2014 the Year of Medical Stuff

We just might have someone in our family seeing some sort of doctor about every other day in January...

Let's see, Simon has some booster shots tomorrow and a dentist appointment Tuesday. Jonas will see the eye doctor the following Tuesday, then a dermatologist appointment the Tuesday after that (to check out a big ol' hairy mole on his knee, he was born with it), and then he has a dentist appointment the day after that. Charlotte will see the dentist the same day as Jonas.

How I felt

I had a crazy bloating episode on Christmas Day. Seriously, I ate two medium pancakes for breakfast and then my body filled up with gas. It was miserable; I couldn't eat a thing until the next morning when I had a small bowl of gluten-free Chex cereal. Then it happened again. I ended up going to an urgent care (we were visiting family in Kentucky) where they did an x-ray to be sure there was no blockage, and the doc told me my stomach and intestines were filled with gas. It was more than bloating; I had nausea and other, ahem, symptoms... That was the fourth time that month that it happened, but the other three times it happened in the evening and was gone by morning. This time it's lasted for over a week. I saw my doc on New Year's Eve and he ordered some bloodwork. I got most of the results today and they were OK (we're still waiting on the Celiac's test). So I see a GI specialist on Monday afternoon. Really, it doesn't seem to matter what I eat, afterward I bloat. It's not miserable like it was when it started, but it's quite uncomfortable. At least I'm up to eating three meals a day again and even one or two snacks. I lost six pounds in four days and it was kind of scary. I'm glad to say I'm currently holding steady and no longer losing weight.

Chase has been wearing a heart monitor because he's been having some episodes of rapid heart beats. He's been to prompt care, an internal medicine doctor and a cardiologist. The preliminary diagnosis is something long that I don't remember, but basically he has some nerves or something telling his heart to beat at times it shouldn't. He's started taking some medicine to hopefully take care of it; another option is surgery. The medicine has side effects that make him feel bad, but surgery is scary. He has an appointment to meet with the potential surgeon next week, and he'll see his cardiologist at the end of the month.

So it's looking like our 2014 is The Year of Medical Stuff or maybe The Year of Co-Pays. I'm going to try not to think of it and be thankful we have insurance. Also, I'll think about my trip with my sister to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter I have planned this month.

I Should Rename My Blog "The Poop Chronicles"

Our upstairs bathroom has been smelling like poop, and not just after someone does their business.  It's smelled like a deuce for days now.  After the middle-of-the-night-top-bunk puke the other night, I had left Simon's jammie pants in the bathroom.  I thought, maybe I'm confusing the poop & puke smells.  Those have been laundered and the bathroom still reeked.  I cleaned the potty seat thinking, maybe during Jonas' "ballerina" episode the Spiderman potty got some splash-back.  Nope.  Cleaned it.  Bathroom still smelled nasty.

Chase pointed out it seemed to be coming from the sink.  I went in search of a turd.  Could one be hidden in our bathroom?  I mean, my boys have been consistently pooping in the potty, but who knows what goes through their minds?  I was just about ready to check for an upper-decker when it hit me: We had babysitters on Monday and one of the girls said she had changed a post-nap Charzie poop diaper.  The diaper must be in the bathroom trash next to the sink!

Mystery solved!  Hooray!  I really needed a win after the sick hit our house.  Simon seems to be better, but poor Charzie had it out both ends today.  With the way Jonas has been acting, I'm pretty sure he's next... or it could just be he refused to nap today.

Jonas Songs

Here some songs that 3-year-old Jonas has made up; a couple a while a go and a few more recently, but he sings them all (and the main lyrics are the titles):

Beetles & Bees

God is King

Punch My Bread

Punch My Pets

Clap Your Pizza

And that's Jonas for ya.  I felt the need to post something amusing after cleaning up 4-year-old Simon's middle-of-the-night-top-bunk puke and waking up this morning to Jonas freaking out because he had some "ballerina" in the potty and a drip got on the stool.  It's been a sort of groggy, sort of slap-happy morning complete with an all-out toddler tantrum from Charlotte (who was angry that I put away the iPod touch she had quit playing with).  But thankfully, thankfully there has been no more puke and no more poop... yet.

Sick Day: Another Angry Ear

All of these things happened before noon today:

Woke up unable to hear out of my right ear. Also, it was bleeding.

The husband took a sick day for me since I need to see a doc.

The husband went to an early morning meeting with some guys from our church since prompt care doesn't open 'til 8:00 anyway.

Saw a doc who told me my eardrum was red & bulging. He sent a prescription to my pharmacy.

