White Knuckles

Last Wednesday we headed to the zoo. It was chilly, but not too bad. After visiting a few areas, we stopped to let the kids play at the playground.
My niece, Carly, thoroughly enjoyed being pushed nice and high from Madison.

I put Spencer in the baby swing and I thought he liked it, well, I was wrong. His hands gripped the swing so tight, we had to peel them away to get him out. He is not a fan of swinging.

We checked out the zebras, okapi (still don't know how to say this correctly) and Carly's favorite, the giraffs. After a couple hours, it was time to head home.

A First

My brother and his family came to visit from Iowa for the holiday. We had a good time playing games and eating too much food. Something I have NEVER done is get up on Black Friday and go shopping. That is until this year. My brother wanted a TV (and some other great deals) at Target. He popped his head in at 6am and said, "Let's go to Target!"
So I stumbled out and we headed for the madness.
I don't get it, really, I don't get it. There were so many people with carts overflowing with items and lines that stretched to the back of the store. I just have to wonder, are people really buying these items because they are on someone's Christmas list or are they just buying them because they are on sale. I mean if Uncle Harry really wants a toaster for Christmas, then I understand that getting a Toaster for $3 is a good deal. I don't understand why people load up their carts and purchase a bunch of items just because they are on sale. Strange.
My brother didn't get his TV, but we picked up a few other items that weren't sold old yet.
But, I will stick to my online deals that I can do in my pajamas and don't have to argue over a parking spot or stand in a line for an hour. My time is more important to me.

Reflecting On A Nightmare

This post is about one of the worst weeks I have had. For those that have heard this story from my daily update e-mails, you probably don't want to read this. For me, this is my way to vent and clear my mind of the emotional roller coaster the past week as put on us. I am not writing this for any one's benefit, except mine. Read if you would like, dismiss if you like.


The nightmare began last week on Friday the 13th (fitting isn't it). We woke up at 4:30am, got Spencer up at 5:15am and arrived at the surgery center by 6am.
Spencer asleep in the car seat on the way to the surgery center.

Getting ready to go into surgery center.

Sitting in the little bench in the pre-op room.

In recovery room with daddy after a quick 15 minute surgery.

Getting to eat at McDonald's after being discharged. Eggs and pancakes, YUMMY!

That was all the normal part. Here is the abnormal part. Spencer went down for a nap at 12:30pm. By 6pm he was still asleep. We decided to get him up and he was cranky and had a 102 degree temp. After reviewing the discharge instructions, we called the Dr. B, the ENT doc and explained what was going on. He said to give him Tylenol and see how he is in the morning. OKAY - first of all, why in the heck do they give you a list of items to watch out for and list it as an emergency if all they are going to do is tell you to give your kid Tylenol, seriously folks!

I set my alarm and got up every four hours to give Spencer Tylenol or Motrin in order to keep his fever down. He woke up and did not eat or drink anything. He refused it all and he still had a fever. By mid morning he was just mad and cranky. I gave him another round of Tylenol and tried to lay him down for a nap. He didn't stay down long and woke up crying. He was hot, really hot. I checked his temp and it was 103.6. I called the ENT back and NOW he said to go to the ER.

The ER was a nightmare, I am skipping those details. All I will say is they are incompetent to treat a child! If our ENT hadn't told us to go to that specific hospital, I would have chose to go to the Children's Hospital. We left with a diagnosis of UTI and Flu. They put him on an antibiotic and an antiviral drug and told us to see our pediatrician on Monday.

Sunday came and it was bad. Spencer was badly dehydrated. We were force feeding him with a syringe (because the hospital didn't give him an IV) and still trying to treat the fever.

We got into the pediatrician's office on Monday morning and went through the details of the weekend. After reviewing the hospital lab work and notes, he determined that Spencer DOES NOT have a UTI or the FLU. Are you kidding me? Okay, now I am confused and mad. How do two doctors get a completely different diagnosis? The pediatrician changed his antibiotic to a broader spectrum antibiotic in hopes to kill whatever bacteria was causing the infection. He didn't know where the infection was coming from or if it was bacterial or viral either!

Monday night brought a whole new host of problems. Diarrhea, constant crying, not eating, not drinking.

The fever disappeared on Tuesday, so things were looking up, until a rash appeared and Spencer cried and fussed constantly the entire day. This is no joke, the entire day was spent holding him and walking or bouncing him to try and get him to calm down. For the first time ever with him, I took him for a ride to calm him down. When he did finally sleep, it was for 45 minutes. At the end of 45 minutes the poor boy woke up instantly crying and screaming. HELLOOOOO he is in pain. I called the doctor's office and explained to the nurse what was going on. I told her I suspected it was the antibiotic and she said it could be his stomach cramping from the diarrhea. Okay, we will stick it out. His attitude did not change all the way into Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Justin and I took turns sleeping while the other one soothed (as best we could) him to sleep for 1-2 hours at a time. It was obvious to me that he was in pain.

