Yesterday ...

Yesterday was my 3rd anniversary. I had fully intended to write a sweet post about how much I love my husband and our life together. And that post will come -- eventually. But instead I spent the day cleaning up puke and diarrhea. The whole family had it.

Today we're all physically spent. Tired and dehydrated and achy, but our stomachs are calm. So today I'll spend the day sterilizing everything and running the errands I had intended to run yesterday, so that tomorrow still comes off without too many problems. I just have to gather the energy to get it all done. Wish me luck!

Alex saw the ENT

Alex has temporary mild to moderate hearing loss caused by the multiple ear infections. There's quite a bit of fluid on his ears. We will have tubes put in his ears on the 10th. After that, he should regain his hearing and make a full recovery! We suspected that he had muffled hearing. He barely responds and just is not speaking. The only time he babbles is when he doesn't have a cold (which is near never). I was shocked to hear the words "hearing loss" but not about what caused it. And I'm thankful that it's not permanent.



He also has moderate reflux. We're treating it w/ prevacid solutabs.

Alex Update

I had Alex checked out again today because he just wasn't acting much better.

He has a double ei. The worst yet. He received 2 shots today and was prescribed a medicine that's so new on the market that TriCare won't pay for it. Luckily, he had samples for us. He's meeting us at the office tomorrow morning to check him out again.

And we have to see an ENT because Alex needs tubes.

Thankfully, Chris made it home just in time for the appt. And I will spare you the details of most of it, b/c it involved a lot of crying from a baby and Mommy near tears because of Alex's discomfort. Dr. Weiss does his best, but it still hurts and that makes Mommy want to cry.

I'm happy that we're on the road to get him better. But I want to cry at the thought of tubes.

:(




EDIT: Saturday, November 22
Alex's left ear is clear! His right ear is still yucky, but thank God for progress!

Several more serious updates....

I've been avoiding writing these, but I need to get them down before I forget to altogether. I'll include a cute story at the bottom of the post to make up for it. ;)


1) "The Pain"
I saw the doctor on Friday, the 14th. The same day that Chris' ship set out of a week long "cruise" so I was praying for good news that wouldn't take much adjusting to.

I have markers for Epstein-Barr Virus. It's related to mono somehow. When you get mono, you get EBV or something like that. In any case, in rare cases EBV can cause severe joint pain. And after the acute case is over, the pain will come and go but never completely leave. I blamed it all on my brother b/c he's the one that gave me mono when we were younger. ;D

I am taking Celebrex (and had been for 2 weeks before the appointment) to help control the swelling in my joints, and will experiment with other joint pain remedies until I find something that works.

Anyway, it's been wearing me down, and really affecting my mood as well as my energy level. I'm happy in some ways for this diagnosis as it's not something as severe as Lupus or RA as both were on the list of possibilities, but it's also frustrating because there's not much to do with it.

I've begun taking Move Free (thank you Mama!) and will be adding tart cherry extract to the list soon to supplement my medication. Hopefully one day soon I can say that that day was a truly "pain free" day!



2) Alex was diagnosed with what "might be" an ear infection Monday. It was red and obviously irritated, but there was no fluid in the ear yet. The key word being yet. Due to his history, chances were REALLY high that it'd turn into an EI. So we started treatment Monday.

Today he's still unbearably grumpy, dizzy, and pulling at his ears. We're going back to the dr tomorrow. While there we're also going to discuss the terrible rash that the antibiotics gave him. Poor baby fights me over diaper changes now where as he has NEVER done that before.


3) My landlord has raised my rent. It's not worth what she's asking. We're moving. Hey, that was an easy one! ;) Seriously, I'm happy about this for the most part. It means that we'll have a chance to save some money. I think we're looking at base housing so that'll be good too. I am sad about losing our fireplace. But at least we'll not be dying every month!




Ok, the funny story.... Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. Lemme think. Here's one to make you smile.

Kairi has quite an attitude at times. For being only 2 years old, she certainly talks back like a 12 year old. Today it started after lunch. I told her to throw something away. She told me no. I insisted. She SLOWLY complied. And then it came.
"Mommy, say thank you Kairi. You welcome Mommy. See? Not hard."
Yes, that came from my daughter. And, yes, I am smiling because as frustrating as that was at the time, it is now funny. She perfectly mimicked my tone of voice in saying it as well.

The "smartness" continued this evening as I was getting children ready for bed. Right before I began to pray with Alex I told Kairi to go to bed. She made it clear she didn't want to go. I laid Alex down and went in her room to get her ready for bed. There I was told:
"Not yet Mom. YOU go bed. Not me. NO."
She went to bed. "Mom" won.

The Boy Just Can't Get a Break

Alex has had a cold for over a week now. He's been snotty, and grumpy, and sleepless. At first I thought it was related to his shots, but within 2 days I realized that it was a sickness that we were all getting. The rest of us feel crummy as well, but it's not been as bad for us as it was for him. The worst part was that he couldn't breathe at night, so he wasn't sleeping. I have his mattress elevated on one end at all times because he's obviously prone to this. I can not begin to count the number of times he woke up and just couldn't go back to sleep. It's been a long couple of weeks.

Then it happened, he had a full night of sleep! HURRAY! That was Monday night. Last night it happened again! TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW -- I'M IN HEAVEN!!! He still had a snotty nose, but it wasn't as bad so I was satisfied that he was getting better.

