4 for 4

Well, we're back in the hospital. That makes four for four for the last four months (that was a lot of four/fors for one sentence). I was getting kind of excited because we were almost through October without a visit. Shouldn't have had the thought, I guess. Anyway, they may as well just have a room set aside for us. Joking of course. I'm not joking when I say that I do keep a backpack in the coat closet ready with scrubs, slippers, underwear, toiletries, and a book. Easy access for when we have to take Miles in.....because he's always admitted, and we're always unprepared.



So, here's how it all went down this time, basically the same story as the other times. Thursday of last week, Miles was acting normal, having a good mischievous day. We were winding down around 8:30 or so, just getting jammied up and watching some good tv. That's when the puking started, violent puking, adult puking.....all over my "dry clean only" bedspread (why I let my 16 month old play on my "dry clean only" bedspread is another issue all together). I got him bathed and in fresh pjs. He was happy and playful, so I figured something just didn't agree with him. We went back to the bedroom (so I could finish watching the Thursday night lineup), and there it went again. He managed to cover the sheets, blanket, and all five pillows that were on the bed at the time. That's talent. He still wasn't really acting very sick, but the vomiting was much more than usual, and urgent care was closing in a half hour, so I thought I'd take him in just in case. It was a pretty good thing I did because he had a positive strep test. I wasn't suspecting that, but at least we got some antibiotics and got it taken care of. I think.



He did fine for the rest of the week and even went to half of church on Sunday. He's gotten quite naughty at church though (it may have something to do with the fact that our church starts at nap time, and he refuses to sleep at church). After he exploded an entire box of Reeses Pieces all over, we thought it would be best for dad to take him home. Monday he seemed fine; a few sneezes, but nothing significant. Tuesday he was a little more sneezy and had a runny nose, but we also got a few inches of snow that day, so a little weather related cold wouldn't have been a surprise. He was still happy and playful. He even took the place of my visiting teaching partner, and we went out on a couple of visits. (Sorry Brackens. I hope your Wii remotes still work.)



Wednesday was when things got a little more concerning. He added a mucousy cough to his sneezing, and his breathing seemed to be a little labored. We went into the pediatrician, and his oxygen levels were still in the high nineties. He didn't have a fever or anything, so there really wasn't anything to do at that point that I wasn't already doing (we started the inhaler every couple of hours when the runny nose started). To help wipe things out a little quicker, we got a prescription of baby prednisone to add to his smorgasbord of medicines. His breathing progressively got worse, so we went back to the pediatrician around 7:30, but his oxygen was still at 96, so again, there wasn't anything else to do other than let him rest and let the prednisone do its job. That night was not good though. Of course, right around the time that his doctor's office closed, it got really bad. Luckily, Ben got home a little early, around 10:00. We had decided to really try to keep him out of the hospital, but I needed Ben home to help me make the decision of what was "too bad". We kept giving him his inhaler and tried to calm him down and get him to sleep. That didn't work too well, and around 1:30 or so he started coughing hard enough to throw up. Back in the tub for him.....and back in the wash for all my bed linens. He calmed down quite a bit in the tub, so we tried going back to sleep. Again, he started coughing and threw up. We had another bath, then Ben gave him a blessing. Things didn't seem to be getting any better, so we gave in.



We decided to bypass Mountain West Hospital this time. All it is is an extra co-pay, so we just brought him straight to Primary. When we got here, his oxygen was only in the mid 70s. We (mostly me, Ben left after a couple of hours because he had school in the morning) were in the ER from about 3:45 to 8:00. While we were there, Miles was put on 2% oxygen, got suctioned and had a super neb. We got moved into a private room despite the busy flu season (one of the few benefits of having heart disease--private room priority). Thank Heaven! None of us had slept at all in the past 36+ hours.



Since then, it's been business as usual....except a little less of it.....and a little more of it. A little less treatment and a little more examination. He's only had a couple of nebulizers because the doctors are starting to doubt the effectiveness of the albuterol treatment for him. They are keeping him on some steroid maintenance treatment though. What the doctors are seeing and what they are hearing seems a little contradictory. Miles' oxygen has been low, and he has had very fast labored respirations, but his lungs are basically clear, making the doctors once again think that this is not asthma. Great! Only problem is, what is it? The closest thing to an answer I've been able to get is, "this may just be the way that his body is reacting to being sick". If this is how his body reacts to sickness, then the question returns, how can we prevent ending up here every time he gets a cold. Haven't really gotten any definitive answers to that one. Just the standard: wash hands frequently, keep him away from sick people, etc. We do have the maintenance steroid now that should hopefully help us through the winter season. We've also kind of come to the conclusion that unless we can get Miles to wear a surgical mask, church is just out the question for a while. Anyway, we're kind of back where we started.

For the short term update, he's doing great. They just took him off of oxygen completely. We're doing a little experiment now to see if he can keep his levels up without it while he's asleep. We were told that if he can, we might be able to go home today. That's one requirement. The other is that he eats something and keeps fluids down. (I forgot to mention that Miles had thrown up yesterday and had massive diarrhea last night and had to have an iv to replace fluids.) Well, he's asleep right now, and his oxygen is at 95. Beautiful! He wouldn't eat any of his breakfast this morning, but he did eat about a quarter of my bagel. Of course. He's still having a little drinking problem though. He's only had about an ounce of milk since he woke up, so I guess we'll see.

Anyhow, grug.....

I'm sorry to anyone who was planning on coming to my Halloween party. I was super excited about it, and Miles has about the greatest costume in the world that I was really looking forward to you all seeing. Hopefully, he'll be well enough to make a couple of costumed visits tomorrow. I'm sure that if we don't get out today, we will tomorrow. We better. Even the Halloween party here was cancelled. I feel so bad for all of those sick little kids that are going to miss all the festivities now.

Well, I guess that's about it. Long enough to make up for my last month and a half of nothing. I'll try to post a little more often. With the holidays on their way, I should have some fun and happy things to write. 'Til then...

Everything Stinks...Literally

I have the cutest, sweetest, brightest little baby, and I love him so much. That said, he has been nothing but naughty the past couple of days. It's been pretty rough because some of the meds that he is on are stimulants, so he has been totally wired for the past few weeks. And of course, my little Miles is terribly advanced, so I'm thinking that he's entering his terrible twos a little ahead of schedule. I suppose that saying he's been naughty is a little harsh. Let's just say that he is mischievious. He's really into emptying drawers, cupboards, and closets. He loves unmaking beds, and throwing food. He's into breaking things, and I can't let him have a bottle unsupervised because it's an awesome trick to squirt it all out over everything. I know that this is all normal baby stuff, but I'm a new mom, so it's all new to me. Plus, our sleep schedule is a little screwed up due to daddy's unconventional work schedule. We haven't quite gotten into a good groove yet.

Miles is like me and gets really restless being at home all day. It's usually not too much of a problem because we're frequently running errands, going to the post office, bank, or the grocery store. The car's in the shop this week, and the part still hasn't come in, so we've been stuck here. We've tried to play outside a little bit, but summer keeps being here, and I can't take the heat for too long. Plus, Miles is afraid of grass, and we don't have a swingset or anything, so there's not too much for him to do either. Anyway, I think that's kind of added to his wildness.

He was being particularly stinkery tonight while I was trying to get him to sleep. He kept throwing everything off the bed and messing with the computer. He was yelling and hitting me, and he wasn't about to stop anytime soon. It was time to go to the crib. He's good at napping in his crib. Not so good at sleeping the night there. After about 20 minutes of eardrum shattering screaming, I gave in and went to get him. He was so upset and crying so hard that he was choking himself. About one step into my bedroom, and he exploded with vomit, adult vomit. He was covered. I was covered. My floor was covered. I set him in the empty bathtub while I quickly cleaned the floor. Then I stripped him down and filled the tub. As soon as the diaper started coming off, the poop came out. It was a disgusting smelly ordeal to say the least.

Miles seems totally fine since I cleaned him up and brought him back in with me. Right now, he's still awake (in my bed of course) watching some Chinese cartoon that I've never heard of. I don't think that he's sick. I think that he just upset himself....which might be even worse. At least when you are sick, you eventually get better. In recent days, Miles has taught himself how to throw up. I'm not really sure how to fix that one.

The Not Quite as Big 2 8

I have to just start by saying that I am so sick of getting a paragraph typed just to accidentally brush the touchpad and delete it all. This happens almost every post. To all you techies out there, is there any way to avoid this? I'm terrible at not using a mouse. Anyhow.....

Today is Ben's big day, his 28th birthday. I went for a young one. (Marinda's got me beat though, so it's okay) Ben isn't much of a celebrator. Last night he told me that his only birthday wish was to sleep as late as he wanted today. Easy enough. He took the day off work today, so he was set. He did sleep until about noon, really not very late since he doesn't get home from work until after midnight. Then it was homework for a couple of hours. What a way to spend a birthday. Guh! After getting tired of that, we woke up Miles, so he could help daddy open presents. Miles got him a Pink Floyd t shirt and a Pink Floyd sweatshirt. I went and bought all of his favorite snacks and a football serving tray. I printed up a "gift certificate" good for a full day of uninterrupted football watching. Ben's not too big on presents, so I had to be a little creative. I thought that this was something that he could appreciate.

Right now, Ben is enjoying the cool night air at the Australian Pink Floyd concert at Usana. Pink Floyd is one of the very few musical groups that Ben likes, so it was kind of a no brainer when the concert landed on his birthday. Plus, it's kind of a tradition for his dad and siblings to go every year. I guess the date was just a little extra bonus. I hope he is having fun and hope that his birthday was super great.

The Big 3 0

For the past year, I've been telling Ben that he better plan something for my thirtieth birthday. When it comes to celebrating, Ben and I are polar opposites. I love big get-togethers. Lots of food. Lots of family and friends. And I plan things months in advance....long enough to change my mind on absolutely everything at least twelve times. Ben's ideal birthday would be an uninterrupted day of watching football alone in the basement with a bag of Ruffles and some dip. For this reason, I told Tami and Jenn and I'm sure others to make sure that Ben planned something for my birthday. Well, I'll have you all know that it's not Ben's fault that we're not doing anything (right now anyway). It's all me. With everything that's been going on these past couple of months, there has just been no time (or resources for that matter) to plan anything. And I didn't want to just throw something together last minute. I am determined on having a nice get-together sometime though, so stay tuned. I owe myself a party. Maybe Halloween.....I love making Halloween food.... Plus, I have all those fantastic pumpkin serving dishes. Man, I love fall!!!!

I woke up today kind of having a pity party for myself inside my head. I was a little disappointed that we weren't having a party, and we hadn't been able to really go out for our anniversary last weekend, and I had just found out that that extra $800 medical bill was not a mistake. I had kind of set myself up for a disappointing day. However, it turned out to be pretty good. After Ben left for work, Miles and I headed to the post office and then to the bank. In Tooele, everything lives in Walmart, including Chase Bank. I really do not love Walmart even a little bit, but out here it's kind of the only option you have. And, on occasion, they have some cute stuff. Really cheap stuff, but sometimes cute. I noticed that they were having a massive summer clearance sale. I always take a peak at the baby clearance stuff because Miles goes through clothes like it's nobodies business. They had a bunch of little hats on sale for $1, two of which I had almost bought a couple of weeks ago (at regular price). I picked them up. One was actually a 2-pack, so it was actually three hats for $2. Sweet! There was also a sun dress that I'd kind of had my eye on since the beginning of summer. It's just a really simple jersey dress that I thought looked really comfy and would work for church or everyday wear. It was on clearance for $7. I definitely deserved a $7 birthday dress. I also needed a 10-key. I'm having a really hard time functioning with the numbers at the top of the laptop keypad. I'd kind of pushed back buying one because they're about $20, and it just wasn't something I wanted to spend money on. Luckily, with school starting, they had cheap little $5 10-keys. Perfecto! It gets better though. After grabbing a little mini birthday cake (Miles and I are having our own little party tonight), I went to pay. When I got my total, I thought that my dress had been missed. Nope. It was $3, a $3 dress!!! I happily paid, and went to Redbox for a movie. They even had the movie that I had been trying every couple days to rent for the past month. The birthday gods have really been smiling down on me today.

