill asked me if I had any lip stuff, and the only one I had, that I had grabbed out of the van while we were on our way into the hosp, and I put it in my pocket was a lightly tinted frosty pink. We used it a few times on him since his little lips were so dry. After he threw up in the ER, Sariah got him a wash cloth to wash off his mouth and teeth, etc. When we were up in the PICU room, he asked for something to chew on. Several of us had been chewing gum, so I hoped that wasn't what he was referring to. He doesn't usually chew gum (hasn't figured out how to NOT swallow it yet). It occurred to me that he was chewing on things
Sunday evening, Liam was finally able to eat something, albeit, only a clear liquid diet. He hadn't eaten anything since sometime Friday afternoon. He had fallen asleep before we got the pizza for the birthday party girls. Bill asked him if he wanted soup to eat. When the 'soup' arrived and it was just broth and didn't have any NOODLES in it, Liam was pretty unhappy! Poor little guy! He did try to eat some of it, with his sisters encouragement, however, it was so strong and salty, that he really didn't eat very much of it, and he even started coughing, from drinking in the salt. Poor kid. He wanted food so bad!
Monday morning Dr. Mc did an endoscopy. Liam had a slight bit of sedation through his IV line, and the procedure to take pic's of his upper GI and stomach, took only about 4-5 minutes. What it showed, were viscosity's, of the esophagus. It was in actuality one of the things he was looking for, although we were really hoping it was just a bacterial infection that had caused an ulcer somewhere and would be an easy fix with some antibiotics and some antacids.
He surmised that the esophageal viscosity's were a result of something called 'cavernous transition of the portal vein'. This would be the lesser of the possibilities for the problem that he was having. So, he was sent for another C.T. scan, this time of his stomach instead of his head, to determine what the cause of the varices. Then we came upstairs and Liam was finally allowed to actually EAT something. Soft, but food, something he could actually chew on... Mac n' Cheese, Mashed potatoes (or as Liam decided, it was 'yucky stuff'),Rice, ICE CREAM, and Chocolate Milk are however his favorites!
We waited most of the day for the results from the C.T. scan. We asked the UAB Dr. if those results were back, and she said she'd check on them. She called Dr. Mc and he told her he'd come talk to us. When he came over to talk to us about the results, he said he really wasn't sure about them, since none of the three Pediatric Radiologists were working on Monday. He had gotten sort of second hand info that the Radiologist (who generally only works with adults,) didn't think he had seen what Dr. Mc had been looking for. Which was not exactly good news, he tried to lay everything out for us, saying he didn't see how it could be the worse situation with cirrhosis of the liver, which would require care at a bigger medical center either in Nashville at Vanderbilt or in Atlanta. But, since Liam did not have any jaundice or high bilirubin counts, or any other signs, he didn't see how that could be the cause.
Dr. Mc said he had called one of the ped. radiologists at home to have him take a look at the ct scan, but hadn't heard back from him yet, so he really hated to tell us any of this. We told him that we understood that, but that we'd been waiting all day and had sort of pushed him to tell us something before he had all the info he wanted in order to talk to us. While we were talking, he got a phone call from the ped radiologist. He went out into the hallway, to talk. While he was gone, Bill, who had been trying to hold it together all day just broke... he'd been reading on line all day about various scenarios, and he knew what cirrhosis meant, Liver Transplant. Which also could mean a lifetime of worry about rejection, if we even got a liver to be able to transplant, etc, etc. I amazingly felt a little numb, I don't know why, but I just couldn't let myself deal with that as a possibility, until I heard that there were no other possible causes, and solutions. Since Dr. Mc wasn't ready to give in and go with that diagnosis, neither was I.
When he came back in he told us good news: which is subjective, since it wasn't the best news we had hoped to get that morning originally, but the ped radiologist confirmed what Dr. Mc hoped/thought, that is was the cavernous transformation of the portal vein. Basically what he described this to be is that the vein(s) taking blood flow into the liver, is blocked, somehow. A jumbled mass/mess of veins. As a result, the extra blood that was not making it's way into the liver, was being shunted back up to the esophagus, and with that extra blood volume and pressure, the veins in the esophagus expanded. Since the esophagus is soft tissue, there is just not a lot of protection for those enlarged veins, and they can be scraped or scratched by hard foods, or just break open from the pressure on it's own.
What this meant, however, was to go back in and band the viscosity's (under surgery, although for an adult it would be a procedure done just like, and during the endoscopy, but since he is little, the tool to do the banding, is small enough to fit, however, it could compress the airway, and so it needed to be done in the O.R.). What he would be doing was to go in and essentially tie off the vein that was enlarged and cut of the blood supply to it, so that it would no longer be enlarged, and the blood flow would stay where it was supposed to be, and over time the body would self heal and actusally should grow other pathways for the veins to the liver. DUrring his first 10 years this should get better and he should have outgrown it. (We can hope anyway).