Met a lady & her two middle schoolers in the cold cold cold parking lot looking for a way to get some breakfast. Told her I'd get them some when I came out.

Got my Z-pack.

Gave the lady some cash. Seriously, if they were out in that cold of weather, they needed it. Nice Lady & nice kids.

Came home. The husband took the 3 year-old out to run some errands.

The muffler all but fell off the car while they were out.

The garage told the husband they couldn't get to it 'til this afternoon.

I bundled up & loaded up the other two in the van to go pick up the husband & 3yo.

Forgot the van key inside after corralling the kids outside.

Attempted to chisel the windshield wipers out of the ice.

Almost drove off leaving the diaper bag in our front yard.

Got to the garage where the husband told me the 3yo had pulled the fire alarm.

Oh, and the garage guys said the car was almost ready right when I got there. (Seriously!)

Watched the fire truck pull into the parking lot.

The 3yo & 1.5yo fell asleep on the way home (messed with naps).

The husband prepared the kids' lunch.


OK, lunch was after noon, but all the other stuff was before noon. It was quite the busy sick day. I mean, I usually feel like I've accomplished something if I can get myself & the kids dressed by lunch and maybe get one chore started!

And my ear started feeling a little better. The only good thing about having this ringing in my ear & (hopefully) temporary hearing loss is that the kids' whining/bickering/general loudness is muffled. I can almost pretend it's coming from somewhere else!

You Sound Like a Robot

The ear is a marvelous thing. It not only is responsible for hearing, it also affects balance. When something goes wrong with your ear, it sure can throw the rest of you out of whack; I know this firsthand.

Yesterday I awoke not to small children getting up too early, but to a terrible pain in my ear. (Of course the kids slept in on a day I could not!) The boys went to work with Chase & Charlotte went to prompt care with me. The doc said I had either a herniated or hemorrhaging ear drum probably from coughing hard. He called the pharmacy to get me some pain drops & I headed to the store to do some grocery shopping and was going to stop at the pharmacy on the way home.

While I was at the store, I had some pain so bad I doubled over and almost threw up. This happened three times. Then I heard a crackling & felt wet in my ear. It was bleeding. I used one of Charlotte's burp cloths to keep from making a mess and finished the shopping as quickly as I could. Chase met me at home & took care of the kids and groceries while I headed back to prompt care.

It had only been an hour since the doc saw me, and in that time my eardrum had turned into a "bulging S.OB." (doc's words). I was sent to an ENT (ear nose throat doc) who said I had a blister on my ear. She prescribed me some antibiotic pills & drops because even if it's viral, the oozing means it can get infected.

So now I have a ringing in my ear, it's hard to hear, loud noises are painful, I get dizzy after standing for more than a few minutes, and I'm just kind of lethargic. I am feeling much better than I was last night, though. There's one more weird thing, every sound has this odd electronic-sounding echo that makes especially people's voices sound like robots.

Illusive Sleep

Simon is a terrible sleeper. Anything that disrupts his daily schedule also messes with his nighttime sleep. Missing a nap messes with his sleep. Going to bed too early messes with his sleep. Going to bed too late messes with his sleep. When he's sick, it messes with his sleep. Simon has a cough, and of course, it's messing with his sleep.

Last night was like having a newborn again. No wait, like having Newborn Simon because Newborn Jonas came home from the hospital and slept 6 hours his first night! (It didn't continue that way, but he ususally slept 4 and 5 hour stretches the first few months... until he got sick...) Last night, like when Simon was an itty bitty baby, this guy was up every 2 hours. Every. 2. Hours. Thankfully, he only woke Jonas up once and Jonas went right back to sleep. But at 4:50 this morning I suggested to Chase that he bring Simon into our bed, then Chase could get some sleep on the couch.

Simon was very comforted by having Mommy right next to him... but he wouldn't go back to sleep. The kid has been up since before 5 this morning... just like when he was a newborn. At 6:40 he got mad because I wouldn't keep switching spots with him, but Chase came in and relieved me so I could get some rest.

Needless to say, there are some tired people in our household today. Tired and cranky. Plus, Jonas is working on the dreaded 1-year molars and those wonderful teething tablets have been recalled!

Oh, and to top it all off, this morning Simon pooped on the floor right next to his potty. At least Jonas was napping and didn't pick it up this time. (Did I not mention that? Last week Jonas picked up a Simon turd...)