Well, there's my silly birthday saga. Right now, I'm just waiting for my baby to wake up, so we can have our birthday party. We're going to eat hot dogs and birthday cake then watch 17 Again. Yes. That is the movie that I have been trying to rent. Embarrassing, I know. Zach Efron's cute though.

Home Again

Well, we're back. We'll see how long this time. I have a feeling that we're going to become regulars at PCMC. My "cousin" James joked that we've joined the PCMC frequent flyers club. Miles is already starting to feel somewhat comfortable there. He knows what's going on when we get there. He knows that he has to sleep in a crib, and he knows that he'll get poked and prodded and eat lots of medicine. He is quite the trooper. In the beginning of this whole ordeal, he wasn't very fond of the nurses, but now he smiles and says "hi" when he sees them. There is one in particular that he reaches for and really seems to like. I believe her name is Heather. A couple people there are starting to recognize us too.

So, what can we expect in the future? You know, I really can't say for sure. We're (including the doctors) all pretty sure that this will be an ongoing issue. They are officially calling this asthma. Not much of a surprise considering his family history. I asked a respiratory specialist if this was going to happen every time Miles gets a cold. That is esentially what has caused these past two episodes. He basically told me yes. Eventually, he will most likely be put on an inhaled steroid as a controller medicine. Why not put him on it now? Part of the reason is because they still want to observe him. There is the possibility that this was worsened because he was already in a fragile state due to his recent surgery. They also want me to meet with his physician about options. That will happen either tomorrow or Sunday evening (yes, Sunday, weird huh?). For now, I have been instructed to keep him away from anyone who is, could possibly be getting, or has recently been sick. I have to kick into Nazi mode again. If he gets a runny nose, wheezes, or even coughs, he has to have albuterol every 2 hours for at least 48. Crazy. If it keeps us out of the hospital, we'll take it though.

While at PCMC, I was required to go to a respiratory therapy class. Ben thought that it was kind of stupid of me to go because what was someone going to teach me about asthma? It was very informative though. I learned a lot that I should be doing that will not only help Miles, but will probably really help Ben and I as well. For one, it turns out that a swamp cooler is about the worst thing ever for an asthmatic. That's something that will take a little while to correct. In the meantime, we use a wall unit air conditioner and the super awesome fans that we got from Costco a couple of years ago. Luckily, we're going into fall, so that's good. I also learned that I need to put filters in my heat vents. I didn't even know that that existed. Makes sense though. Apparently, they sell them at Walmart and are pretty cheap. It's also really bad to use a humidifier. Interesting. And if we can avoid much carpet, that would be best. It would be especially important to not have carpet in Miles bedroom. Everyone knows that our flooring needs to be replaced. I'm all for limited carpet. I hate carpet. Too hard to keep clean. My question is this though, is there a way to transition from wood to tile without it looking stupid? I could use advice on this one. We also have to wash all bedding at least weekly in water at least 130 degrees. I also have to get hypoallergenic covers for the mattresses and box springs. In addition to those things, we have to test for triggers by slowly and systematically removing things from his environment like scented candles and hairspray. The biggest thing that they really hammered down was that he cannot be around people who are or have been sick, regardless of severity. In the therapists words, "I don't care if it is Christmas day. If there is a sick family member there, you stay home. You'll probably offend people, but you'll avoid this (referring to being in the hospital)". With all of this in mind, I hope that you will all understand (and I know that you already do) if we are not able to be at everything. We want to be. Believe me when I say I'd much rather be with family and friends than home alone-ish all day every day. And family, I hope that you all understand that with all of the household changes that have been strongly suggested, a big vacation has pretty much been bumped to the bottom of the list. A cabin trip is about where our vacation budget is right now. We just have to prioritize I guess.