There were three varicose veins, but one was large, and the others are still a bit smaller and will have to be done at some time most likely over the next year or so. It is also likely that over the next couple of years he might end up having more varicosities form, and needing them to be banded as well. At least we know some symptoms and idea's to watch for if he has more of these that bleed and will get him to help imediately. The GI Dr. did say it is good that we don't live out in the toolies, so we would be far away from help if we needed it... but on the other hand he didn't act like we should be freaking out or anything.
This morning, after taking blood, which was a horrible fight, three pokes, as I already stated, we saw the UAB Dr, and entourage, and the Dr. wanted two more blood draws, one tonight, and one tomorrow morning. We did ask that IF we had to do it, we requested the Nurse Richard again, since he was so good. However, after the procedure, we talked to Dr. Mc about it. He didn't feel like he needed any more blood tests. He is only the 'consulting' Dr. so he can't write orders, but he can give his oppinions, etc. He did that, but it never got changed in the orders by the UAB Dr's. When the night nurse came on tonight, she talked to us, and we told her that we felt like if the Dr. who actually was caring for him, ie: doing the procedures, and treating him, didn't feel it was necessary to get more blood, then that was good enough for us.
Now we are just hoping that we don't have problems with being released to go home tomorrow.
Wednesday, we are supposed to go home. The Pediatric Radiologist did ask for an ultrasound in the morning, before we leave, so that he has a base line to start with so we have something to follow, as Liam grows and we can see if there are changes.
As we have been going through all of this, I am thankful for family and friends. For everyone who stepped in and helped. It really is wonderful to know I don't have to worry about my other kids, and that everyone and everything is being taken care of. I'm also thankful for those that helped with meals, for my family as well as for us here. I'm also thankful to all those who were so willing to help. I am thankful for modern technology, and the ability of the Dr's to find and fix what is wrong. I am also thankful for technology and for being able to put Rebekah on video phone on the computer so that she can interact with Liam, and sing him songs and try to help him feel better, even though she is far away.
I am so thankful for prayer, and for all the many, many prayers that have been going out for Liam and my family. For family and friends, across the country and around the globe that have been praying for us, and also for those who have put Liam's name on the temple prayer rolls. And for friends of friends or family who have also been praying for my little man!
Well, that's most of the story... I have taken lots of pic's to document this newest adventure in our lives, and one day hope to get some of them put on here.
As for now, we had to plead, beg, fight, cajole and bribe Liam to finally get a dose of motrin into him earlier. It was about an hour process. After which, I told him he could have more ice cream, although he's had several different kinds today already. ;-) He finally took it, and then got to watch more movies, and daddy read him books, and I fed him ice cream! What a life... if only, he wasn't hurting, misserable, and in a hospital!
Friday, February 27, 2009
On the mend???
We've had some strange virus running through our house this week. Sariah was hit sunday through Tuesday, Amanda was tuesday through thursday, I was hit wed, thurs, last night Liam seemed to be comming down with it, and Bill this morning felt it coming on...
For some of my family it started with a slight headache, for me it started with a slight cough, followed by fever and chills, and body aches, including joint pain, followed up by coughing...
I'm not real big into thermometers, so I never took Sariah's temp to see exactly what was going on with her, but Amanda wanted confirmation that she was sick... so we took hers, and it ran 102. the day she had the highest fever. She insisted on taking my temp as well, but I just felt like crap and didn't have a fever yet... (if anything I was low... 97. degrees) the following day I ran a fever soaking my clothes with sweat, and chills, I just couldn't get warm enough. Liam had a fever last night, and this morning and I got him to take some tylenol. he isn't warm now, but his eyes do not look good (like he's drugged - but not from the tylenol dose hours ago...), he is be bopping around however, whereas, Sariah, Amanda, and I all spent a day or more in a half coma, sleeping (fitfully) for the majority of the time. perhaps Liam did some of that last night when he came and snuggled in bed with me for several hours (late in the afternoon/eve). I was honestly too out of it, to have noticed much more than that he was snuggled up to me. Today I just have a bad cough, and total body aches... some from laying in bed/or on the couch for the past couple of days, and I feel like my ribs are bruised from the coughing... definitely NO fun!!! (I wonder how much weight I've lost - and if I could keep it off - since I've eaten next to NOTHING for the past three days).
