3/9/13: RSV for me

hubby says i sound like miley cyrus. pretty sure that's not a complement. thanks rsv.

2/26/13: Surgery consult

VCD better.

still taking prune juice and miralax cocktail once per day.  it's not as bad as it was to start, but i wouldn't go as far to say I liked it. ;)

I had a surgery consult on Monday and the surgeon thinks there is an 80-85% chance that if I get my gallbladder out that it will take away my pain and nausea.  He also made the surgery seem like no big deal...out patient procedure, leave hospital anywhere from an hour to four hours after surgery. No lift restrictions. No prep for surgery.  Same surgeon that took Dave's appendix out.

Anyhow, we're praying about it but leaning towards that since I'm really sick of feeling sick (and so is Dave!). 

2/12/13: Too much health info info :)

So last week I started to feel like it was hard to breath, like someone was sitting on my chest...like my shirt was too tight.  I took my asthma meds and there was no relief.  It got worse Sunday so Monday morning I got in to see the allergist.  Because my lung function tests were good, she suspected my vocal cords.  She put a camera up my nose and I was diagnosed with Vocal Cord Dysfunction.  Anyhow, the only cure is to go to speech therapy, one that specializes in VCD, to learn how to open up my vocal cords so that they let air in.  The doctor said that a number of things can cause it, including stress, post nasal drip (which she said I had a ton of), and acid reflux.  I'm already on meds (pantoprazol & pepcid) that would treat acid reflux because of my GI stuff.  Now I'm taking Mucinex on top of that for the post nasal drip and I'm supposed to do daily nasal rinses as well.

Anyhow, just wanted to keep you all up to date on my latest medical issues. :) You can pray that the therapy helps asap.  My first session is Thursday afternoon.

I also met with my GI doctor again yesterday and he thinks it's most likely not my gallbladder.  He thinks his original diagnosis is correct, which was some fancy term for stomach bug triggered GI issues that eventually resolve over time.  There now seems to be a 4ish week cycle to my issues, starting with sudden onset of nausea and stomach pain that can last for weeks.  This last time, the nausea only lasted 5 days but the stomach pain has lingered.  We're trying to get my constipation under control too (something that I never had a problem with before so I think it's all linked together).  I'm just started my regiment of 4 oz of prune juice per day to help with that after much convincing by the doctor.  Let me just say that it is nasty!!!

Okay, now I think y'all have the whole scoop!

7/20/12: C's trip to the ER

When we got home from our trip to the Tetons Monday, Elodie sounded sick, with a headache and stuffy nose.  Tuesday, she had a runny nose and by Tuesday night, Callen had caught it and woke up almost every hour all night long.  Wednesday, he had a runny nose and cough but seemed otherwise okay.  Wednesday night, we were in his room like ten or fifteen times between 8pm and 11pm.  I heard him around 5:30am and when went into get him, his breathing just didn't seem right at all.  Callen was asking for (coconut) milk so we went downstairs to get it and then brought it up to sit in our room to drink it.  I asked Dave, "how long has he been like this?" and Dave said, "for about an hour."  I was very concerned.  His chest was heaving in and out rapidly and he sounded wheezy.  After sitting with both me and Dave, Callen threw up his bottle of milk. After cleaning him up and everything else up, we went down stairs and it was 7am.  I was still worried because he seemed so lethargic and I knew that was something to be concerned about.  I was debating whether to wait to take him to his doctor at 8am when they opened or just take him to the ER, and if the ER, Avista or Children's.  I finally decided Children's hospital so I ran upstairs to change quickly and gather a food bag from him since I knew from experience to prepare to be there awhile.  Then we were off.

