Thanksgiving Day

We got a scary reminder of just how much we have to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. I'll preface this story by saying that Collin is completely fine but he gave us quite a scare. Thanksgiving morning I got up early and took the boys over to my parents. Tim joined us later because he needed to let the dogs out so they wouldn't go too long without going outside. Morey still jumps on the couch and the table so we don't allow him to come over to my parents yet. The boys and I got there bright and early and helped make the stuffing and get the turkey in the oven. We had our traditional breakfast of kielbasa and cinnamon buns and mimosas. They boys did not have mimosas of course, they had plain orange juice. Things were going just fine. We watched the Thanksgiving Day Parade and some of the dog show, the turkey was done and we were all busy getting the side dishes prepared. All of the sudden we heard Collin screaming. He came down the hall from one of the bedrooms saying his mouth hurt. I could see he was bleeding so I grabbed a flashlight for a better look. He had poked a hole in his throat just beside one of his tonsils. By the time I was able to see this Collin was pretty well calmed down, he wasn't even complaining that it hurt. I informed him that we were going to the ER and he got really upset. We briefly considered going to Nighttime Peds because he was acting so normal but my gut just told me he needed to go to the ER. We didn't go to the closest hospital because they don't have an ENT doctor on call. The ER which is notorious for being backed up and slow took us right away and we were seen in no time. They called the ENT doctor on call and it turned out to be someone I knew and trusted completely. He looked in Collin's mouth and decided that the best thing to do would be to call the attending doctor at Children's Hospital to find out what the most up to date protocol for this type of injury was. They decided that Collin would get a CT scan at the hospital and as long as it came back OK we wouldn't have to go to Children's. If Collin had just stabbed himself in the tonsil it would have been no big deal and we could have just gone home. Instead he stabbed himself to the left of his tonsil and just behind that muscle is where the carotid artery is located. The doctor was pretty sure that the injury wasn't that deep but didn't want to take any chances. In order to get the CT scan Collin needed an IV. God help me if my child ever needs another IV because it was the most miserable experience of my life. He does not have good veins, or at least easy to find veins and we had to wrap him in a sheet and hold him down while the nurses tried to find one. Bless his little heart he tried to be brave at first. I told him exactly what was going to happen and that it would hurt and he was OK when they first started. He even said it tickled when the nurses were feeling his arm looking for a vein. Unfortunately she couldn't find it with the needle and we held him for what felt like an eternity while she fished around for one. It made me cry to feel him struggling and hear him screaming "please help me". They finally had to take a break and let him relax a bit. The second nurse who tried got it right away. Collin still cried and screamed but it was over in no time the second time around. As soon as he got his IV they were ready to do his CT scan which was too bad because he didn't really have enough time to calm down completely and was terrified of the machine. It was this big circle that spun and lit up. He was supposed to just lay on a table that went through it twice. The lady running it was nice and put him through it once without turning it on just to show him it wasn't scary but he wasn't buying it. He really needed to be completely still to get a good picture but we had to do the best we could. I talked to him about Disney World and going on roller coasters and compared that to the ride through the circle while they took the picture but he wasn't really buying that either. Finally he calmed down enough that we were able to get the test done and it wasn't the greatest picture but it showed enough for the doctors to determine that Collin hadn't hit anything when he stabbed himself. It was decided that we would stay overnight just to watch for signs of a blot clot or stroke. The doctor told me I could have taken him home and woken him up to check myself but if it was his kid, he'd be staying overnight. I sure didn't want that kind of responsibility. Throughout the whole ordeal Collin kept insisting that he was fine, and he acted fine too. That is probably what helped me to stay calm and not freak out. We finally got a room in peds around 9:30 and I finally got to eat my Thanksgiving dinner, which my parents had brought to us earlier in the ER, around 10 that night. Collin fell asleep around 10:30 or so but got woken up every hour to make sure that he was OK. The first 3 times he was woken up, he screamed bloody murder for a good 20 minutes afterward because he was so mad about it. After that I think he was just too tired to care anymore. He woke up at 7am the next morning all bright eyed and bushy-tailed. It was 8:45 before he even mentioned wanting some food despite the fact that he hadn't been allowed to eat during this entire process. He mentioned food once just before he fell asleep the night before but wasn't upset when I told him he couldn't have it. We went home the next morning and he's been completely fine ever since. He never even had any pain medicine! I wouldn't have thought it would hurt like hell but apparently after the initial pain that kind of injury isn't painful at all. So this Thanksgiving I am most grateful that I have two beautiful children who bring such joy to my life. I sometimes take them for granted and forget how everything can change in an instant. I am so thankful that, although it was very scary because of what might have been, Collin is none the worse for wear. I gotta say, you should have seen him pushing his IV pole around when he wanted to go somewhere. He adapted very quickly. I was quite shocked and kind of proud that he was able to relax and have some fun despite being very scared. I'm thankful for my sister who gave up her plans with Max to help me out. She watch Nick so my parents could come see us and bring us some dinner and she and Max took our dogs home so Tim wouldn't have to leave the hospital. There are so many things that I'm thankful for this year, I can't even begin to mention them all but mostly I'm just thankful for the wonderful care that my son received and that he is completely fine. Watching him play today you'd never guess he'd just come home from the hospital yesterday.