Bill asked me this morning how long he had till he was bad enough he'd be in the half coma since he had the head ache... he had a job interview this morning, and didn't want to put it off. Now I guess he'll be out of it for the next couple of days, and then we just have three more kids to get through it... so much for fun weekend plans. at least we didn't already pay for tickets to the circus we might not be able to use.
For some of my family it started with a slight headache, for me it started with a slight cough, followed by fever and chills, and body aches, including joint pain, followed up by coughing...
I'm not real big into thermometers, so I never took Sariah's temp to see exactly what was going on with her, but Amanda wanted confirmation that she was sick... so we took hers, and it ran 102. the day she had the highest fever. She insisted on taking my temp as well, but I just felt like crap and didn't have a fever yet... (if anything I was low... 97. degrees) the following day I ran a fever soaking my clothes with sweat, and chills, I just couldn't get warm enough. Liam had a fever last night, and this morning and I got him to take some tylenol. he isn't warm now, but his eyes do not look good (like he's drugged - but not from the tylenol dose hours ago...), he is be bopping around however, whereas, Sariah, Amanda, and I all spent a day or more in a half coma, sleeping (fitfully) for the majority of the time. perhaps Liam did some of that last night when he came and snuggled in bed with me for several hours (late in the afternoon/eve). I was honestly too out of it, to have noticed much more than that he was snuggled up to me. Today I just have a bad cough, and total body aches... some from laying in bed/or on the couch for the past couple of days, and I feel like my ribs are bruised from the coughing... definitely NO fun!!! (I wonder how much weight I've lost - and if I could keep it off - since I've eaten next to NOTHING for the past three days).
Bill asked me this morning how long he had till he was bad enough he'd be in the half coma since he had the head ache... he had a job interview this morning, and didn't want to put it off. Now I guess he'll be out of it for the next couple of days, and then we just have three more kids to get through it... so much for fun weekend plans. at least we didn't already pay for tickets to the circus we might not be able to use.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Sicko's
This has been a week of sickness. Marissa woke up the other morning and didn't complain, was getting ready for school, crying all the while. She didn't have any symptons at the time of anything other than her head/neck hurt. He thought perhaps she had slept weird and had a crik in her neck or something. Bill told her, he couldn't possibly send her to school like that! So he kept her home. He had an appointment across the street and wasn't leaving till 10:30, and if she was feeling better by then he'd take her to school then. As the day progressed she got more and more misserable. She started burning up with a fever! She didn't eat anything all day, after breakfast, and she slept a lot. Day two she woke up and was sort of feeling better in general, but then said her head hurt worse than the day before. She went from fever to chills again. Today was day three for her. She had much more energy today but still didn't feel great, and had a little bit of a fever again this eveing. (a side note... this morning Marissa's teacher called from school to check up on her and see what was going on. I thought that was very, very sweet of her.)
Yesterday Sariah came home from school, went upstairs and fell asleep. She slept off and on all afternoon and had a bit of a head ache (she felt it if she was awake, but she didn't notice it if she was asleep). By bedtime she had a fever as well. She stayed home from school today.
Rebekah has been having asthma issues for about 3 weeks now. It has been getting worse little by little each week. This week she had already gone to the Dr. for it once, then last night she almost wanted us to take her to the ER. We put a call in to our Dr. who helped reassure us that she was having pain so it was hard to breathe, but not because she was unable to breathe... this morning she went in to the Dr. again. She was sent for an EKG and a chest x-rays, and given another new prescription. it did seem to help her by this afternoon. We got a phone call from our Dr. and she said the xrays and ekg were fine. She possibly has a bit of pleurisy - which is painful irritaion or infection of the lining of the lungs. This is not helpful when you have asthma to begin with. So... she ended up home from school today.
Last night when we were dealing wth Sariah and Marissa being feverish, Amanda started having a head ache as well, and I felt her and thought she might be a bit warm, we gave her tylenol, and she went to bed. It seemed like everyone was going to be sick today and stay home from school, except for Hannah... Amanda however got up and felt better, adnhad a test in a class she didn't want to miss and have to make up, so she went to school. Dad went ahead and let hannah stay home today as well, since it almost seemed like a party (not a happy party, but a lazy day party...) today. Also, Bill leaves for Germany tomorrow, so he has taken the day off to get ready to go and figured we'd all spend a little time together.
Liam isn't sick yet, but he's home with me every day, however he has these foot pains... last night was a LOOOOONG night with Liam. Some times I can get him to take tylenol, most of the time not, especially in the middle of the night when he is already half asleep but awake and screaming crying and whining and begging/insisting on me rubbing his foot! Sometimes I try to get him to take it before bed (but it's hard to know, I don't want to drug him to sleep for no good reason, but if he has been jumping or running outside without shoes or something I can almost guarantee that his foot will hurt in the middle of the night), so I try to get him to drink some 'grape juice' (grape flavored liquid tylenol).
