Thursday, July 7, 2011
Say a little prayer
for my "wittle" man Aidan. He is a sick little boy right now. He came home with high fever on Tuesday and we fought with it through the night. Jono took him to the pediatrician yesterday. He has pink eye in both eyes, double ear infections and a sinus infection. We are still fighting the fever despite already having antibiotics on board. He is miserable. :( His eyes are burning, his throat is raw and his legs are aching. We are doing our dead level best to keep him isolated from Lydon by staying in our bedroom in the back of the house (which he hates loves by the way) but it is still difficult. Our fear is that Aidan was obviously sick and contagious for several days before we knew it and Lydon could have possibly already been exposed to whatever bugs he has. Our hope is that all of the IV antibiotics that Lydon received last week in the hospital will continue to cover and protect him and will hopefully prevent him from coming down with any of this. Aidan also has a really hard time with medicine. He has a very sensitive tummy so the combination of fever, fever meds, antibiotics and a very sore throat is not a good combination. So, say a prayer that the antibiotics kick in and help Aidan feel better soon and that Lydon will stay well and out of the hospital!!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
I think I'm gonna, I think I should...
wrtite a book!Seriously, I could write a book right now only I have no idea what kind of book it would be...mystery, drama, comedy, medical journal? The list could go on and on. Oh, I almost forgot, here is your disclaimer. This blog will be long and parts of it will be less than uplifting. If you are looking for a warm fuzzy read, this post by most standards will not qualify. Sign here to continue reading. ;-)
Ok, so I have to give a little bit of background here and bring you all up to date before I can continue. A couple months ago, I was presented with an awesome job opportunity. It didnt really seem like the right timing to us but during the last year or so, Jonathan and I have tried hard to accept and live by the rule that God's timing is not always the same as ours. Despite many reservations, we decided if all of the "ifs" and "what-ifs" worked out and a job offer was made, I would accept. Like a swift moving river, everything did fall in to place, even the little seemingly insignificant things. Hence, I started working as a nurse paralegal the first week of May at a great law firm near the Galleria. So far, I've really enjoyed it and it has been a great blessing to us.
Several months prior to me starting my job, we starting planning a vacation. We discussed several different options. Originally, we talked about planning something for the two of us but the more we talked about it, the more we decided we needed to plan something that involved our older two kiddos. We decided that they have endured a rough year as well with all of Lydons illness and hospitalizations and that they most likely wanted and probably needed the individualized attention from the two of us. So, we planned a cruise and they were beyond excited. We talked, planned, and shopped for this past week for months!
We had gone over everything and had even the fine details worked out. Everything seemed just perfect. That is until a couple of days before we were to set sail Jonathan checked the weather forecast and found that there was a 40-60%of rain and possible tropical development at both of our ports of call. We decided that every other time, the weathermen are wrong so surely they would be wrong this time. Then, Jonathan started feeling some of the same bizarre symptoms that he'd experienced last year when he was septic. So, with little encouragement from me, he left work early last friday (the day before our ship left) and went to see his PCP. She was immediately concerned. His blood pressure was very high...according to her, it was above stroke level and it didnt move or change regardless of him laying down, resting, etc. She gave him a couple of prescriptions and told him to take it easy for several days. "Not a problem" he said. "We are leaving in the morning for vacation." He went straight to the pharmacy and picked up his medicine and headed home. Later, he told me the floor in the store was "wavy" and the people were blurry.
We were both a little unnerved by this but decided it was all okay. Surely the weather would be fine and as far as Jono goes, better safe than sorry and we were grateful that he'd not procrastinated and gotten it taken care of. So, off we went. We had a great couple of days at sea and arrived in Progresso, Mexico on Monday. It was dreary and overcast but wasnt raining when we arrived. We decided to shop a little before heading to the beach. We walked down the street, through a couple of stores near the beach. Hollie hated it and all that Aidan wanted was a sword but we were glad that they had gotten to experience the streets and lives of people so obviously different from home. Many young people sat on the corner selling fruit, vegetables, or other homemade goods. We took about 20 minutes which is all they could stand and headed over to the beach. Again, it was overcast and windy but it wasnt raining and the balminess of the beach's atmosphere was actually refreshing. Some of the locals had massage tables set up on the beach under a tent for a very nominal fee. I found heaven and for 30 minutes I even forgot about my throat that had almost overnight become totally raw! :) The kids ran and played on the beach. I finished my massage and we headed back towards the terminal. We walked inside and literally within seconds, a torrential downpour sat right on top of us. We kept hoping it would stop but no it did not. The wind blew the pouring rain so hard that it stung our arms and legs as we made our way back. We had to take our shoes off because they were causing us to slip so bad. We were so happy to walk back on to the ship and get the warm towel that was handed to us. Everybody was looking forward to getting a quick warm shower and dry clothes and heading to the dining room for a late lunch. I got the kids situated in their room and Jonathan grabbed my phone to call home and check on Lydon.