Apple Festival

Jonas is sick today. He had a fever of 102.6 when he went to bed (early) last night and woke up with a fever of 101.1 this morning. With the help of medicine, his fever is gone now. He refused to nap in his crib this morning (had a royal freak-out) and fell asleep on me while watching Sesame Street. He's snoozing on me as I type this, poor guy!

But this post isn't just about my poor little sicky... We went to the Apple Festival this weekend and I wanted to show off some pictures Chase & I took of our awesome boys.

Jonas watches the racecar ride


Simon waits not-so-patiently for the racecar ride


Weeeeee!


He screamed with excitement the whole time!


Simon models the hat we bought him at a craft booth


Jonas isn't quite as thrilled to wear his


The boys in their hats!

We let Simon ride one ride at the festival (3 tickets/ride at $1/ticket...) and he had such a good time and wanted to ride more and more and wouldn't stop talking about the rides til after dinner. We do have some pretty awesome video of him on the racecar ride and hopefully I'll be able to get that together and posted soon. Chase liked those hats at one of the craft booths (and so did I) so we got 'em for the boys! Maybe next year a set of grandparents can come up for the festival when both boys will be big enough to ride rides and they can ride more than one! That would make a fun present for the boys, hint hint!

Rough but Fun Couple of Weeks

It's been a rough couple weeks but also a fun couple weeks. It's been rough because I've had to monitor Simon's temperature since his seizure which means making sure his night waking isn't because of a fever. He's been fever-free for a week and a half now, so I can rest a little easier... when the boys let me rest! We've got to get back into the swing of sleeping through the night. Simon had gotten used to getting up overnight and that makes for tired parents. I'm pretty sure he's over the getting up because he's used to getting up routine, but now Simon's problem is kicking his covers off and fussing til someone comes in and covers him back up. So we've got to work on that. Oh, and Jonas the one-year-old is getting teeth. I suspect the dreaded molars. We've all gotten to sleep through the night twice these past two weeks...

The last couple weeks have been fun because we had Jonas' first birthday party! There were friends and family and cake! The boys and I also took a trip to a children's museum with friends and we also went to a sensory activity playdate where the kids all got to play in shaving foam (but not Jonas since he'd eat it), water, paper shreds and much more.

Daddy, Mommy, Birthday Boy & CAKE!

Simon helps Jonas with the smash cake

My parents with the boys

Playing in sand at the children's museum

Jonas liked the skeleton

Simon escaped from a hungry, hungry hippo

Me with my boys at the museum

Jonas playing in paper shreds at the sensory playdate
[photo by Joanna]

I also took Jonas' one year pictures. He's mighty cute. He even took his first step during the photo shoot! Here are some favorites if you think you can handle them:

Sweet, sweet Jonas

The first step captured!

My favorite pic!

We don't have much planned for the upcoming weeks. We plan on having weekly picnics in the park (weather permitting) and will hopefully be spending more time outside!

Fever-free Night

We had a fever-free night! Hooray!

But Jonas kicked it off with a royal freak out when Chase & I were about to get ready for bed... And then Simon woke up a bunch wanting his covers pulled back on and then wanted a drink. He wound up in bed with us a little after 4. Then wanted to get up at 5:30 but he fell back asleep til 7 after I told him it wasn't time to get up yet.

Now my zombabies are watching preschool shows on TV and talking about all the family that will visit this weekend (and the toys they'll bring).

The Simon Situation

Last night Simon woke up again at midnight with a fever of 102.9. Some medicine brought it down and he said he wanted to sleep in his own bed. He's been having a low or no fever during the day but it spikes at night.

We had a follow-up appointment with his pediatrician this morning. He couldn't find anything wrong with Simon or anything specific to cause his fever. The doc said to take his temperature every 4 hours or so and monitor it for a while. He also said to give him some acetaminophen or ibuprofen before bed even if he's not running a fever as a preventative measure.

I asked if there was a certain temperature that I needed to call in and he said there's no magic number; he's had kids get seizures as soon as their temp goes over 100, others once it hits 104, and yet others that get temps of 105 and nothing happens.

So I bought an instant ear thermometer since I'll have to take Simon's temp a LOT. For now the situation is to just monitor and wait.

Rough Night

Since I was exhausted I went to bed just after 9:30 last night... Jonas woke up at 10, spent a short time in bed with us wiggling around not sleeping and then he went back to his bed about 11... Simon woke up at midnight with a fever of 102.7.

Thankfully Simon wasn't upset, but he was kinda loopy. He was soooo silly and just saying all sorts of funny things. He kept talking about Neena & Grampa and Granny & Papaw and Aunt Cassie. Then he'd list all the characters from Dora the Explorer. After some medicine, an attempt at a coolish bath and an attempt with a cool washcloth (he didn't like those things) his temperature went down to 101.4 and then 100.4 and he went to bed with us around 2:00 AM snuggling his sippy.