There was someone checking in when we got there so I had to wait.  Then I checked in with his insurance card and the lady said the respiratory therapist would come listen to him to see if he could jump ahead in line.  Well the respiratory therapist came out and didn't even listen to him.  He just took us straight back, had Callen stand on the scale to be weighed, and then took us into a room where a nurse was already waiting for us.  They immediately asked me questions, as we undressed him to put a pulse-ox on him, I realized how bad Callen was and that I should have taken him in much sooner.  The muscles under his rib cage would suck up and under his ribs, the skin between his ribs sucked in.  He looked like a starving child from a third-world country.  God totally protected Callen because he could have gone into respiratory failure before we got there.  Anyhow, after they gave him a neubulizer treatment, he got a chest x-ray to rule out anything more serious.  He was so good and sat exactly how he was supposed to.  I think he was just so sick that he did it.  He also oral steroids, and albuterol inhaler and the doctor said he sounded better but she was still unhappy with how he looked.   Plus, he had gotten really hot and lethargic after his treatment.  So she ordered a double round of neubulizer treatment and another albuterol inhaler.  After 6 hours there, he was finally discharged with orders to take albuterol every 4-6 hours, including through the night, for the next 48 hours and oral steroids twice per day for four days.

He got a puppy from the x-ray tech.  You can almost see the blue oxygen tube that they taped to the blanket.

Hard to take a good photo of him without me in it when he sat on my lap for the entire 6 hours.

Today he seemed much better and was running around again.  He's been taking his medicines like a champ.

can't stay still for a photo

This is what happens when you have an older sister.  You ask to wear tutus and crowns.

He had a follow-up check-up at his doctors office tonight and she said he sounded good.  She said to let him run around a little so that the gunk would loosen up in his chest because the only way it was going to get out was for him to cough.

He had to wear a mask at the doctor's office because he had a cough (whooping cough risk).

He wanted to wear his mask home.

So when we got home, I let him go on a walk around the block, but I guess it might have been a little too much because he cough, cough, cough, cough, cough and then threw up all over me in front of all the neighbors. Awesome.  The doctor at Children's had said that it is common for children in respiratory distress to throw up so we went home to give him his medicine.

3/14/12: C's 18 month old doctor's appointment

Callen had his 18 month old visit tonight. He's 22lbs (10th percentile), 31 inches long (10-25th percentile). Still tiny but growing on his curve. We have a referral to the state funded therapy evaluation for his lack of talking. We also got a prescription for his ezcema because it is really bad. We postponed getting his dtap vaccine because he's sick but she said his lungs sound good and his ears and throat look good considering his nasty sounding cough. Hopefully he'll sleep through the night tonight.

3/18/11: C napping on tummy

Yesterday I thought C might have been napping on his tummy. Hard to tell on the video monitor. Then this morning you could definitely tell he was sleeping on his tummy (put him down on his back) and he was still sleeping on his tummy when I woke him up at 12pm. Now he's down for his afternoon nap and he's sleeping on his tummy again. If I remember right, L did the same thing when she could roll over.

He's also rolled over several times today already and I've still yet to catch him in the act. I only see the evidence after the fact (aka he's on his tummy & I left him on his back). I think he only rolls one way so far. From his back towards his left onto his tummy.

In other news, L's cough seems worse today so I took her to the doctor. They said her ears were fine, her lungs were clear, no wheezing, no boogies in her nose. Her throat looked a little irritated, like from postnasal drip and she had a fever of 99.6F. She's acting mostly fine. Ate lunch really late and then I gave her tylenol b/c her temp was up to 100.4F and I thought she'd feel better & act better if she felt better. (She was cold.) Anyhow, I'm hoping everyone else can stay healthy since Dave's on day 2 of working four 12 hour shifts so I'm on my own through the weekend.

The good news is that after 5 nights of waking up in the middle of the night and crying for hours, C is finally sleeping through the night again (at least the last two nights). We think he might have been having a hard time staying asleep since we had to stop swaddling him since he could roll over while swaddled. We had also just changed his schedule (dropped a feeding), added his first baby food (oatmeal), got his shots, didn't poop for 5 days (had to add baby prunes to his diet), etc. Basically he had a whole lot of change (not purposely planned at the same time) at once so we didn't know what was going on with him. Plus, we were thankful that Dale & Candy had L almost all those nights so he didn't wake L up too.

