Ears, Noses and Throats

OMG, we've been tots MIA because life has been cray-cray!!!  Prepare yourself for some blog dumping again.

The day after Jared and I got back from DR, I took both kids to the ENT doctor.  Harris had basically had ear infections since August and with Harper's snoring and EXTREMELY loud breathing, our pediatrician said we might as well take them both in to get checked out.  Sure enough, Harris was put on the books for tubes the next week.  And we were told Harper was a text book case for tubes and getting her tonsils and adenoids out.  Perfect.

Cito had his procedure on Friday, Janaury 25.  Other than having to be up at the crack of dawn with an infant that was hungry and couldn't eat, his procedure was pretty much a breeze.  We were scheduled for 8am, had to be there by 6am and we were out and home by 9am.  He was pretty grumpy from the anethesia and only wants Jared when he doesn't feel good so they got some extra snuggling in.  We came home, he conked out for a few hours and by the time he woke up from his nap, he was golden!  

Early morning and ready for the tubes

Post-Tubes Snuggle

We had about a week of blissful sleep from him and quickly realized the power of the tubes.  

Harper's was scheduled for Wednesday, February 6 at 1pm.  Sure enough, Harris became crazy sick that Tuesday.  He started running 102 fever which didn't break until the following Saturday.  Not only that but he is pretty pitiful when he's sick and then broke out in a horrible rash.  We had three visits to the pediatrician that week but it was just a virus that had to run it's course so there wasn't much we could do.  Our sleepless nights started with him on Monday.

Not feeling so hot

On Wednesday, Jared, Harper and I headed to the hospital for her surgery   Since she was getting tonsils out, she had to spend the night in the hospital.  She couldn't eat at all that day and was actually great until 1pm when her surgery was scheduled.  Unfortunately, the doctors were running late so she didn't get started until 2:30pm but thank goodness for nurses that noticed she was getting fussy and offered us a lovely drug cocktail to knock her silly.  Um, hysterical and yes I took videos that I might have to show at her rehearsal dinner one day.  

Arriving at the hospital and thinking this whole thing was pretty fun

Off she goes!

Overall, the surgery took about an hour and a half.  She was pretty miserable the rest of that day but slept like a log that night.  I had the pleasure of sleeping on the fold out chair at the hospital but was happy I could be there for my sweet girl.  She woke up Thursday morning starving, polished off ice cream, scrambled eggs and jello for breakfast and we packed up to head up.  

Recovery

When awake, she kept trying to cover up her IV with her short sleeveed hospital gown

Ready to go home

Harps did great for the first couple of days but then really kind of fell apart just as Harris was starting to feel better.  The doctors told us to expect for her to get worse before she got better so we braced ourselves for an uncomfortable few days.  She was waking up crying about 3-4 times a night.  We also had to keep her out of school for a week and on very minimal activity for 2-3 weeks.  Try explaining that to a two year old.  

A bubble bath makes everything better - shortly after this she said to me "I tinkle in the bubble bath Mommy!"

On Friday after her surgery, Jared had to travel for work.  Harris was still sick and miserable and Harper was feeling like doodoo.  We had also been cooped up in the house for two days so, in an act of desperation, we actually made a trip to the grocery store....at 5:30pm....on a Friday.  Yes, it was that bad.

Don't they look thrilled to be there?

But as of yesterday, everyone seems to have turned a corner.  Harper went back to preschool today and Harris has been great all week.  Harps is still on limited activity but we're able to get out and get some fresh air.  Now we've run into the problem that everyone seems to have forgotten how to sleep around our house.  Harris got use to a 3am feeding when he was sick and Harper got use to having her mommy or daddy come sleep with her and rub her back when she was crying in the middle of the night.  Needless to say, Jared and I are walking around a bit zombie-like these days so I think I see sleep training in our very near future.  Wish us luck!

Out for Frozen Yogurt

Double Sicky Lickies

I'm not a fan of cold and flu season.  We seem to be in this repetitive sick cycle recently.  One kid catches something and, sure enough, within a few days the other has it.  No surprise when they basically drool all over each other.  But this last week has been a doozy.