Hopefully everyone will get better and we'll have an uneventful week while Bill is in Europe.
Yesterday Sariah came home from school, went upstairs and fell asleep. She slept off and on all afternoon and had a bit of a head ache (she felt it if she was awake, but she didn't notice it if she was asleep). By bedtime she had a fever as well. She stayed home from school today.
Rebekah has been having asthma issues for about 3 weeks now. It has been getting worse little by little each week. This week she had already gone to the Dr. for it once, then last night she almost wanted us to take her to the ER. We put a call in to our Dr. who helped reassure us that she was having pain so it was hard to breathe, but not because she was unable to breathe... this morning she went in to the Dr. again. She was sent for an EKG and a chest x-rays, and given another new prescription. it did seem to help her by this afternoon. We got a phone call from our Dr. and she said the xrays and ekg were fine. She possibly has a bit of pleurisy - which is painful irritaion or infection of the lining of the lungs. This is not helpful when you have asthma to begin with. So... she ended up home from school today.
Last night when we were dealing wth Sariah and Marissa being feverish, Amanda started having a head ache as well, and I felt her and thought she might be a bit warm, we gave her tylenol, and she went to bed. It seemed like everyone was going to be sick today and stay home from school, except for Hannah... Amanda however got up and felt better, adnhad a test in a class she didn't want to miss and have to make up, so she went to school. Dad went ahead and let hannah stay home today as well, since it almost seemed like a party (not a happy party, but a lazy day party...) today. Also, Bill leaves for Germany tomorrow, so he has taken the day off to get ready to go and figured we'd all spend a little time together.
Liam isn't sick yet, but he's home with me every day, however he has these foot pains... last night was a LOOOOONG night with Liam. Some times I can get him to take tylenol, most of the time not, especially in the middle of the night when he is already half asleep but awake and screaming crying and whining and begging/insisting on me rubbing his foot! Sometimes I try to get him to take it before bed (but it's hard to know, I don't want to drug him to sleep for no good reason, but if he has been jumping or running outside without shoes or something I can almost guarantee that his foot will hurt in the middle of the night), so I try to get him to drink some 'grape juice' (grape flavored liquid tylenol).
Hopefully everyone will get better and we'll have an uneventful week while Bill is in Europe.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Bitten by a bug...
I woke up yesterday and knew things weren't going to be good. I just didn't feel good. Bill brought me breakfast in bed, and though I tried to eat it, I just couldn't. (Sariah talked him ino making breakfast this past week so they ate well before teh SAT's) (not just cold cereal - mom is a cold cereal type unless it's brunch - but I don't cook breakfast).
Shortly after everyone left for the day I started getting sick. I read someone else's blog once titled Pass the bowl please... does that ever describe my day! In between being sick - running with the bucket for the bathroom - locking Liam out in the process - I didn't NEED any help! I would lay down on his bean bag chair in his room and try to keep him company, while he played, or lay in my bed and put on cartoons for him to watch. He kept jumping on me - which was seriously unpleasant, especially when he thought it was fun to climb on my head! YIKES!!! I tipped him off onto the big pile of covers on the bed and he thought that was a great game and continued to climb and jump on me! Then he went and got his Noah's Ark and brought it in to play on top of me as well. I just tried to endure it. At one point I had my eyes closed and afer what felt like a long time I looked at the clock hoping the day was passing quickly and I could count on the girls to arrive home from school before too terribly long. It was somewhere between 10:30 and 11 am. I truely didn't know how I was going to handle it. I had previously called Bill while I lay in bed and asked him to make a few phone calls for me, to cancel some appointments that I had planned for the day.
As I lay there in misery, I noticed something and then heard Liam say dada! He came home around 11:30 am.
Oh, I was so greatful for a sweet husband who heard my misery, even when I had asked nothing more than for him to make a couple of phone calls, he came home to take care of Liam (entertain him) and take care of me. He got Liam to sleep for a nap, and once the girls came home from school, they played with him as well.
They also spent some time playing outside in the pouring down rain! As a mom I hate the wet messes that this brings, but, the neighborhood kids sure seemed to have fun (from what I was told). After warm baths and showers, they setteled in to play Wii and other board games and watch movies. I spent the whole day basically in bed. My body and joints hurt so much from just laying there. I finally stopped hurling and eventually towards night time was able to keep a little something down. When I finally decided I wanted some chicken noodle soup to eat, Bill realized we were all out (the kids take soup for lunch at school frequently). I had him contact Rebekah who was sweet and went and bought me several can's of various chicken noodle soup varieties on her way home from work at 9 pm.