I hope you all had a wonderful, far less eventful than mine, Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for all of the wonderful people in our lives, and even though I don't always take the time to say it, I hope you all know how special you are and how much you mean to all of us. Here's to a happy and healthy holiday season ahead. Cheers!

Update

Since the very nice, but stupid, doctor couldn't tell me for sure what was wrong with Nick last night I had to take him to the doctor again this morning. She took one look at his rash, asked if it had started before or after the fever had broken (it was after) informed me that it was viral and he was not contagious after the fever broke and the rash would fade over the next few days. She also looked in his ears, determined that they were not infected and told me to stop his antibiotic. So, all in all, good news, except that I had to take an entire day off from work to spend 10 minutes in the doctors office so she could tell me my child was completely fine. Why couldn't the doctor have told me that the night before? Granted, if I needed to take a day off, this was a good one to take because we were closed anyway. I was just going in to do the stuff that needed to be done for tomorrow and to catch up on a ton of busy work I'd been saving for just such a day. Nick and I did go in for about an hour so that I could call tomorrow's patients. He sat very quietly and ate 2 big cups of animal crackers while I did what absolutely had to be done before we could leave. I was very proud of how good he was and how he left me alone while I was on the phone. By the time we left he was starting to get a little fussy. He conked out on the way home and is still asleep now. Bless his little heart, I doubt he'll want any lunch after all those cookies but when he wakes up I'll try making him something yummy anyway. I'm just glad he's OK and hasn't been spreading germs at daycare.

Daddy's Boy

Poor Collin has been complaining for 2 days of a sore throat so I finally took him to the doctor again today since his sinus infection from a few weeks ago really isn't much better and he also has a yucky cough. He is his father's child. He still has the sinus infection but they think he also has allergies, which explains the red, watery eyes we've also been noticing lately. (Tim's allergies are so bad he has to get allergy shots). He's back on an antibiotic for 10 days and Zyrtec for at least 2 weeks until we go back for a follow up. If that doesn't seem to be working we'll have to go see an allergist. Just what I want to put my 2 year old through; allergy testing. Its only about 40 sticks with a needle or something ridiculous like that. I don't even know if they test kids that young where I work. I might have to take him to a pediatric allergist. I'm so hoping that the Zyrtec will work and he can just stay on that and I won't have to put him through all that other stuff! He was very funny in the office today. They tried to take his temperature orally but he wouldn't cooperate so they took it rectally. As soon as she stuck the thermometer in Collin said "ooh, yuck!" followed by "it feels like poop, I have to poop". The poor girl taking his temperature was trying very hard not to laugh but I couldn't help it, I giggled because it was funny. After he was all done being checked out he looked at the doctor and said "Thank you. I feel all better now!" It was very sweet, but unfortunately not true. Hopefully, the medicines will help him. In the meantime I'm going to do some research on how to make the house less allergenic and pray to God he's not allergic to the dog and the bird.

Update

My Grams had her surgery today and the doctor didn't have to do as much as he thought he would, so that's good news. My parents said she's not in pain and she's looking good and eating well. Hopefully the medicine she's on will work and she'll heal up nicely. We'll just have to wait and see.

Please Say a Prayer For My Grams

My Grandmother is in the hospital today because she has an ulcer on her foot. I don't know a whole lot about it but she has to have surgery tomorrow to get it cleaned out. My parents are heading up there in the morning and are hoping to be able to talk to the surgeon when he's done (not sure what time surgery is). We'll know more after the surgeon's been able to clean it all out. My Grams is 85 and diabetic so please say a prayer that all goes well and she recovers quickly.

Yet Another Doctor Visit

Collin went to the doctor's office this afternoon and for the first time in a really long time, the trip did not involve tantrums and bribery! I am so proud. Usually he freaks out as soon as his name is called. The past few times we've been to the doctor's we've been really working on this. I've promised him everything from a trip to the playground (not such a bad bribe) to nuggets and french fries from McDonald's (yes, I know that's awful but I was totally desperate at the time). This time they called us back and asked Collin to stand on the scale and he hopped right up. Then while the nurse took his temperature in a most unpleasant place, Collin picked up an extra thermometer and held it under his arm because that's how they did it in the other office, still no screams or tears! He was even good while the doctor examined his ears. He has yet another ear infection. I've lost track of how many this makes since his first birthday but its a whole lot. We go back in 2 weeks unless he hasn't improved any by the middle of next week. I'll be discussing getting tubes with his doctor because, at this point, between co-pays and prescriptions, I could have paid for tubes without using insurance. I hate the idea of putting him through surgery but we've been spending lots and lots of time in doctor's offices lately and if getting tubes will put a stop to that, I'm all for it. I just don't want my little boy to feel so crappy all the time.