Both kids are teething so it's hard to tell what's teeth and what's something else.  They were both a little off on Saturday and Sunday - nothing crazy, just a little funky.  No temps but not sleeping or eating great.  I decided to take the kids in to the doctor on Monday.  Turns out they both had double ear infections and, according to Dr. Neiheisel, "by the looks of their ears, they must be in a lot of pain".  Awesome.  Parenting fail.  And Cito's had this persistent cough and wheezing for about 5 months now so we've unofficially been labeled as possible asthma.  Great.  And after two days of the antibiotics, Harper now has a yeast infection.  Perfect.  And Jared is out of town for all of this with work.  Fantastic.  

Stay positive, stay positive, stay positive. 

Sicky Licky

Double ear infection, double eye infection, fever and a bad cold - you'd never guess it by the smile on this kid's face.  He was definitely off from his normal self but Sick Cito is still my precious smiley boy.  And a few days of antibiotics and he's back to normal - thank you amoxicillin!

Stricken with Roseola

After 3 days of a low grade fever, (which I was attributing to the molar that appeared out of nowhere) Harper woke up with this rash covering her torso and neck.




I had a minor freak out and Saturday visit to Dr. Neheisel only to be told, "Don't worry, it's roseola. The majority of children get it before they turn 4".

So we now have a child with a rash that's spread to her face, two half front teeth, two full bottom teeth and one molar. She's looking a little like a rotting Halloween pumpkin but don't worry, she's not contagious anymore!

The Account of the Appendix - The Long Version

I woke up on Wednesday morning at 4am with stomach cramps. I had made chicken the night before and, since my cooking skills can still be a bit questionable, I thought maybe I hadn't cooked the chicken enough.

I got up that morning and still had some cramping but decided to take the girl out and tackle some hills with Lisa and Field. The exercise felt like it did me some good so when we got home, the Squirrel and I headed to the grocery.

As the day went on, the cramping started getting worse, started moving more into my pelvis and I started feeling sick to my stomach. I pulled out my handy dandy WebMD app and started checking out my symptoms when I came across appendicitis.

"The main symptom of appendicitis is belly pain. Many people feel the first pain near the belly button. Then it moves to the lower right side of the belly. You may also have a fever or feel sick to your stomach.

Sometimes the only symptom is a general feeling of not being well and a pain that is hard to describe. The pain in your belly may be different than any pain you have had before. It may be severe. Or it may not seem like a very strong pain, but you may have the feeling that something is wrong. Trust your instincts."

Ok. Hmmm. If it looks like and duck and sounds like a duck...

So I love husband. Very much. But we are VERY different when it comes to feeling sick. Jared has a runny nose and he can't get out of bed and is writhing in pain, unable to lift a finger. I don't like being sick so I just tend to ignore it. I let Jar know I was feeling a little off that morning. When I put the Squirrel down for a nap and was starting to feel worse, I decided to lay down myself and let him know it was getting a little worse. Jared had had a pretty busy morning and had wrapped everything up by about 3pm. The girl started waking up from her nap and the hubs came in to let me know he was going to go hit some golf balls.....really? Um, sure. Don't worry, I'll get the girl. So off he went, the girl got up fully rested from her nap and ready to play, and there I was, not really able to get off the couch from pain. Awesome.

Needless to say, when Jared got home an hour and a half later, I wasn't quite functioning. But as a mom, you do what you've gotta do, right? I let the hubs know I thought there was something seriously wrong. It was close to 5pm and I wouldn't have made it to the doctor in time so I decided to head to the Urgent Care. I love my mom because I'll never stop being her little girl. I called to let her know I was headed to get things checked out and she came straight over to take me so I wouldn't be alone. After seeing the nurse and the doctor for about 5 minutes at the Urgent Care, I was on my way to the ER. Now I probably should have just headed there right away but I hate the ER and was trying to avoid it at all costs.

So here's where it gets good. I walk in and they get me back pretty quickly. But as I'm standing there, this pregnant lady walks in right behind me. She's probably 35, slender and I'd guess about 6-7 months pregnant. She says to the lady at the desk that she's having some swelling in her belly and some pains.

Lady behind the desk: "So how far along are you?"

Pregnant lady: "What do you mean?

Lady behind the desk: "Are you pregnant?"

Pregnant lady: "Oh, no! I'm just having swelling."

Me to myself: "What?!?!?! Um, sister, that's not just bloating. Have you ever seen that show on TLC, I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant??? Where are the camera crews because this lady is the next star?"

I didn't see pregnant lady again but I did overhear the nurses talking about the patient that didn't know she was pregnant. I bet I can guess who that was.

So I get back into a room with two other beds. After being there for about an hour, a man who's nose looks like it exploded plops down in the bed next to me. I hear his graphic story about 5 times as he retold it to each doctor and nurse, including the words blood gushing, blood pouring, blood everywhere, accompanied by snorting and sniffing of said blood back up his nostrils. I thought that I was going to pass out and that my mom was going to hurl. Very long story short, dude had nose surgery on Monday. That day he was driving home, blacked out and ran his car into his neighbor's house. Got brought to the ER, found a hematoma in his nose, cut it out (hence the gushing blood), was leaving the ER, sneezed and, in his words, "torpedo shot the nose tampons out of his nose". Further gushing ensued and he now was my roommate. Awesome.

By 1am, I had an ultrasound and an MRI and was finally settled in a room. When it looked like I wouldn't be going anywhere soon, Jared and my mom switched duties and he spent the night up at Methodist with me.



Surgery took place at 11am on Thursday and after a long wait and a really bad nurse in recovery, I was settled back in my room minus an organ by 3pm.

We spent last night up at Methodist but just got back home and I plan on taking it easy the next few days.

So that's the long and lengthy account of the appendix. There's a little more to the story but we'll get in to that later.

RSV is the pits!

Harper modeling the latest in emergency room fashion


Yes, that's right. RSV as in Respiratory Syncytial Virus. Ugh!

Harps started off Wednesday just a little funky. She was pretty sluggish and she was having a bit of a "diva day". By Thursday, she sounded like an 80 year old smoker with a heavy cough and on Friday, we had a nose gushing with snot. After a couple of calls to Dr. McCray's office, we had Harper sleeping on an angle, a humidifier in the room and started her on Zyrtec. Through the weekend, she continued to get worse and by Sunday after church, she was wheezing and throwing up. Awesome.

I made a call to the on-call pediatrician to see if we could wait it out until we could get into Dr. McCray today. No such luck. With Harper's wheezing and throwing up, the on-call doc wanted the Squirrel checked out pretty quickly. Jared was scheduled to play golf with a client who was in town for a hotel show so I made the call to Honey and off to the ER we went.

Now if its been awhile since you've been to an ER, or even better a Children's ER, you can practically feel the germs sticking to you when you walk in the door. There we were, sitting amongst a crowd excellent for people watching, with antibacterial gel and wipes armed and ready. After two hours of waiting, we saw the doctor and Harper tested positive for RSV. We got home, stripped ourselves from every piece of clothing (due to the ER a.k.a. vat o' germs) and scrubbed down to get the germs off. Harps went down for the night around 7pm and then at 7:30pm, my daughter who rarely cries, wailed for two hours straight. M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E.

I got her in to see Dr. McCray today and turns out she's developed an ear infection as well - fantastic! We now have a barrage of supplies that are being shoved in her mouth, nose and ears, including but not limited to amoxicillin, acetaminophen, Boogie Wipes, electric nasal aspirator (if you don't have one of these and you have a baby, get one!), ear numbing drops, vitamins, saline spray, saline mist and Pedialyte.