Appendi- what?

So, it turns out that I, David, had and interesting experience that I wanted to share with you all. For the past two months it seemed like every Friday someone got sick, or got sicker, so that our weekends would get ruined. On Friday, January 21st the pattern seemed to continue. I woke up at 2:00am with a sharp, needle like pain in my lower abdomen (below my belly button). It seemed like I ate a porcupine or something. It hurt bad enough that I couldn't go back to sleep. An hour or so later I had enough and was just going to go downstairs since I was tossing and turning and didn't want to wake up Elizabeth. When I sat up the pain got much better. So, yay, I just propped some pillows up and eventually fell asleep sometime around 4:00am. I woke up at 6:30 and the pain was still there but this time it was a dull pain all over my lower abdomen. It wasn't a horrible pain, maybe a 4 on a 1 to 10 scale, but it was constant and rather bothersome. I have IBS and just thought it was an intestinal issue since the pain wasn't concentrated in one spot but all over my lower abdomen. I stayed home from work, and worked a few hours from home, and made an appointment with my GI doctor. When I got there they poked and prodded and asked a bunch of questions and couldn't really settle on what was wrong but gave me some stuff to help relax my intestines. We discussed having a colonoscopy (oh joy) and I got all the information on that. The nurse practitioner said the pain should go away sometime next week so, I went home, took the pill, and eventually went to bed. Saturday and Sunday seemed a little better but not much. Making dinner was fun because I would do some things and then brace myself for the pain, mix in another ingredient and then brace for the pain, flip the chicken and... well, you get the idea. Sunday I took Elodie to a birthday party and actually did OK. The pain at the party seemed a little better which allowed me to walk her around and such. Any improvement in the pain I attributed to the pill since it was suppose to help. Come Monday though things were much much better. I woke up to barley noticeable pain and off to work I went. Yay, I thought, we are finally getting over this which made Elizabeth say "yay, now you can get your colonoscopy." I set up an appointment to get my colonoscopy in about a week and a half... oh yippy (sarcasm). Throughout the day the pain was slowly getting worse which made sense to me since I was moving and walking around, the pain seemed better if I just sat down. Eventually I made it home and made dinner as usual now; cook, brace for pain, repeat; and eventually went to bed. The next day, Tuesday... oh lovely Tuesday, I woke up to pain that seemed a little worse than Friday. I was bummed but got ready for work and off I went. It seemed that the pain was was getting a little worse every minute but got through one meeting at 9:00 and tried to go to another. That meeting was tough because I was finding it hard to concentrate over the pain that was trying to claw apart my insides. I eventually gave up trying and went to get lunch... yes, throughout all the pain I never once lost my appetite. I finished lunch about 11:30 and the pain was getting to be about a 7 now. I talked to my mom who said I should go home but I thought I would be fine. I called the GI people and they said that I could double up on the medicine and that should help... it didn't. I started realizing that this was obviously something different than what people thought and called my regular doctor to get an appointment. He had an opening at 6:30 so I set that up. In about 10 more minutes I realized I couldn't concentrate on anything work related so maybe I couldn't "handle" it. I thought I would wait for a co-worker to come back from lunch, since there were 2 important meetings coming up in the next two days that I was suppose to run, so I could tell her that I might not be in the next day. At about 12:10 I said "screw that" and headed home. On my way home I called Elizabeth and told her I was coming home; she was out running errands and said she would be home as soon as she could. I also called my doctor back to see about an earlier appointment and set one up with a different doc at 3:30. I finally made it home, driving with pain is not very fun, and got inside. When Elizabeth got home she immediately said that my mom told her that I should go to the ER and that she thinks so to. She told me to call the GI people again and talk to them. I did, and the triage nurse there said that since the pain is worse I should go to the ER. OK, so everyone was telling me to go to the ER and at this point I just wanted the pain to stop so off I went. I figured since I drove myself home I could drive my self a short distance to the hospital and that way Elizabeth didn't have to worry about what to do with the kids. I canceled my doctor appointment on the way, I know, I am so responsible, and hobbled myself into the ER at Avista. Now, I must say, that I like Avista hospital. Once I got there things moved quickly and I wasn't sitting around for 4 hours dieing in the waiting room. I showed up, told the reception people the problem, and proceeded to sign something that I didn't read... something about privacy or whatever, who cares about that... and joked with them because they were saying how stubborn guys were with coming into the ER. "5 days with pain" they said, "men always take forever to come in." "But its not my fault" I said, "I called the doctor on the first day." "Sure yah did." :) I ended up in the lobby for about 30 seconds before the nurse came out and brought me back. I told her my story as she was taking vitals and writing down notes. We went to a triage room and I got to put on one of those fashionable hospital gowns that opens in the back, but at least I got to keep my boxers on. The doctor showed up shortly after and started pushing on my belly and I had the same tenderness and pain (pain was just worse) that I had on Friday, but this guys first thought was "well the appendix is down there so that's always a concern." Hmmmm... anyway, he said