The boys woke up about 6:15 this morning in good moods. Simon's temperature was still 100.4, but after some more medicine, breakfast and some Mickey Mouse on TV it's down to 99.0.

I'm hoping we can all take a nice nap this afternoon!

Just an Evening Spent in the ER

We're back from the ER and the boys are in bed and fine.

What? The ER? Yup.

Early this evening I found Simon having a seizure on the floor in his room. I called 911 and as I was talking to the operator he stopped seizing and fell asleep in my arms. The ambulance came (right after Chase got home from a day trip for work) and took Simon and me to the ER. Thankfully some friends came over to watch Jonas so Chase could meet us at the hospital.

The diagnosis is a febrile seizure which is caused by a high fever and is common in 1-2 year-olds. And since Simon's had the shakes/light convulsions from high fevers before, the ER doc suspects he's just more prone to them. So we've just got to keep his fever down and follow up with his pediatrician in a few days.

On the Mend

Chase has been taking care of a couple sickies lately, and by "sickies" I mean Simon and me. It all started Thursday evening when we went out to get new phones. Simon had a bit of a runny nose, and it just got worse from there.

We first went to the AT&T kiosk at the mall, but the deals just weren't good enough. So it was off to Best Buy where we got our phones for free (with 2 year contract renewal). To get a deal at the mall kiosk, we'd have to sign up and pay for extra junk we don't use on our plan, but not at Best Buy. Then we ordered memory cards from Amazon.com.

Phones these days are crazy. I mean, I can edit video on my stinkin' phone! We went with the Sony Ericsson W580i. The big feature on this phone is that it's a walkman; you can listen to your own music or pick up FM radio on it. It's got all kinds of newfangled gadgetry!

Back to the sickliness... Simon slept the whole time we were at the mall and then woke up with a very runny nose while we were at Best Buy. He was very fussy by the time we got home and was all congested. When we finally got him to sleep, I could feel myself coming down with what he had; and when I got up with him overnight, I was sure I had it...

That was Thursday...

We were sick all day Friday (I ended up calling Simon's doctor Friday night when his fever reached 100.1), most of the day Saturday, some of the day Sunday and have had the remnants these last few days. Because he was so congested, Simon ended up sleeping in his carseat several nights. I have to say I am very thankful for the medical marvels that are acetaminophen and Aquaphor. Acetaminophen kept our fevers down and relieved my aching body while Aquaphor healed the dry skin around our noses as well as my chapped hands (from constantly washing them). Now if we could just get rid of the cough...

Bedtime has turned into quite the battle; Simon gets super upset every time we put him down. It doesn't matter if we put him down asleep, drowsy or completely awake. We can pat him, pet his head, hold his hand, pick him up and hug him, rock him or bounce him; once he touches that mattress, he unleashes all his fury. It got so bad last night that I thought my eardrum might bust again, so I got an earplug.

Today he just wanted to be held... constantly... and would unleash some of that fury if I put him down. I guess he got it all out because he actually went down in his crib quite easily (and early!) tonight.

I feel like I should make sure to mention some fun things Simon's been doing, too. He's now able to sit up and sometimes get himself back up when he falls over (if we put the Boppy behind him), he's becoming more mobile by rolling around, he gives Chase head massages and gives me kisses... sort of... when I put his mouth to my cheek. Oh, and Simon loves to touch the Christmas tree! He has about three specific branches he always gently grabs. He also enjoys listening and dancing to Sufjan Stevens' Songs for Christmas.

Here's the tree Simon so enjoys touching:

Sick Baby... Again

What's worse than having a sick baby? Being sick with your baby...

Sick Baby

Simon has had his first experience in being sick.


Doesn't he look super cute in his robot jammies?! (Thanks Billingsleys!) It's just a cold, and he's getting better now, but here's how it went down...

Monday
Si had a pretty fussy day and was just acting weird. He wouldn't go down for nap #2 until just before 7:00 pm. His bedtime is 9:00, so I woke him up at 8:00 to make sure he didn't sleep too long and stay up too late. When I woke him up, he was super congested and very upset. I put his jammies on and let him just go back to bed. Si woke up at midnight and was up til about 3:30 am. He kept coughing and sneezing and sounded bad, but he was pretty happy.