Anyhow, this is what we're up against. We'll keep you informed of any changes.

On a super happy note, Miles is starting to wals. I can't even tell you how excited I was yesterday. He yelled, "Hey, mom.." I looked over, and he smiled big and walked about 5 or 6 steps to me. He knew what he was doing. Such a good boy!

Back Again

We might as well sell our house and move in here. This will be our third stay at Primary Children's in just over a month. Let's do a count. in the past 2 months, we've been to PCMC 7 times, admitted three. We've had 6 appointments with the pediatrician. He's had 7 chest x rays (and will most likely have another this afternoon). We've been to the ER in Tooele twice and the urgent care once. He's had 15 nebulizer treatments (that I remember) and has been suctioned 8 or 9 times. And let's not forget that little open-heart surgery. Poor little baby.

I suppose I should give you all an explanation for this morning's text. Basically, it's the same story as last time. Miles had a runny nose and a little cough yesterday. I was really hoping that it was just allergies, but I had a feeling that we'd end up back here. He was a little grouchy but mostly fine yesterday. Last night was a really bad night. He was super upset and wouldn't sleep. I could tell that he was very uncomfortable, and he was grunting, but he wasn't wheezing. This morning, his breathing was very labored. I gave him a bath in hopes that I could kind of calm things down until the urgent care opened. After his bath, things got worse, and Ben decided that we should just go straight to the ER. On the way out, he vomitted all sorts of mucous. That was the only thing different from last time. At the hospital, he vomitted more mucous and bile (I'll tell you a funny story later). It didn't take long for them to decide that he'd be safer coming to PCMC. Again, we were transported by ambulance, but this time we got the sirens. They were driving so fast! It was a little scary. Kind of felt like we'd tip over every time we made a turn. Anyway, we were admitted into a room about an hour and a half ago. Right now we're watching "Emporer's New Groove". He's continuing to have oxygen and occaissional nebulizers. I'm guessing he'll get suctioned again soon too. Sounds like he needs it. They're thinking of getting him on an inhaled steroid to avoid a hospital stay every time he gets a cold. It's still pretty up in the air though as to what is actually going on. So, that's what we know. We'll keep you posted on any changes. Hopefully, we'll just be here the night.

Now for the funny part. We were sitting in the ER at Mountain West talking to the doctor. He caught me glimpsing into the window. He asked me if I was checking my hair. I wasn't completely concious I was doing it, but I was. Then he came over, put his arm around me and said, "You're covered in vomit. I really don't think you need to worry about your hair". It brought a little bit of humor to an otherwise stressful situation.

Lazy Sunday

Not too much going on today, but I did want to post a funny little story. I think that everyone knows that Miles loves the telephone. Whenever I'm on the phone with you, you can probably hear Miles in the background freaking out. Or if he ever sees your telephone, he'll probably freak out until you give it to him. Over time it has progressed from just the house phone and cell phone to remote controls and the baby monitor. I get that. They kind of look like phones. He'll hold them up to his ear and say, "Hi" and pretend to have a conversation. He'll pass it to me and want me to talk into it and say that it's for him and give it back. Well, it's gotten a little out of hand lately. We're not just limited to phones, remotes, and monitors anymore. Now, everything is a telephone. Rubber ducky, phone. Bottle of medicine, phone. My very favorite was this morning. Miles had found a bag that had my old primary stuff in it (I taught sunbeams). There were a bunch of pictures from the "I am Thankful for my House" (or something) lesson. My silly little baby had a paper cutout of a dog in a doghouse up to his ear, talking on it. What a weirdo!