Shoulder Pain

On Saturday, May 21, I woke up at 4:00 in the morning with a stabbing pain in my shoulder blade. It hurt so bad. I tried to walk it off and took some medicine, but at 4:45 I had to go to wake up The Doctor. We ended up going to emergency room.

I was in so much pain. I was crying and sobbing. When we got to the hospital they took me into the room and it ended up taking 4 doses of morphine and other pain medicine for the pain to go away. They did a chest x-ray and 2 e.k.g.'s on me, and everything looked normal. The doctor was stumped. Also my right arm was going numb, my fingers were numb, and out to my elbow was really numb. That was really freaking me out.

They sent me home with prescriptions for Lortab and Ibuprofen and a nerve pain medicine but no answers. When we got home I crawled into my chair and fell asleep from the morphine. The Doctor went to the store and filled the prescriptions. He took care of the house and the kids. I tried sleeping in the bed, but I just couldn't get comfortable, so I slept in my recliner for the next week. 

We have since figured out that I have a pinched nerve in my shoulder.  I was worried that it might be a slipped disk in my neck and would need surgery, so I am grateful it isn’t that severe.  But I have much more compassion for those who have chronic pain.  I have been going to physical therapy a couple times a week ($40 copay every time!) and my shoulder is doing much better.  It’s still very weak and I have to be careful. 

But now the nerves in my elbow are giving me pain, and nothing helps them feel better.  I just have to deal with it  the best that I can, and I don’t do a very good job of dealing with it!  My first two fingers are still tingly numb and it’s really hard to write or even hold a pencil.  Which makes doing my work such fun.

I figured out that between the cold/infections/bronchitis and my shoulder, I was sick the entire month of May.  I spent the whole month sitting in my chair and watching life go on around me.  I lost the whole month.  Not fun. 

Sick

We are a really healthy family, and we rarely get sick.  Even when I get a cold, I suck on zinc, stay in bed for a day, and that’s it.  I’m good to go. 

I got a cold 2 weeks ago, and it hit me hard. I was so tired and felt awful.  And it lingered.  And lingered.  Finally, Saturday, I went in to the doctor.  I was diagnosed with 2 ear infections, a sinus infection, and bronchitis.  No wonder I felt so awful!

So I apologize for being MIA.  I am on antibiotics, but they haven’t quite kicked in yet.  Hopefully in a day or two, I will be feeling better.  But until then, I am going to go take a nap.

The Cheese

In 1999 I had the very first surgery of my life.  And a few months later I had my second.  I had carpal tunnel surgery on both of my hands.  My mom had the same surgery on both of her hands, so I have to wonder if it was partly hereditary. 

Before the surgery, my hands would go to sleep all the time.  When I was cooking, scrapbooking, and especially typing.  Night was the worst.  I would wake up and they would be completely numb.  It was so uncomfortable. 

I went to a doctor about it in 1999.  I had to wear a brace for a while, which didn’t help.  Finally my insurance approved the surgery.  Each hand was done separately in out-patient surgeries.  After the surgery, I had to wear a “club.”  My whole hand was wrapped up and I couldn’t use it at all. 

I was also supposed to keep it propped up.  To aid in this, I was given a foam block.  My children quickly dubbed it “The Cheese.” 

 

Those 10 days after each surgery were so hard, but most especially when my right hand was done.  I couldn’t curl my hair on my own and I couldn’t bathe on my own.  My husband was so sweet to bathe me, especially when I would sit there and cry because I was so helpless. My mom and my sisters came over and curled my hair for me. I had to put my make up on with the wrong hand, I had to eat with the wrong hand, and I had to wipe with the wrong hand.  To make matters worse, Aunt Flo came to visit and I had to take care of that with the wrong hand.  Ever tried that?  Don’t.  It’s not pretty.