I was just about to walk back in to our room when Jonathan told me that I needed to come to the phone without the kids. My mom proceeded to inform us that Lydon had been admitted to the IMU (step down ICU) at Hermann Hospital. She said that around 9pm Sunday evening his fever started going up around 103. She bathed him and gave him motrin and put him to bed. By 1 am, he woke up screaming and vomiting and had a temp of 105.2. She again gave him motrin and jumped in the car and headed to the ER. They immediately took him back and started running blood work, x-rays, etc. They took his clothes off of him, covered him in wet rags and put a fan blowing on him. It took four hours for them to finally get it under 103. They of course admitted him despite most of his routine labs looking pretty good. Regardless, the doctors and nurses could see how sick he was and his fever continued to spike. They started him on high powered antibiotics and blew nearly every vein available in doing so but it had to be done. Between my mom and the nurses they made contact with our neurologist who takes care of his mito issues as well. Some of his mito labs (ammonia, CPK) were abnormally elevated but that isnt unusual. His bleeding time was elevated and that's a first. Overall, they never did find a source of the fever but because of his mito issue, small kidneys, etc they did what they could in treating him with the "big gun" antibiotics. There was a question as to why his routine labs looked so good and he was so sick. We will address this with the immunologist in the next few weeks. The neuro ordered some very important special labs as well. I will post about those in a couple of weeks when we get the results back.
This of course put a bit of a damper on the rest of our trip. I know I shouldnt have been but I really was shocked this time and just not expecting it. Lydon has seemed so stable and healthy lately. It had been almost 10 weeks since our last hospitalization and that's the longest time we've been out of the hospital since Sept. It hurt me to think that he just got sick with no obvious explanation to say nothing of the fact that his body wasnt responding well to anything including the medicine they were using to treat him. Nevertheless, I knew he was in good hands. My mom is the closest thing to me( probably better if you ask my kids) and she knew exactly what to tell all of the medical staff. I knew that I also needed to put on a good face and have fun for Hollie, Aidan and Jonathan. I was upset later that evening but we had a good time the next two days and thankfully, the weather calmed down after that too.
I dont understand why after working hard and planning for months for this one week out of the year, we were hit with Jonathans scary blood pressure issue, my sore throat, bad tropical weather, and Lydons hospitalization. But, I have to believe that it all worked together for good. It was good that it was near impossible for me to get back home to Lydon. Otherwise, I would have and our vacation would of ended prematurely for our other kids. It was good that I didnt have to miss work for this hospitalization. (My vacation was preplanned and they knew that when they hired me.) It was good that Jonathans blood pressure spiked the way it did before our ship left and not after. The weather, I have no explanation for other than that I wished all of that rain would've fallen here in South East Texas instead of Mexico. To top it all off, last night Aidan started vomiting and covered every layer of our bed and furniture all the way down to the mattress. I have washed and cleaned all day. Jonathan and I have felt it necessary to eat nothing more than toast and sprite today. The good news there is that Lydon has seemed otherwise fine and the rest of us have been too. I dont know if any of this will make any sense to those of you who are reading this but it is what has transpired in our life the last couple of weeks. Happy July 4th!! Till next time...
Ok, so I have to give a little bit of background here and bring you all up to date before I can continue. A couple months ago, I was presented with an awesome job opportunity. It didnt really seem like the right timing to us but during the last year or so, Jonathan and I have tried hard to accept and live by the rule that God's timing is not always the same as ours. Despite many reservations, we decided if all of the "ifs" and "what-ifs" worked out and a job offer was made, I would accept. Like a swift moving river, everything did fall in to place, even the little seemingly insignificant things. Hence, I started working as a nurse paralegal the first week of May at a great law firm near the Galleria. So far, I've really enjoyed it and it has been a great blessing to us.
Several months prior to me starting my job, we starting planning a vacation. We discussed several different options. Originally, we talked about planning something for the two of us but the more we talked about it, the more we decided we needed to plan something that involved our older two kiddos. We decided that they have endured a rough year as well with all of Lydons illness and hospitalizations and that they most likely wanted and probably needed the individualized attention from the two of us. So, we planned a cruise and they were beyond excited. We talked, planned, and shopped for this past week for months!
We had gone over everything and had even the fine details worked out. Everything seemed just perfect. That is until a couple of days before we were to set sail Jonathan checked the weather forecast and found that there was a 40-60%of rain and possible tropical development at both of our ports of call. We decided that every other time, the weathermen are wrong so surely they would be wrong this time. Then, Jonathan started feeling some of the same bizarre symptoms that he'd experienced last year when he was septic. So, with little encouragement from me, he left work early last friday (the day before our ship left) and went to see his PCP. She was immediately concerned. His blood pressure was very high...according to her, it was above stroke level and it didnt move or change regardless of him laying down, resting, etc. She gave him a couple of prescriptions and told him to take it easy for several days. "Not a problem" he said. "We are leaving in the morning for vacation." He went straight to the pharmacy and picked up his medicine and headed home. Later, he told me the floor in the store was "wavy" and the people were blurry.