we needed to do a CT scan to rule out a bunch of things including an appendicitis, diverticulitis (which I really didn't want), kidney stones, and gallstones. While he was going to get people to do that, the lovely nurse I had set up an IV on me and then left to get some pain meds. I didn't know how the pain meds would affect me so I called my co-worker at work to tell her that she would have to run the meetings and that I probably wouldn't be in the office for a few days. The nurse then came back with the meds and, I must say, that I have never had any pain meds, other than Advil or Tylenol, but I see why people like them. The med took about a minute to work; I cant remember which pain med they gave me, I think it started with a D; but it made my face tingly, and feel a little puffy, made me a little lightheaded, and when I looked at the light in the ceiling it looked as though it were expanding... oh, and it reduced my pain from a 7 to about a 4 too but who cares about that. I was telling the nurse what was going on and she was giggling at me and then had to go help the other nurse get stuff for my CT scan. I told her that it was fine because the pink elephants on the ceiling and I were having a conversation; that made her laugh. Anyway, it was a short time before I was whisked away to the CT scan room and moved to the table slides back and forth under the scanner. The nice lady there told me that they were going to put in some sort of die through my IV that will feel cold and may give the sensation that I was wetting the table but its just the die filling up the bladder. She said that if I feel any tightness in my chest or anything to let them know. She started up the CT scanner and pushed the die stuff in. It did make my shoulder feel cold and then when it hit my bladder it did feel all warm like I was peeing all over the place but of course I wasn't. She than started to move the scanner over me. While that was going on I notice that I had a weird taste in the back of my throat from the die. Shortly after noticing that, I realized that my breathing was getting shallow and that my chest was getting tight. I started to tell them that my chest was getting tight which quickly turned into me telling them that I was going to puke. The nausea showed up really fast and she was moving the table out when I rolled over to my side and let loose. Luckily, through my puking skills, I manged to just miss the actual scanner and get everything on the floor. The lady then quickly started up the scan again because she didn't want to have to give me the die again. In the next minute we got all the pictures we needed and I was pushed back to my triage room. When I got back I called Elizabeth to give her an update and she had a billion questions which I couldn't answer and then the doctor walked in my room. I swear it was only a few minutes from when we got back from the CT room but in he waltzed and said that they know exactly why I was in the spot I am in. Apparently your appendix is normally 6-7 mm in diameter, about the size of your pinky finger, and they actually consider ones that are 8 mm as abnormally large. My came in at a whopping 18 mm... yay baby, go big or go home, that's what I say. The doctor said it was huge and nasty looking. He said that he was going to get the surgeon and bring him in so that we could get it out. I called Elizabeth and told her that I had an appendicitis and that I would be in surgery soon. She, again, had about a billion questions which I couldn't answer because I hadn't talked to the surgeon. While I was on the phone with her the surgeon walked in so I said bye to the wife and talked to the surgeon. When he asked when the pain started and I said Friday his eyes got really big. "Friday?" he repeated, "normally people are in here within 12 to 24 hours complaining of pain." "After 2 days we go in assuming that the appendix has ruptured, but 5 DAYS, yeah, the appendix has ruptured." He told me that my options for surgery were either 7:00pm that night or in twenty minutes (~3:30 pm); he said he would go with the twenty minutes, so twenty minutes it was. I called wifey back and told her all that was going on and then said good bye. I gave her number to the surgeon so that he could call her when I was out. From that point things continued to move quickly and I was sent off to get ready for surgery. The last thing I remember was holding some paper work and talking to nurses, the next thing I remember was being awakened in the recovery room. They eventually moved me into my room where Elizabeth was waiting and I wiggled my way from the gurney into my bed. I was still in pain so they gave me morphine and that made it all better :) The next few days was just me recovering in the hospital and being a chatty cathy with the nurses. Out of everything that happened I would say the worse part was Wednesday afternoon. I was having some issues with emptying my bladder (I know TMI) which, apparently, isn't unusual for men after surgery on pain meds. This led them to putting in a catheter. Now, I am not sure how many men out there have had to have one put in not under any anesthesia, but let me tell you that its very unpleasant. First, my nurse was probably in her late sixties or early seventies. If anyone is going to be holding my privates it sure better be a good looking twenty year old. Anyway, the old lady put the kit on the table and took out the tube. The tube looked to be the size of a small school bus to be but they assured me that it wasn't that large. She then proceeded to shove the small school bus into my unmentionables. I am fairly certain that God did not design that part of the male anatomy to accommodate the shoving in of the empire state building. Either way, after some not so fun pain, the tube was in and my complaining for the next 12 hours commenced. I was discharged on Friday, Jan 28th and am actually feeling rather well... at least my stomach and surgery area are doing well; I still have some weird sharp pain in my shoulder (pinched nerve?), it burns when I pee, and the surgery irritated my IBS. Man, its fun being me :)