Though today I don't feel fantastic, I at least don't feel sick any more. yay! Now I just hope I don't pass it along to my family or anyone else. I haven't felt that ill in a long time!
A funny from yesterday... Bill was reading the third book in a series I had previously read, and made a comment. I told him he could read outloud to me (since the thought of trying to focus my eyes and read a book of my own didn't appeal to me at all...) so that I would know what he was currently reading, and give my mind something to do... he told me he loved me but that was asking too much! ;-) He suggested I watch movie or something on t.v. I said there was undoubtedly nothing worth watching on... he turned it on and started flipping channels. eh ended up on Pride and Predjudice. I have to admit that I had never actually watched it ever. GASP!!!!! I know! I'm not very up on classic literature... I know many of my friends love the book and movie(s), I just have never goten into them. Well, I watched Pride and Predjudice and quite enjoyed it, and it makes me want to read the book, since surely there were parts that were missed or conversaitions or thoughts that are more fully expressed in the book but couldn't be fully shown or developed in the movie. So, if nothing else... I had something good come out of laying in bed sick for hours and hours, I was able to expand my literary experience. :-) I would have to say I'd rather open myself to literature, in a better state of health than I was yesterday!
Shortly after everyone left for the day I started getting sick. I read someone else's blog once titled Pass the bowl please... does that ever describe my day! In between being sick - running with the bucket for the bathroom - locking Liam out in the process - I didn't NEED any help! I would lay down on his bean bag chair in his room and try to keep him company, while he played, or lay in my bed and put on cartoons for him to watch. He kept jumping on me - which was seriously unpleasant, especially when he thought it was fun to climb on my head! YIKES!!! I tipped him off onto the big pile of covers on the bed and he thought that was a great game and continued to climb and jump on me! Then he went and got his Noah's Ark and brought it in to play on top of me as well. I just tried to endure it. At one point I had my eyes closed and afer what felt like a long time I looked at the clock hoping the day was passing quickly and I could count on the girls to arrive home from school before too terribly long. It was somewhere between 10:30 and 11 am. I truely didn't know how I was going to handle it. I had previously called Bill while I lay in bed and asked him to make a few phone calls for me, to cancel some appointments that I had planned for the day.
As I lay there in misery, I noticed something and then heard Liam say dada! He came home around 11:30 am.
Oh, I was so greatful for a sweet husband who heard my misery, even when I had asked nothing more than for him to make a couple of phone calls, he came home to take care of Liam (entertain him) and take care of me. He got Liam to sleep for a nap, and once the girls came home from school, they played with him as well.
They also spent some time playing outside in the pouring down rain! As a mom I hate the wet messes that this brings, but, the neighborhood kids sure seemed to have fun (from what I was told). After warm baths and showers, they setteled in to play Wii and other board games and watch movies. I spent the whole day basically in bed. My body and joints hurt so much from just laying there. I finally stopped hurling and eventually towards night time was able to keep a little something down. When I finally decided I wanted some chicken noodle soup to eat, Bill realized we were all out (the kids take soup for lunch at school frequently). I had him contact Rebekah who was sweet and went and bought me several can's of various chicken noodle soup varieties on her way home from work at 9 pm.
Though today I don't feel fantastic, I at least don't feel sick any more. yay! Now I just hope I don't pass it along to my family or anyone else. I haven't felt that ill in a long time!
A funny from yesterday... Bill was reading the third book in a series I had previously read, and made a comment. I told him he could read outloud to me (since the thought of trying to focus my eyes and read a book of my own didn't appeal to me at all...) so that I would know what he was currently reading, and give my mind something to do... he told me he loved me but that was asking too much! ;-) He suggested I watch movie or something on t.v. I said there was undoubtedly nothing worth watching on... he turned it on and started flipping channels. eh ended up on Pride and Predjudice. I have to admit that I had never actually watched it ever. GASP!!!!! I know! I'm not very up on classic literature... I know many of my friends love the book and movie(s), I just have never goten into them. Well, I watched Pride and Predjudice and quite enjoyed it, and it makes me want to read the book, since surely there were parts that were missed or conversaitions or thoughts that are more fully expressed in the book but couldn't be fully shown or developed in the movie. So, if nothing else... I had something good come out of laying in bed sick for hours and hours, I was able to expand my literary experience. :-) I would have to say I'd rather open myself to literature, in a better state of health than I was yesterday!
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