But I am so happy I had the surgery done.  My hands felt so much better and they didn’t go numb anymore.  I was so happy.  I had several people tell me they had the surgery and regretted it because they didn’t have the strength in their hand anymore.  I did not have that problem.  My surgeon said that if I wanted my hands to get back to normal, I had to use them like normal.  And I did.  I had 3 little kids ages 5, 2, and 4 months.  I couldn’t baby my hands because I had them to take care of!  They got back to normal quickly and I haven’t had any problems since then. 

Arrrrgh!

I am so frustrated with this whole coughing thing.  I took The Chocoholic into his pediatrician today.  We discussed everything that has happened over the last 8 days.  Basically we have no idea why he is coughing. He has had times where he has gone several hours without coughing, so we know that it’s nothing permanent. We discussed taking him to a pulmonologist, and even to a psychologist.  I am so tired of doctors and medicine.  I made the decision to wait a week and see what happens.  I really think he will be okay.  I really hope he will be okay. 

Thanks for all your well wishes and prayers!

The Cough that Never Ends

Oh my goodness, what a week this has been!  I am so tired!  Let’s start at the beginning.

Last year, in February, The Chocoholic woke up coughing one morning.  Out of the blue.  He would cough all day long, but as soon as he went to bed, he would stop coughing.  This lasted for 9 days.  He didn’t go to school for 5 of those.  I ended up taking him to the doctor who asked him lots of questions about school and how he liked it and what kind of grades he got.  Basically, he thought The Chocoholic was faking it.  I knew he wasn’t.  We finally decided that it must be from allergies.

It happened again in May of 2009, but it only lasted 1 day.  It happened again in August, and lasted for 3 days.

Monday morning, he woke up coughing again.  I wasn’t too concerned.  I kept him home and gave him antihistamine.  He slept fine that night.  Tuesday he was coughing again, so I kept him home again. 

However, Tuesday night he couldn’t stop coughing.  It was bad.  I was so worried.  I decided to take him to InstaCare. Except when I got there, they informed me they didn’t take our insurance. So I had to take him to a different Urgent Care. We got there at 9:45, and they were supposed to close at 10:00. I could tell they were thrilled to see us walk in the door. They gave him a breathing treatment and a steroid pill. The doctor said he might need to go to the hospital by ambulance. What? That really freaked me out. They gave him some chest x-rays and everything was clear (no pneumonia, no bronchitis). So they said that he should stop coughing in 15 minutes and sent me on my way. I could tell they were just trying to get us out of there as soon as possible. I was on my way to fill the prescriptions they gave me, but then The Chocoholic said it was hard to breathe. So I immediately turned around and headed up to Primary Children’s Hospital. In the dark. And the rain. By myself. 

We got up there and they examined The Chocoholic, then gave him another breathing treatment. He does not have asthma, or croup. They have no idea why he is coughing. They gave me a prescription for Tylenol with codeine and Flonase for allergies. It was 1:30 in the morning before we headed home. I had to stop and get gas in the car at 2:00. It was 2:11 when I crawled into bed.

Wednesday, I called his pediatrician and we went in to see him.  He was baffled by the cough as well.  He prescribed more steroid pills and said to call him if things got worse.  That night, The Chocoholic had a hard time stopping coughing again, so The Doctor called his brother and they gave him a priesthood blessing.  Within 15 minutes, the coughing had stopped and he was able to sleep.

Thursday, he couldn’t stop coughing again. I have tried everything I can think of. Here is the list of things either I or the doctors have tried:

• Prayer
• Cough medicine
• Cough drops
• Antihistamine
• Mucus reliever
• Breathing treatment
• Steroids
• Vicks
• Flonase
• Honey
• Lemon juice
• Honey and lemon juice in hot water
• Antacids
• Vaporizer
• Vicks on the bottom of his feet
• Tylenol with codeine
• Steam from a hot shower
• Claritin
• Zyrtek
• Lemon drops
• Cold air

Finally I gave him Nyquil, in the hopes that the alcohol would do something. It seemed to help, as at 11:30, he finally calmed down and fell asleep.