1/31/11: finally better

think i'm finally better. that was one LONG week! here's to a MUCH better one!

1/12/11: better

feeling much much better. hoping to stay that way!

1/11/11: sick :(

really, really discouraged that i'm still sick. this sucks. i miss my baby. i miss being a mom. Lord heal me & continue to protect my awesome hubby & innocent baby.

1/9/11: L better

L seems like she's back to her old self. even had to threaten her w/a timeout. :) i'm feeling much better with the exception of this huge headache. still praying protection over my super awesome hubby & baby boy. L is now officially not contagious anymore (more than 24 hrs since last symptoms). yay! enjoying watching the snow from my bed. discovered that i can see the mtns from my bed yesterday. only lived here 5 yrs & didn't know that

1/9/11...more sickies...

and then Thursday night L got the stomach flu. She's finally better now that it's Sunday evening. Then Friday I got the stomach flu. Dave's been totally awesome taking care of everyone and shuttling C in and out of my room to nurse. I'm missing my baby terribly but don't want to get him sick. So far our wonderful Almighty God has His hand of protection over D & C. Can't wait for everyone to be healthy again!

1/6/11...C gets croup

Last night (Wed. 1/5), I spent 3.5 hrs in the ER with C b/c he woke up at 1:27am with croup. We tried the humidified shower air but he just kept screaming and was getting worse so I took him to the ER. They took a while to give him meds and then he promptly threw them up so he had to get a steroid shot and tylenol suppository. He weighed 15.5 lbs with his diaper & pjs on. When the meds kicked in, he finally calmed down and stopped crying. It was really hard to see my normally easy going guy all upset. When we got home at 6am, I nursed him a little to get him to go back to sleep and then woke him up at 9am so his schedule wasn't too off.

1/3/11

ahhhhh. so over people being sick. this is the third time in three weeks for L. 3.5 weeks ago she finished her 10 day stint on antibiotics for sinus infection, came down with croup the next day, got a cold 10 days later, and now a fever 7 days later. arrrrr...

6/21/10...L has a fever...spells her name...

