Monday, August 13, 2007
Another story about my boy
So, there was more stuff that happened on Saturday (Daddy day). Connor apparently found himself a little girlfriend, a little blond haired, blue eyed girl whom he fancied quite a bit! Ben told me as he was watching Connor...he "passionately" (put his little hands on her shoulders) kissed the girl...like 6 times! Guess he's been watching Daddy kiss Mommy! Haha! I'm going to have to keep an eye on that one!
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Overheard
Okay, so Saturday was a "daddy day" -well, more like a "daddy afternoon"! Anyway, Ben came home and said, well, we're on a new road to Independence with Connor. He is becoming Mister Independent!
So he went on to tell me about his experience that day. He took Connor to a softball game of one of our teens'. Nearby, was a playground, and so Connor of course wanted to go and play! They got to a certain point, and Connor stopped Daddy, and patted the ground where he wanted Daddy to sit...no closer!
So, Ben kept one eye on the game, and one eye on Connor. He is only 2, you know.
He overheard some older kids talking...they wanted to play "Pirates" -and they asked Connor if he wanted to play. And, they kept asking him what his name was. Well, Connor has a limited vocabulary. So, he was either saying, "ball" or "kitty" -probably his two favorite things! So Ben overheard the kids saying, what's wrong with him? Why can't he talk?
So one of the girls brings Connor over to Ben and says, what's wrong with him? Why doesn't he say his name?
Now, please don't take offense to what I write here, as its certainly not politically correct, but straight from the mouths of babes. Ben said, he can't really talk because he's only 2!
So, the girl starts walking back to the other kids and says, "he's not a retard, he's only 2!" (Connor may look 3 or 4 years old to others, between his big boy haircut, and his bigger body...but he's just my baby!)
So he went on to tell me about his experience that day. He took Connor to a softball game of one of our teens'. Nearby, was a playground, and so Connor of course wanted to go and play! They got to a certain point, and Connor stopped Daddy, and patted the ground where he wanted Daddy to sit...no closer!
So, Ben kept one eye on the game, and one eye on Connor. He is only 2, you know.
He overheard some older kids talking...they wanted to play "Pirates" -and they asked Connor if he wanted to play. And, they kept asking him what his name was. Well, Connor has a limited vocabulary. So, he was either saying, "ball" or "kitty" -probably his two favorite things! So Ben overheard the kids saying, what's wrong with him? Why can't he talk?
So one of the girls brings Connor over to Ben and says, what's wrong with him? Why doesn't he say his name?
Now, please don't take offense to what I write here, as its certainly not politically correct, but straight from the mouths of babes. Ben said, he can't really talk because he's only 2!
So, the girl starts walking back to the other kids and says, "he's not a retard, he's only 2!" (Connor may look 3 or 4 years old to others, between his big boy haircut, and his bigger body...but he's just my baby!)
Recalling a hard time...part 2
Anyhow, we later took Connor down to Iowa City for an appointment with the specialist. She was great. But, she didn't really have any news for us. She just wanted to monitor his white counts for a few weeks, and then see us again. She did say that, most kids with this disorder, do not look so healthy! They usually get sick many, many times a year -and Connor had not had ONE ear infection -which is quite common for kids with Neutropenia! (Praise the Lord!)
With another visit -and no upturning white counts (as she had hoped for), she scheduled a Bone Marrow test. Connor did great...probably better than me! His back was numbed for the procedure, he wasn't "put out" but was a bit "out of it"!
They found that, like the specialist thought and hoped, that this was the only part of the bone marrow that wasn't functioning properly. No leukemia! No cancer! We were so relieved to hear that.
But amidst our joy, I couldn't help but wonder about the life that my little boy would live. With a diagnosis of Severe Chronic Neutropenia -I wondered if he would be able to attend school with others, if he would have to have shots regularly...if he would be sick all the time.
Well, over the past year, he has had 2 fevers -in which we have taken him to the ER, per our doctors' instructions. His blood is checked and then he gets a shot of this super-duper antibiotic -Rocefin? and is pretty much good to go. It is troubling to me, each time, but Ben keeps his cool, as we pack up the babies and drive to the ER.
With our last visit to the Children's Hospital, we found that Connors' white count has been coming up! Hurray! She "predicts" that if he continues to improve as he has been doing, he should have a normally functioning bone marrow by the age of 5! She thinks that he just has an immature bone marrow, for whatever reason, and its not functioning properly. I am super-stoked, yet, we are trying not to get our hopes up at the same time!
God is good, all the time. Although I try my best not to freak out, with each cut and bump, its difficult. I don't want him to get another infection. I want him to stay healthy. But I must trust. Trust in God, that He is going to take care of Connor. No matter what.
With another visit -and no upturning white counts (as she had hoped for), she scheduled a Bone Marrow test. Connor did great...probably better than me! His back was numbed for the procedure, he wasn't "put out" but was a bit "out of it"!
They found that, like the specialist thought and hoped, that this was the only part of the bone marrow that wasn't functioning properly. No leukemia! No cancer! We were so relieved to hear that.
But amidst our joy, I couldn't help but wonder about the life that my little boy would live. With a diagnosis of Severe Chronic Neutropenia -I wondered if he would be able to attend school with others, if he would have to have shots regularly...if he would be sick all the time.
Well, over the past year, he has had 2 fevers -in which we have taken him to the ER, per our doctors' instructions. His blood is checked and then he gets a shot of this super-duper antibiotic -Rocefin? and is pretty much good to go. It is troubling to me, each time, but Ben keeps his cool, as we pack up the babies and drive to the ER.
With our last visit to the Children's Hospital, we found that Connors' white count has been coming up! Hurray! She "predicts" that if he continues to improve as he has been doing, he should have a normally functioning bone marrow by the age of 5! She thinks that he just has an immature bone marrow, for whatever reason, and its not functioning properly. I am super-stoked, yet, we are trying not to get our hopes up at the same time!
God is good, all the time. Although I try my best not to freak out, with each cut and bump, its difficult. I don't want him to get another infection. I want him to stay healthy. But I must trust. Trust in God, that He is going to take care of Connor. No matter what.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Recalling a hard time...
Last night, I was just thinking about how God has taken care of me and my family. You see, just after my son, Connor, had his first birthday, I noticed something on his finger. It was a bump. I really didn't know what to think of it at first. It didn't seem to be bothering him, so I waited until Ben came home and showed him.
We initially wondered, could it be a broken finger? So, just in case, we called our family doctor, who happened to attend our church. It was after hours, so we called him at home. We described the situation, and he didn't seem to know what it was either. So, he said, if it doesn't get any better -or if it gets worse, call my office in the morning for an appointment. Well! The next morning, his finger was HUGE! So, we called and got an appointment for early afternoon.
The hours couldn't go by fast enough. I was worried. No, I was SCARED out of my mind! What was wrong with my baby boy?
So we went in, and the doctor, who is normally rather laid back -had this look on his face that made both Ben and I cringe. He cut open the "wound" and when no puss came out -like he was expecting, he excused himself from the room to make some phone calls. Okay, that's what frightened me.
He came back and told me he had called two doctors. One, a pediatric hematologist in Iowa City -a childrens' hospital. And two, a bone doctor from the local hospital.
He wanted us to take Connor to the ER immediately, and the bone doctor was going to meet us there.
Needless to say, all of the doctors were baffled...they didn't know what was going on with him. They took Connors' blood for a test -and then proceeded to insert an IV for antibiotics into his arm.
They admitted him. Connor fell asleep in my arms, as we waited to be moved upstairs to Pediatrics. Ben and I were stressed to say the least. No one was giving us any answers as to WHY my dear son had this infection, or what type of infection it was.
They moved us upstairs, and I stayed the night with my boy. Ben went home to get some sleep...no sense both of us having a sleepless night -and I needed to be with my boy. I needed him, probably more than he needed me at that time.
The nurse came in about every 2 hours to do something! Check his temp, restart some antibiotics, give him Tylenol, etc. At one point, his temperature was up to 104.something! When the nurse told me that, she said, that's good -that means his body is fighting something. I felt like saying, lady, why in the world would you tell a young Mommy that her baby having a 104 temp is good! That's just not right!
Anyhoo...this nurse did EVERYTHING by the book, coming in to clean out the garbage -in the meantime turning on the light, making noise while Connor and I were trying to sleep. He would JUST fall asleep and within a half-hour, in came the nurse! For the first 2 days, we had different nurses on each shift. I was really hoping for the second night, that we would have a different nurse for the night shift....but, no such luck!
During the first night, Connor was not sleeping. No matter how much I tried to nurse him, he wouldn't fall asleep -and he was so uncomfortable. So, I asked the nurse to look at his arm -where the IV was. His entire arm was swollen! Poor guy, that's why he didn't want to sleep. Well, they need to reinsert the needle somewhere else....and it was between his foot -or in his head. I hoped for the foot, but the nurses said it would be "easier" to put it in his scalp! Well, they were WRONG! They had me lay over his body, and comfort him, as they wiggled that needle around the veins in his scalp. I cried as he sobbed. That was tough. They told me that usually the Moms don't stay around for that -because its so difficult...but, I couldn't leave my little guy alone through that. NO WAY!
Anyway, after the blood tests came back, it showed that Connors' white count was down. Our doctor told us that it should be going up -in order to fight the infection. We needed to find out why it was doing this.