Wednesday morning I called and told the pediatrician that we were coming back in. I also decided that I wasn't going to give Spencer ANY of his medication that morning. While in the lobby, Spencer's shirt got stuck on his jacket and I noticed that his entire back was now covered with the rash. HA - finally something to show the doctor that we were not crazy!

After a rather matter-of-fact discussion with the pediatrician, he agreed that Spencer is probably allergic to the new antibiotic. After further research on my end, I have concluded that is he isn't allergic, but suffered from severe side effects. It just so happens that the drug maker has an e-mail to the FDA to report any severe side effects, such as what he had.

SOOOO, what I have learned from this. Probably the most important thing is to trust my instincts. I know my child better than any doctor does. I am upset with the hospital and I will never return to it again if it is my choice. I learned that we have great family and friends who made us dinner (thanks Clay & Shyla), who e-mailed or called daily to check on him and those that said many prayers. No one should have to go through these types of issues, but everyone will at some point in their lives. I hope that everyone has a great support system like we do.

You Might Be A Fan If....

Justin is in a digital design class in which they have to build a robot out of Legos. The age range on the box of Legos is 10 years old. This entire class (mostly men) get to build their manly robots out of toys designed for children. Justin and his lab partner decided to make their robot say a phrase when it passes over a sensor. So, what phrase did they agree upon? Well, first you must picture a mechanical robot built out of Legos moving about and saying....


Hello, My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.


If you have not seen the move "The Princess Bride" I am truly sorry. We are a fan. Our entire family and our closest friends can quote almost this entire movie word for word.

There second voice option was the Imperial Death March from Star Wars, but that just isn't the same. It was inconceivable that they would use a different phrase!

Spencer's Ears

Today we saw Dr. B, the Ear, Nose & Throat doctor. The appointment began with a hearing test. Spencer and I were placed in a soundproof room with speakers on each side and some other mysterious looking stuff throughout the room. The audiologist told me to hold Spencer in my lap, but not to react in any way to the sights and sounds that I would hear. The first sounds were to the right and it sounded like paper shuffling around. Spencer didn't turn toward the speaker. The sound repeated, but this time a small puppet of Winnie the Pooh also lit up and moved. Spencer turned toward the right. We repeated this with the left side and various volumes.

Next was tones, repeat the same pattern and repeat with Spencer looking at some, but not all of the speakers. We ended with his name being called over the speaker at various volumes, with and without Winnie the Pooh.

The last test was to see if there was fluid behind his eardrums. I didn't need a machine to tell them this, of course he has fluid! Their little machine said his left ear is full of fluid. His right ear was clear, but there was negative pressure pushing on his eardrum, not normal.
The summary of the audiologist was that he has some hearing loss. She wasn't going to continue with any additional tests until the fluid was gone, because the results would not be accurate.

After a short wait in the lobby, we got to see Dr. B. He reviewed the audiologist tests and then did a full exam on Spencer. He asked about his medical history and we went over the past 10 months of infections, antibiotics and frustrations. He asked what words Spencer could say. We thought and the list was short, too short for someone his age.

Dr. B got out the color picture flip charts and explained what a normal ear looked like. The next picture was what happens to ears when there is fluid build up (Spencer's ears). Without hesitation he says that Spencer is a prime candidate for tubes, just based on what the audiologist found and not even considering the ear infections. His hearing loss, lack of speech and the infections are all of concern.

He reviewed the procedure, risks and follow up care with us. He said the nurse would come in and book the surgery. SOOOOO surgery is this Friday! We have to be at the surgery center at 6am and with no breakfast. Spencer is not going to be happy about that!

We will head back to the audiologist in a month to test his hearing again and hopefully have some improvement.

We feel a sense of relief that maybe we can finally move on from Spencer's health issues. Some months it has dominated our lives and has definitely increased the amount of stress for everyone in the house. Whether it is because the lack of sleep or trying to rearrange schedules to accommodate the multiple doctors appointments, work, school and other obligations. We are all truly hoping that this will close the chapter in Spencer's health issues.

Halloween

Last night was fun, but way too hot for Halloween. Most everyone was outside handing out candy. I am really bummed because our neighborhood was dark. There were not very many lights on last night. I took Madison and four of her friends around and Spencer rode in the wagon. He got out every now and then to go and cautiously take a piece of candy from someone. Surprisingly enough, he didn't try to eat it. His favorite thing to do was to toss out whatever was in the wagon out of the wagon, including the flashlight. It is lost someone on the last street in the neighborhood.

Asian Dragon Slayer, Witch & Alice in Wonderland
AKA
Madison, Vanessa & Alexis

Way to cute!