Tuesday
Si was up again just before 7:00 am giving me just under 3 1/2 hours of sleep. I was pretty sure it was just the sniffles and that there wouldn't be too much we could do about it, but it being the first time he's ever been sick, I wanted to take him to the doctor just to be sure it wasn't anything more. We got in at 9:15 am and the doc said his lungs and ears were fine. He suggested getting some baby saline drops for his nose and to invest in a cool mist humidifier. We came home, took a nap, then went out and got his nose drops and humidifier. Once again, he did not want to go down for nap #2, went to bed around 8:00 pm, woke up around 10:00 and was up til 1:30 am.

Wednesday
Si got up once overnight to eat, went back to bed and got up for the day about 8:00 am. He sounded much better, still a little congested but much better. He's taken several short naps today, too!


On another Simon-related note, he had the biggest poopsplosion of his life today, too! The Huggies could not contain it. I'm talking up the back and down the leg! It was massive.

Angry Ear

The real doctor told me that I have an angry ear. Yup, that's the diagnosis. Well, actually, the diagnosis of a perforated eardrum hasn't changed, but I learned that it could just be a tiny slit and not necessarily a hole. Also, right now there is no need to see a specialist. With the antibiotics and drops, the infection should clear up in a day or two and my hearing should return in about a week or so... huh?

I've got a follow-up in two weeks to make sure my angry ear hasn't waged war on my brain or the rest of my body.

What?

After sitting in the waiting area for over an hour yesterday after work, I got to see a nurse practitioner. She told me my eardrum is "perforated." That means either (a) it is easier for me to tear my eardrum off or (b) there is one or more holes in my eardrum. I'm gonna go with (b), although it is probably easier to tear it off now that there is holes in it... At least it's not totally busted. I also got to spend lots of moneys on prescription ear drops and antibiotic pills! Yippee!

Oh, and the best part is I get to go back today and see a real doctor. Apparently the lady I saw wasn't allowed to make referrals and can't clean my crusty perforated eardrum, so since I don't have a family doctor (which I got a bit of 'tude for), I get to go back to a real doctor who will decide if I need to see an ear nose & throat doctor who would be able to clean my ear out if the need be. That happens in less than an hour. (I'm multitasking at work right now).

I guess the acronym for an ear nose & throat doctor is ENT. That's how the lady kept referring to it. I thought she was saying EMT and was confused as to why I would need to see an EMT. Miranda helped clear that up for me, and yes, I'm still partially deaf... what?

I'm Not Dead Yet...

I thought I'd give a quick update while I'm sitting here downloading a radio program. No, I'm not dead, but I am (hopefully only temporarily) partially deaf right now. I got pretty sick last week with whatever was going around. Thursday, I went to the clinic and the doc said it wasn't strep and I had no ear infections and I was good to go. Yesterday I could barely hear out of good ol' Left Ear. This morning a bit o fluid with some blood was coming out of Lefty. I figured Eh, I haven't had any head trauma, I'll be okay (even though my ear has been ringing for over 24 hours now). So I asked two mommies that I work with about what it means if your ear is bleeding. They told me it means I need to see a doctor. So clinic visit number two in one week is going to happen on my way home from work. Hooray for another co-pay! And hizzah for not yet meeting my deductible and having to foot the whole bills later! Yippee for having lame health insurance! I think the radio program is about finished downloading now.

The Most Amazing Drug Ever

I would have to say that Advil Cold & Sinus is the most amazing drug ever. It has allowed me to go from barely functional, hardly being able to breathe through my snot-filled nose with a killer sore throat and sinus headache and stopped up ears, to slightly annoyed at my sore throat and ears being a little stopped up and having a barely running nose. Most of my aches are gone, too! Plus, it doesn't give me that groggy feeling that many cold & sinus medicines do. The liqui-gels work faster, but you get more of the (delicious candy-like) coated ones in a box. The generic brands work just as well, too. Advil Cold & Sinus, how I love thee!

Must... Get... Well...

As soon as I felt like I've recovered from travelling, I started to feel sort of sickly. Yesterday I got a bad headache that came and went and came back, felt achey and had a dry, scratchy throat. I might have had a slight fever, too. I went to bed early and woke up feeling slightly worse, but rested. I think ibuprophen has helped some and I'm feeling a little better (the aches are dull now). I doubt it's anything contagious. It's probably just a delayed reaction to jet lag and lack of rest.

Must... get... well...

We're going to Nashville tomorrow to see Guster in concert and then see The Format in concert on Sunday as well as a couple friends (not in concert, but at one of them). I'm pretty pumped about that. You know what else I'm pretty pumped about? Two movies-- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Lady in the Water.