Well, we spent 3 days and 2 nights in the hospital. That was TOO long. At the end of our stay, they told us that they believed Connor to have a staph infection. And, that's normally something that is on our skin -at any given time, but for some reason, Connors' body reacted to it. I began to think about the state of my home -and how I am not the best housekeeper...blaming myself for not having a cleaner house for my little pumpkin to crawl around in...but that wasn't it, we later found out. That experience taught me a lot. We could have lost not just Connnors' finger that week, we could have lost our little boy. I learned to have so much compassion for parents' of chronically ill children. I cannot IMAGINE how parents function long term under those circumstances. It was so hard to watch my little boy sitting in his hospital crib, with needles sticking out of him.
I'll continue tomorrow with more...
We initially wondered, could it be a broken finger? So, just in case, we called our family doctor, who happened to attend our church. It was after hours, so we called him at home. We described the situation, and he didn't seem to know what it was either. So, he said, if it doesn't get any better -or if it gets worse, call my office in the morning for an appointment. Well! The next morning, his finger was HUGE! So, we called and got an appointment for early afternoon.
The hours couldn't go by fast enough. I was worried. No, I was SCARED out of my mind! What was wrong with my baby boy?
So we went in, and the doctor, who is normally rather laid back -had this look on his face that made both Ben and I cringe. He cut open the "wound" and when no puss came out -like he was expecting, he excused himself from the room to make some phone calls. Okay, that's what frightened me.
He came back and told me he had called two doctors. One, a pediatric hematologist in Iowa City -a childrens' hospital. And two, a bone doctor from the local hospital.
He wanted us to take Connor to the ER immediately, and the bone doctor was going to meet us there.
Needless to say, all of the doctors were baffled...they didn't know what was going on with him. They took Connors' blood for a test -and then proceeded to insert an IV for antibiotics into his arm.
They admitted him. Connor fell asleep in my arms, as we waited to be moved upstairs to Pediatrics. Ben and I were stressed to say the least. No one was giving us any answers as to WHY my dear son had this infection, or what type of infection it was.
They moved us upstairs, and I stayed the night with my boy. Ben went home to get some sleep...no sense both of us having a sleepless night -and I needed to be with my boy. I needed him, probably more than he needed me at that time.
The nurse came in about every 2 hours to do something! Check his temp, restart some antibiotics, give him Tylenol, etc. At one point, his temperature was up to 104.something! When the nurse told me that, she said, that's good -that means his body is fighting something. I felt like saying, lady, why in the world would you tell a young Mommy that her baby having a 104 temp is good! That's just not right!
Anyhoo...this nurse did EVERYTHING by the book, coming in to clean out the garbage -in the meantime turning on the light, making noise while Connor and I were trying to sleep. He would JUST fall asleep and within a half-hour, in came the nurse! For the first 2 days, we had different nurses on each shift. I was really hoping for the second night, that we would have a different nurse for the night shift....but, no such luck!
During the first night, Connor was not sleeping. No matter how much I tried to nurse him, he wouldn't fall asleep -and he was so uncomfortable. So, I asked the nurse to look at his arm -where the IV was. His entire arm was swollen! Poor guy, that's why he didn't want to sleep. Well, they need to reinsert the needle somewhere else....and it was between his foot -or in his head. I hoped for the foot, but the nurses said it would be "easier" to put it in his scalp! Well, they were WRONG! They had me lay over his body, and comfort him, as they wiggled that needle around the veins in his scalp. I cried as he sobbed. That was tough. They told me that usually the Moms don't stay around for that -because its so difficult...but, I couldn't leave my little guy alone through that. NO WAY!
Anyway, after the blood tests came back, it showed that Connors' white count was down. Our doctor told us that it should be going up -in order to fight the infection. We needed to find out why it was doing this.
Well, we spent 3 days and 2 nights in the hospital. That was TOO long. At the end of our stay, they told us that they believed Connor to have a staph infection. And, that's normally something that is on our skin -at any given time, but for some reason, Connors' body reacted to it. I began to think about the state of my home -and how I am not the best housekeeper...blaming myself for not having a cleaner house for my little pumpkin to crawl around in...but that wasn't it, we later found out. That experience taught me a lot. We could have lost not just Connnors' finger that week, we could have lost our little boy. I learned to have so much compassion for parents' of chronically ill children. I cannot IMAGINE how parents function long term under those circumstances. It was so hard to watch my little boy sitting in his hospital crib, with needles sticking out of him.
I'll continue tomorrow with more...
What kind of English do you speak??
Well, I haven't posted in a while, but here is something I found interesting....I love taking these silly quizzes!
***Your Linguistic Profile:***
55% General American English
15% Upper Midwestern
10% Dixie
10% Yankee
5% Midwestern
What Kind of American English Do You Speak?
http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofamericanenglishdoyouspeakquiz/
***Your Linguistic Profile:***
55% General American English
15% Upper Midwestern
10% Dixie
10% Yankee
5% Midwestern
What Kind of American English Do You Speak?
http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofamericanenglishdoyouspeakquiz/
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