Yesterday after L's nap, we realized that she had a fever. She was still playing though but then wanted us both to sit on the couch with her and watch tv. Then right before bed time, she said her right ear hurt.

So this morning we saw her doctor who informed us that her ears looked fine but that her throat was very red. I gave her (generic) tylen*l after the appointment and her fever went down. She seemed fine and even had half a cream cheese bagel (a first) for lunch. She's been playing with her new tool sets, her Le@pster2, and riding her scooter around the house. She took a nap until she was awoken by the massive hail storm around 3pm. Around 6pm, her fever was back and we gave her more tylen*l at bathtime and the fever was down again. So far I'm just glad there are no other symptoms and we're praying we stay healthy. The last thing either one of us needs is to be sick right now. I'm just so tired anyhow and D's super, super busy at work. Plus, my sister's coming in a week and we all want to be healthy!

This morning L surprised me by spelling her name out loud and then repeating her name, like in a spelling bee. E -L-O-D-I-E, Elodie.  She's been really consistent about it all day.

3/29/10...16 weeks Dr. appt & L sick again

Today I had my 16 week appointment. We got to hear the heart beat again and our doctor is guessing it's a boy from the low heart beat. She had guessed L was a girl from her heart beat so I guess we'll just have to wait and see if she's right. I also had my blood drawn for the quad screen (checks for down syndrome, among others). I've gained 2.5 lbs since last week (ah!!) and at last week's weigh in I had gained 3 lbs over the 4 weeks before. So now I weigh what I weighed when I got pregnant with L. Hopefully that will help with not having my face look so fat at the end.

L woke up all night long last night. It seems like she has a cold and an ear infection so I took her to the pediatrician after my doctor's appointment. Sure enough, her right ear is infected again (the same ear that she just got off antibiotics for a week ago). This time she's getting a different, stronger antibiotic. I forced M*trin down her at the doctor's and by the time with left the pharmacy, she seemed better. We got home and she ate half a box of parmesan twists and a little bit of a yogurt drink. She slept off and on from around 3pm to 5:30pm. She was pretty cranky when she woke up so I forced another dose of M*trin down her and now she's much better. She's drawing with her crayons. :)

Saturday, 3/13/10...no more fever...

ok so we could use some more sleep b/c L was still up a ton last night but at least it seemed like her fever was gone and she just didn't want to sleep, not that she was super sick. This morning she has NO fever so we're praying it stays that way! and of course that we the parents stay healthy!!

Friday, 3/12/10...another dr's visit...

After L spent about 45 minutes screaming that her tummy hurt, we took her to the doctor's again at 5pm tonight. This doctor (different than yesterday's) said that L does have an ear infection so yea us...she gets another 10 day round of antibiotics that we have to force down her. The doctor thinks tummy stuff is gas b/c she hears lots of noise in her tummy.

Thursday, 3/11/10...sick baby...

L was up every 30 min all night. Her fever broke early this morning and then came back at 102F. I took her to the doctor this morning because she said her ear, tummy, and mouth hurt (after saying all yesterday that her teeth hurt) but she tested negative for flu & strep. She refuses to take Tylen*l. She's just a really sad sight. :( PTL she fell asleep. Praying BIG prayers that D & I stay healthy!!

Monday, 1/4/10: Swim class

Well Dave stayed home sick today so I occupied L for two hours up in our room (Dave slept in the basement) and then took off doing errands until her nap time.

L's first swim class was tonight and since Dave was sick, I took her. Really, I'll be taking her all the time because her class starts at 4pm and Dave can't get home by then. Anyhow, it was her first class WITHOUT us in the pool with her. She did fabulous! She only cried when her instructor told her class was over. :( Anyhow, I'm hoping all the other lessons go just as well. She has to stand on a platform in the middle of the deep end of the kiddie pool (~4' deep) and not get off it or she'd drown. So this mama watched her baby like a hawk! Don't want anything happening to her! There's 3 other kids in her class, two boys and another girl. They all did really well.

Here's a picture slideshow and some videos: