What a Week

I realize that this blog has become a boring medical journal, but unfortunately for now, it is our life.  I have debated on leaving this all off, but this is a journal of us and this is what we are going through for now.  I do have some fun posts in store though.

That being said, this will be a LONG post.  Sorry!

This has been a rough week.  Starting Monday, Kate needed around the clock breathing treatments after an asthma diagnosis.  When I found that out, I sent Leah off for a few days, knowing that I would need to sleep when Kate did during the days and nights and would be unable to do so if she were here.  Monday went okay.  I couldn't tell that the breathing treatments were making any difference, but knew it could take time.  Monday night I stayed up until midnight for a treatment and then headed to bed.  She stayed pretty calm for it and laid right back down.  I got a little too excited at how "easy this was going to be" and as soon as my head hit the pillow, she was up.

I had to be quiet and careful because Daddy-O is working an early morning shift (4 am) and I didn't want him waking up from all the noise.  From midnight until about 3:45, she wiggled and moaned and cried.  I tried rocking her.  I tried nursing her.  I tried letting her cry it out.  Finally, I gave in.  I couldn't put her in bed with me because Daddy-O was sleeping in there.  I got the bright idea, in a half asleep stupor, to go in to Leah's bed.  She has a full sized bed so there would be room for us both.  This worked well because I could try and sleep while she wiggled around and it kept her from crying.  Tuesday was more of the same.  Breathing treatments, steroids, naps, lots of holding her, many books.  Also, she had been running fevers on and off all day.

By Tuesday afternoon she was still retracting and I couldn't tell that things were getting any better for her.  I called to ask the doctor to call in an antibiotic and she was gone for the day.  I asked if the on-call (for the on-call) doctor could call it in and they said that they needed to see her again since her breathing wasn't any better.  I went ahead and scheduled an appointment, but as soon as I got off the phone it all caught up to me.  I was tired, I was upset, I was tired of it all.  Seeing as we had spent $275 the day before, I was certain it would be as bad.  That coupled with the fact that our insurance would be effective in less than 12 hours, led me to cancel the appointment.  I decided if it was an infection, it would still be there tomorrow and if it got bad enough, I would just take her to the ER.  I set an appointment for first thing Wednesday morning, when our insurance would be in full swing.

Tuesday night, Kate did better about sleeping between treatments.  The side effects from the steroid and treatments had definitely made themselves known by Tuesday and she had the shakes and more energy than I have ever seen.  I am sure she slept out of sheer exhaustion.  Wednesday morning we got up early and headed out for the dreaded 8:30 appointment.  I have learned that the office is peaceful at this hour and we seem to get out much sooner than the later appointments.  As much as I hate mornings, I hate being stuck at the doctors office all day long even more.

The appointment started with  checking her pulse ox.  It was measuring 99-100%.  I started thinking that maybe I had over reacted and didn't need to be there.  The doctor came in and gave one listen to her lungs.  She said she sounded "junky" all over and she couldn't really hear very well.  She ordered blood work (CBC) and breathing treatments.  One was a double dose of the double strength Xopeonex and the other was Atrovent.  She was esentially getting 3 treatments all at once.  She fell asleep during them, partly because she was tired and partly because she was upset from the blood draw.  The doctor came back in and checked her again and still she was too junky to hear anything.  She ordered two more doses of Xopeonex.  When those were done they checked her pulse ox again.  It was 94-96%.  The doctor said that the medicines had opened up parts of her lungs she hadn't been using.  Still seems strange to me.  I would expect it to improve or stay the same since it was so good already.

When she listened again, she still didn't hear much improvement so after 2 and 1/2 hours, we were sent to the hospital for a chest x-ray.  She did go ahead and put her on an antibiotic, Suprax, because she felt the fever had been present too long.  She said we needed to continue the steroid and breathing treatments every 3 hours around the clock and follow up on Monday.  She also let me know that she would be on call all weekend so at least I wouldn't have to explain the whole situation to someone else if we needed to call.  That was good to know!!!

The chest x-ray didn't go quite as smoothly as last time.  While we waited for our turn, Kate ran laps up and down the hallway, entertaining all of the patients waiting for their turns.  She is SO wound up from all the meds and lack of sleep.  The finally called us in and the tech was lacking in the personality department.  She had Kate sit on the table with her back against the film.  Kate started screaming immediately.  She snapped at me to hold her arms and when I did, Kate went stiff, standing up, knocking the film to the floor.  Eventually they brought another tech in and the two of us were able to hold her.  We grabbed a quick lunch, filled her antibiotic and went to pick up Leah.  Kate had been missing her sissy really badly.  She was glad to have her home.  At this point I received word that my Dad and my sister, Christa, were trying to get out of Honduras, a week early, because of the political situation there and how tense things were getting.  Ah, a little more stress!