And to top it off, since the Squirrel hit 3 months, I do a tooth check every day. Due to the recent sickness, I've withheld my finger from her gums. Wouldn't you know it that I scooped a little medicine dribbling down her chin back into her mouth
and, low and behold, there's a tooth coming through! No wonder she's so uncomfortable. You would be too if you had all of that going on at one time. I'm going to start carrying a piece of wood around my neck to have handy for knocking - Jared and I literally had a conversation on Tuesday about how lucky we'd been on her lack of getting sick, unrelated to belly issues.

I'm now reporting this after tonight's meltdown but I think we've numbed her up enough for the night that she can no longer feel her face. I'm hoping we'll start seeing some improvement over the next 24 hours since RSV is suppose to peak after 5 days. Fingers crossed!

And I'm a little late but I'd like to give a big "Welcome to the World!" to Tommy Musselman (congratulations Callie, JB and big brother Sunny) and August Berchelmann (congratulations Lauren, Stephen and big sister Gretchen)!

Responsive Doctors

Harper on her morning walk


Today I am thankful for our doctors that respond so quickly when we need them. That being said, Harper has had an interesting twenty-four hours.

Jared had to travel for work so Harper and I had dinner with Honey and Grandy last night. When we got home, I got Harper's bath ready. I always take her O dressing off last, just before taking off her diaper so that she doesn't get too cold. When I took the Co-Flex (top bandage) off, I noticed that the gauze wrap underneath was bloody. This was a first. We've also been noticing a goopy area that has been slowly increasing in goopiness over the last week. Well, last night the goopy was extreme goopy. After a momentary panic, I took a picture and texted it to Jared for some input. I then called my parents who were at the house in about a minute, followed by a call to our pediatrician's office. Fortunately, we had a check-up appointment with Dr. McCray already scheduled for today. The pediatrician on-call first told me that I needed to head straight to the ER. We talked this through for a little while since the ER was the last place I wanted us to be. I envisioned that turning into a complete nightmare. Once he realized that I had the situation under control, he said I could wait the twelve hours until our appointment but needed to check Harper through out the night to make sure she wasn't still bleeding, running a fever or noticing a change in her temperament. As you can imagine, this made for a lovely night's worth of sleep for me! Steve let me borrow my mom for the night so we had a girl's sleep over, just in case we had to make a midnight run to the hospital.
She slept much better than I did

Harps made it just fine through the night so off to Dr. McCray's we went this morning. Here's the appointment in a nutshell:
The blood wasn't a concern. This seemed to be caused from some of her scabbing ripping off a little earlier that planned. The goopiness is a concern. There are two areas to watch so we've cultured the goop (and yes, goop is my medical term) and are waiting for the results. Dr. McCray made a call to Dr. Cass, our pediatric surgeon in Houston for some input. I'll get to those details in a second. Harper's weight gain is "adequate". Ugh, I don't like adequate. This is coming from an A student. I like A+'s. Adequate is more like a C-. Not failing but not great. She's 10 lbs 12 oz and has dropped back into the 12th percentile so we're going to discuss a little more weight gain strategy at her 4 month appointment.

Harpie and I headed back home to wait for some input. We got a call from Dr. Cass this afternoon wanting to know the details. After a goop explanation, we discussed trying a new strategy. The new plan? Re-start the betadine treatment each night until the goop clears. Continue to wrap the O with the Co-Flex but use telfa (a non-stick pad - kind of like the cotton part of a band-aid) before applying the gauze so that the goop isn't drying on the gauze and then pulling off the scab. We'd prefer the scab to fall off naturally than to be pulled off. Once we are goop-free, we are going to start using silvadene. Silvadene or Silver sulfadiazine is a cream often used on burn victims. It kills a wide variety of bacteria but will keep the omphalocele wet whereas the betadine was a drying agent. We're also pushing our visit to Houston up so it looks like we'll be headed back in the next couple of weeks as opposed to the beginning of December. Dr. Cass wants to check out the O in person and make sure we're on the right path.

So today, I am thankful that we have doctors who responded so quickly, made Harper a priority in their day and put this mom's mind at ease.