We were both a little unnerved by this but decided it was all okay. Surely the weather would be fine and as far as Jono goes, better safe than sorry and we were grateful that he'd not procrastinated and gotten it taken care of. So, off we went. We had a great couple of days at sea and arrived in Progresso, Mexico on Monday. It was dreary and overcast but wasnt raining when we arrived. We decided to shop a little before heading to the beach. We walked down the street, through a couple of stores near the beach. Hollie hated it and all that Aidan wanted was a sword but we were glad that they had gotten to experience the streets and lives of people so obviously different from home. Many young people sat on the corner selling fruit, vegetables, or other homemade goods. We took about 20 minutes which is all they could stand and headed over to the beach. Again, it was overcast and windy but it wasnt raining and the balminess of the beach's atmosphere was actually refreshing. Some of the locals had massage tables set up on the beach under a tent for a very nominal fee. I found heaven and for 30 minutes I even forgot about my throat that had almost overnight become totally raw! :) The kids ran and played on the beach. I finished my massage and we headed back towards the terminal. We walked inside and literally within seconds, a torrential downpour sat right on top of us. We kept hoping it would stop but no it did not. The wind blew the pouring rain so hard that it stung our arms and legs as we made our way back. We had to take our shoes off because they were causing us to slip so bad. We were so happy to walk back on to the ship and get the warm towel that was handed to us. Everybody was looking forward to getting a quick warm shower and dry clothes and heading to the dining room for a late lunch. I got the kids situated in their room and Jonathan grabbed my phone to call home and check on Lydon.
I was just about to walk back in to our room when Jonathan told me that I needed to come to the phone without the kids. My mom proceeded to inform us that Lydon had been admitted to the IMU (step down ICU) at Hermann Hospital. She said that around 9pm Sunday evening his fever started going up around 103. She bathed him and gave him motrin and put him to bed. By 1 am, he woke up screaming and vomiting and had a temp of 105.2. She again gave him motrin and jumped in the car and headed to the ER. They immediately took him back and started running blood work, x-rays, etc. They took his clothes off of him, covered him in wet rags and put a fan blowing on him. It took four hours for them to finally get it under 103. They of course admitted him despite most of his routine labs looking pretty good. Regardless, the doctors and nurses could see how sick he was and his fever continued to spike. They started him on high powered antibiotics and blew nearly every vein available in doing so but it had to be done. Between my mom and the nurses they made contact with our neurologist who takes care of his mito issues as well. Some of his mito labs (ammonia, CPK) were abnormally elevated but that isnt unusual. His bleeding time was elevated and that's a first. Overall, they never did find a source of the fever but because of his mito issue, small kidneys, etc they did what they could in treating him with the "big gun" antibiotics. There was a question as to why his routine labs looked so good and he was so sick. We will address this with the immunologist in the next few weeks. The neuro ordered some very important special labs as well. I will post about those in a couple of weeks when we get the results back.
This of course put a bit of a damper on the rest of our trip. I know I shouldnt have been but I really was shocked this time and just not expecting it. Lydon has seemed so stable and healthy lately. It had been almost 10 weeks since our last hospitalization and that's the longest time we've been out of the hospital since Sept. It hurt me to think that he just got sick with no obvious explanation to say nothing of the fact that his body wasnt responding well to anything including the medicine they were using to treat him. Nevertheless, I knew he was in good hands. My mom is the closest thing to me( probably better if you ask my kids) and she knew exactly what to tell all of the medical staff. I knew that I also needed to put on a good face and have fun for Hollie, Aidan and Jonathan. I was upset later that evening but we had a good time the next two days and thankfully, the weather calmed down after that too.
I dont understand why after working hard and planning for months for this one week out of the year, we were hit with Jonathans scary blood pressure issue, my sore throat, bad tropical weather, and Lydons hospitalization. But, I have to believe that it all worked together for good. It was good that it was near impossible for me to get back home to Lydon. Otherwise, I would have and our vacation would of ended prematurely for our other kids. It was good that I didnt have to miss work for this hospitalization. (My vacation was preplanned and they knew that when they hired me.) It was good that Jonathans blood pressure spiked the way it did before our ship left and not after. The weather, I have no explanation for other than that I wished all of that rain would've fallen here in South East Texas instead of Mexico. To top it all off, last night Aidan started vomiting and covered every layer of our bed and furniture all the way down to the mattress. I have washed and cleaned all day. Jonathan and I have felt it necessary to eat nothing more than toast and sprite today. The good news there is that Lydon has seemed otherwise fine and the rest of us have been too. I dont know if any of this will make any sense to those of you who are reading this but it is what has transpired in our life the last couple of weeks. Happy July 4th!! Till next time...
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