Wednesday afternoon, Leah went out to play with the neighbors and next thing you know, they were bringing us dinner.  We are truly blessed with one set of great neighbors.  I went to check the mail and there was an encouraging card from a family at church that I haven't even taken the time to get to know very.  Included in the card was a check "to help" with some of our stress.  It will payoff our balance at the doctors office, exactly, like to the penny.  Coincidence or blessing? You tell me. Later that night another friend told us they would be bringing dinner Thursday night.  I can not express how truly blessed we are.  We have great friends, family and brothers and sisters in Christ.  We don't deserve any of it and yet God continues to provide and bless us in ways we can't imagine.

Wednesday night I went to give Kate her treatment before bed and she fell apart.  Up until now, I felt like we had mastered the breathing treatments.  I learned that the holes in the mask are for twizzlers, teddy grahams, cheerios and raisins. Not for ventilation like one would assume.  You can also put a straw through them for yogurt drinks or other beverages.  Tonight I tried all of the tricks.  Still she went stiff as a board, screaming and holding her breath.  I fought with her for a good 15 or 20 minutes and she was hysterical.  She couldn't catch her breath and I had almost decided we were going to have to go to the ER.  She wasn't breathing right and wouldn't let me give her the medicine to help it.  I decided to take a break and get her jammies on, before trying again.  When I changed her diaper, I noticed the problem.  She was getting a diaper rash.  I had to clean her up and get some cream on it, but it was awful.  I have NEVER heard her cry like that.  Once I got a clean one on, she cried and thrashed around for another 30 minutes.  She was so upset she was vomiting, but was able to keep it all in.  I felt SO bad for her.  I finally was able to get her the meds, get her nursed and get her to bed.

Thursday we had a quiet morning at home.  I felt like I needed to get out of the house and called up a friend for lunch.  I got the girls bathed, Kate medicated, nursed, down for a nap and then headed out.  It was SO nice to get out, even just for an hour.  When I got back it was time for another round of meds and then Leah's gymnastic class.  At the hour and a half long class, Kate was nothing short of a holy terror.  She screamed, cried, threw herself down and took off running, every chance she got.  I'm sure people thought I have NO control over my kids.  This week, I'd have to agree. 

 I feel so bad that her body is going through so much.  Her heart is racing constantly.  She shakes all of the time.  At dinner the other night she couldn't keep food on her fork long enough to get it to her mouth because of the shakes.  I know that she doesn't understand any of it and that makes it even harder.  Everything she does is in fast forward.  She's running into stuff constantly, which is very abnormal, but she just can't slow down.

After gymnastics, I took the girls to the pool to try and wear Kate out some.  I figured at this point it couldn't hurt.  On the way there, Leah complained about being hot, but she had just finished a hard workout.  We got changed and hopped in the baby pool.  Kate has no problem traversing the baby pool water, walking around, jumping, splashing, but since she is on the equivalent of speed, she couldn't stay standing for more than a few seconds.  We decided to try the big pool and within minutes, Leah said she was burning up and that her head hurt bad.  I asked if she wanted to leave and she didn't.  I figured if it was from overheating the pool should actually help.  Within another 5 minutes, she mentioned that her tummy hurt.  That was my sign to go and we headed out right then.  I gave her a bucket in the van, just in case.  She was having trouble keeping her eyes open and just kept saying her head hurt really bad.  We weren't out of the parking lot before she was out.

I called home and had Daddy-O get her some dry clothes and tylenol ready.  She was pretty lethargic until Kate got ahold of the thermometer and "tried to stick it in her bottom".  I guess Kate figures if she's gotta go through it, Leah's not getting off easy with an armpit check.  She perked up a little and watched a movie, while sipping some sprite.  She went on to bed with no other troubles.  Kate sounded better at bedtime than she had since Saturday.  While her cough sounds worse, it is looser and more productive. She is also not wheezing for about an hour after treatments. This is the first break from wheezing since this started. We decided that unless she woke up, we would let her sleep all night without treatments.  At some point you figure they aren't going to get well without good rest and it becomes a toss up as to which they need more, meds or rest. Leah was up at 3:30 to potty and Kate was up from 3:30 until 5:30 for no good reason at all.