However, his cough was worse this morning. I called the pediatrician and he said to take him up to Primary Children’s so he could get seen by a pulmonologist. So after I took The Princess to school, we drove up to the emergency room. We went through all the same questions as Tuesday night. They told me that the pulmonologists won’t come down to the emergency room. So I will have to get a referral from Dr. Ryan to see one. Great. They did another chest x-ray to make sure his lungs looked okay, which they did.

I did ask them if there was any possibility that he had whooping cough. They thought about it and said there is a distant possibility. There is no test for that, so there’s no way to know for sure if he isn’t making the “whooping” sound. But they also said that it’s hard to tell if he has walking pneumonia too. So they prescribed Azithromycin, which is prescribed for both of those. So we will see if it works.

I feel so horrible as a mother. Every time he coughs, I feel guilty because I can’t do anything to help him. But even worse, I feel horrible because I am so irritated by the noise of the coughing. After 5 days of the constant cough all day long, not to mention he has been home every day, so the TV has been on a lot more too, it’s just about more than I can handle. I just cried and cried last night while he was coughing in his bedroom. I didn’t know what to do. 

So that is what has been going on.  How has your week been?  :-)

Band-Aids

When I was growing up, my mom will tell you that I needed a Band-Aid for every little scratch and scrape.  Now that I have a little girl, I understand my mom's grief.  But Band-Aids fix everything!  Every girl knows that, right!
One thing that I always wanted were Band-Aids with pictures on them.  But we could never afford them.  So now, for my kids, I buy Band-Aids with pictures on them.  Not so much for my older boys now, but definitely for The Princess.  It is so fun to put a pink Band-Aid on her.  The best ones are those with Princesses and Barbie on them, but Hello Kitty and Dora works too.  But not "boy" Band-Aids.  Those are not acceptable to her!

Aren't they cute!?

Scariest moment as a mom

December 22, 1999
We had picked up The Teenager from school (who was in kindergarten at the time) and as we were waiting, The Artist slipped and hit his head on the cement.  We checked him over and everything seemed fine. 
We then went to the grocery store and while walking around, The Artist suddenly went limp.  The Doctor was holding his hand and got a little mad because he thought The Artist was goofing off.  But when he picked him up, his eyes were rolling back and he was twitching.  He was having a seizure.
I screamed to the clerks to call 911 and they responded so quickly! They helped us get to the office and took care of the other kids (and me!) while The Doctor and some others were taking care of The Artist. I was trying so hard to keep it together for The Teenager. He was a basket case! I called my mom on my cell phone and she said she would be right there.
The Doctor was trying to keep The Artist awake, but he went unconscious. The paramedics came and gave him oxygen and that woke him up and got him crying. We gave them the information and The Doctor left with them in the ambulance. On they way out, he went unconscious again. He later told me that they weren't real concerned because they didn't even put their lights on. I stayed and waited for my mom. She and my dad picked us up (we just left our car there) and they took the other 2 kids home and my sister watched them, and we raced to the hospital. And here is the really dumb part. On the way, I had the thought that I should have grabbed my camera so that I could take pictures! That is the scrapbooker in me!
When we got there, I ran in totally crying. They took me back to him and he was just screaming at the top of his lungs. They had tried to give him an I.V. twice in the ambulance, but his veins kept rolling. So here he is, laying on a hospital bed just in his diaper, screaming, they have heart monitors stuck to him, people pricking his toes for blood, and I can't even pick him up!
They kept monitoring him and decided to do a CT scan, but he needed to be completely still for that. So they tried one more time and got an I.V. in him. He didn't like that either! They got that in and left the room, and I was singing to him and he was so tired! He fell asleep, but woke up when they had to give him the sedative to get him asleep!
They took him in and only one parent could go in, so I sat out in the hall and cried and prayed. When it was over, the radiologist looked at the scans and said that everything looked fine. There was no bleeding, no swelling, nothing like that. So that was a relief. We took him back to the room and sat and waited for him to wake up. I went and told my parents what was going on, and they came into the room and my dad and The Doctor gave The Artist a priesthood blessing and said everything would be fine. Then they gave me a blessing to help me calm down and relax. My parents left to go get our car and we waited for The Artist to wake up.
He woke up fine, just kind of groggy. It took a while, but he eventually sat up. Then they had to take all the stuff off him! The nurse rolled all the stuff up in a ball and asked him if he could throw it in the garbage. He missed, but the nurse gave it back to him and he threw it and it bounced into the garbage and he laughed! That was the sweetest sound on earth! They also gave him some Christmas stickers, which he loved because they had a train on one, and Santa, and reindeer, which he loves! Those made him smile too! We got him dressed and paid the copay and went home!
I have never been as scared as I was today. One thing to note – on his head where he hit it, there is no bump. If he had gotten a big goose egg, he probably would have been fine. But it went inside his head, and that is probably what caused it. I just hope that he doesn’t have any lasting problems from this.
Nathan slept in our bed all night and kept kicking me, but there was no way I would have left him alone! About 5am he woke up and wanted to eat and watch TV! We turned on the TV, and when Pokemon came one, he shouted out loud because he was so excited! Tom got up to go to the bathroom and Nathan told him, "Get dressed. Now." We knew then that he would be just fine.

Hydronephrosis Part Three

I just love that The Chocoholic was born in December so that everything happening here was happening in December!  LOL
December 20, 1999.  We took him back to the children's hospital to have another renal exam.  This time it wasn't so easy to put in the catheter.  He was crying  and I was crying and it wasn't pretty!  Finally they got the catheter and the I.v. in.  They strapped him down on the exam table where he proceeded to cry and cry some more.  They gave him a sucker and that calmed him down for about 15 minutes.
When it was over, we met with the pediatric urologist.  We were told that 90% of the time, hydronephrosis happens in boys, and 90% of the time, it is in the left kidney, and 90% of the time, there aren't any problems.  In fact, in the years before ultrasounds, we would have never known he even had this.  But it's that 10% that need intervention that are truely helped by all this.  When the doctor looked at the scans of his kidneys, he smiled.  When we were there last time, the split was 60/40, meaning that one kidney was doing 60% of the work.  But this time the split was 55/45.  The doctor said, "He is fine and I hope to never see you again!"  I cried all the way to the car.  What a relief that was.
So our experience with hydronephrosis came to an end.  All that stress over nothing.  But it could have been worse, and I am so glad that he is healthy!

Hydronephrosis Part Two

After The Chocoholic was born, the pediatrician examined him.  The kidneys weren't swollen, and he had peed on the nurses just after he was born, so he felt everything would be okay.
Less than 2 weeks later, we went to the children's hospital for an ultrasound.  The right kidney was completely normal, and the left kidney was 1 cm. longer.  But they weren't concerned at all.  The pediatric urologist scheduled us for a renal exam and bladder x-ray the next month.
Boy, weren't those fun.  Ever watched a 1 1/2 month old get an i.v.?  And a catheter?  I just cried while they were doing it, mainly because they were having to hold him down to do it all!  But he was so good about it!
The renal exam is to check for blockage. They laid him on a "table" that had the “cameras” on both the top and the bottom, so he was inside, kind of. It was open on both ends.  They put sandbags over his feet, then one over each arm. He had to lie still for the pictures. Then they brought in this tube that has radioactive symbols and warnings all over it. They opened it up, and it's lead lined, with a tiny needle inside. They injected it into his I.V., then we waited. They had a computer screen that was showing the particles as the collected in his kidneys. It took a picture every 15 seconds. It was kind of cool to watch as the kidneys began to show up. The right kidney "dumped" the particles almost right away into the bladder, but they stayed in the left kidney a lot longer. They watched that for 20 minutes, then they gave him a diuretic to make him pass the remaining particles into his bladder. It took the left kidney quite a while to pass them. That took 25 minutes. He slept during the whole thing. When they were finished, they took out the I.V., which woke him up and made him cry again.
Then we went into a waiting room to wait for the bladder x-ray. This is to check for reflux, if the bladder is pushing the urine back up into the kidneys. I fed him while we were waiting. When they called him in, I had to lay him on a table and the nurse gave Tom and I both lead vests to wear so we could stay with him. I held his hands, and she hooked up a bottle of saline to his catheter. She just held it up in the air and the saline flowed into his bladder. It took less than a minute, and his bladder was full. She then took some x-rays of his bladder. Then she called a dr. in to watch him "void." They took out the catheter and took x-rays while he was "voiding." After they were done, she left to go get something, and he peed again. I think he peed 3 times in all! But the good news is there was no reflux!
So we were told to come back in a year and they would do it all again to see what was happening. 
I bet you didn't anticipate a part three, did you?