But this morning he woke up in a terrible mood. Very unlike him. Even with double ear infections he's in a good mood 90% of the time. I got him a cracker and cup of juice and set down to check my email when it happened. He vomited. EVERYWHERE. I got him cleaned up, my newly steam cleaned floor mopped up, and calmed him down. That's when I noticed it. He was burning up. Temped him and yup, he's running a fever. *sigh* My poor baby. Will he ever be NOT sick?

A House of Sick

It became official Thursday afternoon.

My son has a double ear infection. He may or may not have a stomach virus. It could be the antibiotics he's been on causing his problems. Or it could be all the mucous draining from his head to his stomach. Whatever it is ... he needs a bath twice a day just to handle the smell.

Kairi woke up from her nap shortly before I took Alex to the doctor running a fever. So she got to join us at the appointment. (This also meant that Daddy went with us -- yay!) I didn't think that she was terribly sick but, as my mom pointed out, something caused the fever. Might as well find out what it is while we're there. Turns out, it's viral tonsillitis. She has blisters all over her tonsils.

Leaving the doctor's office, it hit me that my throat had been bothering me that day as well. Looked in the mirror, and yeah, I've got a nice red throat too. Wonderful.

Oh, and one of Chris's ears is bothering him.


Would you like to come over and eat w/ us? hahahahahahahahaha................

And the doctor's appt....

His ear infection is still in his right ear, but it's much worse. It caused so much wax buildup that she had to irrigate his ear twice just to see into it. At that point she said that the ear drum was bulging that he probably wouldn't have made it another night w/o it busting. :(

She prescribed a stronger antibiotic. She showed me how to irrigate his ear and I have to do that twice a day. She prescribed a pain med for his ear (which she gave him part of a sample of it in the office). She upped his tylenol and motrin dosage and told me to alternate it every 3 hours since the lowest his fever's been in the last 12 hours is 102.6 -- we have to get it down and keep it down. And lastly, she told me to give him 3/4 tsp of benedryl just to help him get some sleep.


I'm sooo glad I took him in.

Alex is Sick

Last week Alex was diagnosed with his first ear infection in his right ear. Amoxicillin proved to be a miracle drug and within couple days he was doing amazingly well. We even had a couple nights of almost uninterrupted sleep!

Sunday he wasn't feeling 100%. He ran a fever and pulled at his LEFT ear, but showed no other symptoms. We chalked it up to teething.

Monday he was perfectly fine! Until last night. His nose started to pour. I went to bed at 11:30 (Chris had/has a migraine). Alex woke up at 11:45. I got him back to sleep, but not for long. He was up every 20 minutes. A few times in the night I got him to sleep w/ me on the couch where we were both sitting up. But they were few and far between. His temperature this morning has not been below 102. Who knows how high it was last night b/c this is cool compared to then, despite tylenol.

We got up this morning at 5:45 to take Chris to work.

I'm taking Alex to the doctor this morning. We need a solution.

Babies shouldn't be allowed to get sick

Especially not when it's my baby boy. My sweet baby boy who wants nothing more than to be able to breathe while he sleeps.

My poor poor poor baby.

Looks like it was definitely a virus....

Alex all but stopped eating today, and threw up this evening. He's also been super clingy and not very energetic.

So here goes another week of sick babies...........

Poor Princess

I've been negligent in reading, commenting, and posting blogs because Kairi is sick.

It started July 5th. That night she woke up with diarrhea. My in-laws were here that weekend and my fil had spent the night sick as well. The next day she began running a high fever and messing w/ her ears. Monday morning I took her to the doctor. No ear infection, probably a virus. If she wasn't better by Wednesday, I was supposed to call back in case it was a UTI.

The diapers became more frequent. She would only cry when you you offered her food. And she kept crawling in my lap and asking to be put to bed, which I always complied when she asked. But the fever finally went away.

Wednesday she was still sick, so I called in again. We had a 9:15am appointment for Thursday morning.

She still has a stomach virus. It's turned into Toddler's Diarrhea so that she can't absorb liquids quickly. We needed to slow down her digestion. You do that w/ a high fat and fiber diet. It's working -- slowly, but things do seem to be becoming more normal. The only other thing it could be is salmonella, which we've sent in a stool sample to test for. If that's the case we'll probably treat it the same, with a small possibility of antibiotics, but at least we would have answers. In the meantime, she now also has a rash all over her body and knots on her neck from the infection. She spent 90% of yesterday and the day before asleep.

But today she must be feeling at least a little bit better! She's asked to eat several times. She's has actually smiled a few times today! And she's not asked to go to bed yet ... and this week she's asked to go to bed at least by 10am every morning, if not earlier!


I hope that she continues to get better -- and do so quickly!

3 days before the "wedding" ....

3 days before my parents renew their vows and four of us are sick. The pediatrician's office was so booked that they couldn't see the babies. My new doctor (replacing the dr that I've seen since I was born who retired Dec 31, 2007) would have seen me, if he hadn't had eye surgery yesterday.

My mom, daughter, son and I trudged our way into the secondary hospital campus's e.r. We were there from 10:30am until 4:45pm. Here are the results:

~Kairi has an ear infection in her left ear. She is recovering from a cold.
~Alex has an upper respiratory infection, but is not being treated b/c he is too young. If he gets worse I'm to take him back and have him retested for RSV.
~Mama has an upper respiratory infection.
~I have a severe cold. I don't believe him. I think that I have the same upper respiratory infection that they have, but that I'm just not as far along. If I'm still sick on Monday, I'm calling my new doctor and seeing if he will take a look at me.

I have new pictures to post, but I honestly feel too bad to do so. Instead, I'm curling up on the couch with Alex and going to sleep. Goodnight!