Since Leah had no trouble during the night, I chalked it up to overheating and dehydration.  She wasn't too interested in eating, but she is a cautious type of kid.  She had some Jell-o and crackers.  She also took a three hour nap, but I know that she didn't get to bed on time or naps for most of the week.  She woke up just in time to go to dinner with our friend, Chris.  His wife and kiddo are out of town and we had planned to eat dinner and hang out.  By the time we got in the car it was obvious she was fevered again.  At dinner she didn't eat much and complained her tummy hurt some.  She also has several cold sores that hurt when she eats.  Since she was in and out of the bathroom several times, I would guess she's got a tummy virus.  Probably the same one that gave Kate diaper rash.  Luckily, I think we skipped right over the worst part of it.

After dinner, I needed to run put some things in Lisa's car and pick up some more saltines, as well as some bananas and powerade.  The girls were in the van so I headed out with them while Chris and Daddy-O stayed home.  We went to find Lisa's car in a parking lot near the pavilion.  There was a patriotic concert tonight that is very well attended.  Just as we turned towards the traffic, Leah informs me she needs to potty.  From the look on her face she meant it.  Only problem is there was no where to go.  There was traffic everywhere and every establishment near by was packed.  I pulled into a drive for a park that was completely blocked off.  I'm not even sure I was totally out of the street.  I knew there was a public bathroom there.  We ran in and got her situated.  This park has a huge greenbelt with a busy street on one end and the waterway on the other.  Just as I went to wipe Leah, hyped up steroid girl must have done the limbo under the bathroom stall and disappeared.  There are two exits from the bathroom and thank God I picked the right one.  I caught her heading to the street just as a crowd was walking by.  Again, I am sure I looked like a stellar parent.  We went to the car, which thankfully hadn't been towed, and I could tell Kate was stinky.  I knew I needed to get out of this "parking spot" and proceed on to find Lisa's car.

We found it relatively fast, considering the whole town was in this area tonight.  We then headed to the grocery store.  When we got there I pulled out the diaper bag to change Kate.  Since she's had a rash, I felt bad for leaving her in it as long as I had.  Despite the fact we were only getting a few things, I felt it was best to change her in the car.  The diaper bag was empty.  No diapers, one wipe.  I checked the stow and go bins and found a diaper and wipes.  See, I am prepared, sometimes.  We freshened her up and headed in.  Grabbed some powerade, bananas, ice cream, yogurt drinks (to hide Kate's acidophilus in), goldfish, saltines and popsicles.  Pretty much anything Leah "promised" she would eat.  We are at the check out in record time.  I go to pay and don't have my debit card.  I take out my card to a secondary account and swipe it.  It says it's expired.  Sure enough, 02/09.  I thumb through for cash.  I've got $15 and the bill is $30.  I see my business card and think, "I'll have to use it and transfer money when I get home.  At least I have this!".  It's not activated.  Call the 800 number to activate.  They want the last four digits of the account number, which I don't carry on me.  

At this point Leah is "starving" and Kate is back in holy terror mode and crying because she's tired.  The girls are fighting over who can touch the bag and I'm trying to decide whether to run or cry or both.  I try to figure out what to put back so that I can pay with the $15 dollars cash I have, but every time I pick something up Leah cries that this is what she really wants to eat.  And she hasn't eaten all day.  And she's sick.  And hungry.  And spoiled.  I call Daddy-O and ask him to come bail us out.  Funny thing is, since he drove to the restaurant and I took the car from him, you guessed it, I have his keys.  And mine.  Thank GOD Chris was there and didn't mind running him over.  I thought about telling them to just meet me at the liquor store next door, where I would be starting my own tab, but didn't think that would be good with the kids and all.  We proceeded to pay for our melted popsicles and came home.

When I called my mom to tell her not to panic if it showed someone trying to use the business account (remember it's been drained by theft before?), she asked if I was calling because I needed to be bailed out of jail.  My response was, "if I was in jail, I wouldn't be calling ANYone.  At least not before Monday.".

It has been such a long week.  I am so tired I can hardly think.  I've called my girls by the wrong name at least a hundred times.  My house is in shambles and the laundry mountain grows constantly.  But we are blessed.  Blessed with each other.  Blessed with a wonderful, safe, clean (kind of) home.  Blessed with family.  Blessed with friends.  Blessed with insurance, once again.  Blessed with the kindness of others.  Blessed with our health when it all comes down to it.  Blessed with the knowledge that God loves us.  Blessed with freedom.  Blessed with servicemen and women that put it all on the line for our freedom.  We are TRULY blessed.  I hope that this Independence Day you discover how much you are blessed.