Hydronephrosis

When I was pregnant with #3 (The Chocoholic), I was really nervous because I wanted a girl so badly.  I had even been feeling like it was a girl.  I know, we are just supposed to want our babies to healthy and strong, but I wanted a girl desperately!  The night before the ultrasound, I had my husband give me a Priesthood blessing and afterwards, I felt such a calmness.  I knew I could handle it and would be okay. 
We had the ultrasound at 20 weeks, discovered that he was a boy, and I was strangely calm.  I was disappointed, but I knew it would okay.  As we were sitting in the exam room waiting for the doctor, the nurse came in and said, "So are you the couple that is having problems with your baby?"  We said no, and she quickly hurried out, but then I started to panic. 
When the doctor came in, he said there might be a problem with one of the kidneys of the baby.  There was some extra fluid in the left kidney, and the tube to the kidney was slightly dilated.  He told us to come back in 2 weeks and they would check it again.
The next afternoon, I was watching Oprah and they were talking about parenting tips and she had on a couple who had 10 boys, ages 22 to 4. I started to cry. Just a little bit. Then harder and harder. It just really hit me. I was totally sobbing. I had to call and tell Tom something, and I could barely talk. I finally calmed down and then my mom called me to see if I had watched it and I started to cry again. It doesn't mean I don’t, or won’t, love this baby, but I just needed to cry.
Two weeks later we had the ultrasound and the kidneys looked the same.  My OB told me they will just wait and do another ultrasound at 34 weeks and if it was the same, then we would let the pediatrician know and go from there.  It wasn't serious enough that anything had to be done right away.  Except stress about it!
I went to the doctor at 34 weeks and had another ultrasound. The baby's kidneys were still dilated. I will try to explain it without pictures!
There are 2 sections to the kidney, the place where it holds urine and the working part. The place where it holds the urine would normally be 1cm wide. The baby's are 1.25 cm. This means that the urine is not draining into the bladder like it should. The doctor said that sometimes a little flap grows in the ureter, which blocks the urine. If the working part starts to shrink at all, then he would send me to Primary Children's Hospital to see a pediatric surgeon/specialist. He told me this isn't something that we should take lightly, but we also shouldn't stress about it.   LOL  Tell a mother something is wrong with her baby, but don't stress about it!
They gave me ultrasounds every week to keep and eye on it and finally in December, I was induced and delivered a healthy baby boy. 
But lest you think our story is done, stay tuned for part two!

Guilt

I have not sat down with The Princess and taught her about guilt. I have not taught her how to say things that will stick a knife in my heart and twist until I bawl. And yet...she has mastered it. Whether intentional or not, she is a pro.

On Mondays, I work in the office, so she gets to go to her cousin's house to play. This morning she was coughing a little tiny bit.

She said to me, "Mommy, I am sick. I can't go."

I said, "The Princess, you are just fine. You are going."

She said, "Okay. Maybe they will take care of me."

Ouch.