Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Home

We all came home on Sunday night! Ben is doing great so now we are playing "where's my week?" to get back on track. Thanks for all of your well wishes. I hope not need them again anytime soon ; )

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Countin' Chickens

Countin' chickens. Calling a shut out. Tempting fate. Call it what you will, I did it. I boldly typed, for everyone to see "Usually means the big things are quiet." What was I thinking! Ben is spending his third night in the hospital tonight. All seemed OK on Thursday morning so off too school went Ben. At 10:30 he started crying about his tummy hurting. Quickly, he was fine. At 1:30 he did it again and this time his parapro suggested he go with her to the office to call mom. And he agreed. And he agreed to lie down in the office. And he fell asleep. Now at this point I knew something was wrong. He would never normally agree to any of those things. So while my mom was on her way to pick him up, I was on the phone to the doctor who suggested that if his tummy was making him cry we needed to go to emergency. Emergency? For a tummy ache? OK. Off Ben, Kiera and I went to emergency (where he weighed in at 36.4 lbs) and there we found that the suspected constipation (Chuckle, chuckle, here’s your suppository, have a nice evening.) was in fact, pneumonia, a grossly dilated stomach and a hiatal hernia. And by the way, we’re admitting you and surgery consult is on their way down. Waaa? It’s no wonder the little guy was complaining. The bigger wonder was that he wasn't complaining more! The boys’ stomach was as big as his head. I didn't really think they were serious until I saw the films and yes, his stomach was as big as his head. It was literally bigger than his lungS. Plural. What “we” think happened is that when Ben was vomiting on Tuesday part of his fundo wrap and part of his stomach pushed through that pesky little opening in his diaphragm. Due to the pressure and irritation of vomiting the wrap got pissy and possibly swelled, trapping the bit of stomach up there with it, in turn making the opening out of Ben’s stomach far to tight to release any air. He then retched more and gulped more air that couldn't get out which made him retch and gulp more air that (you guessed it) couldn't get out and we end up with a bit of stomach blown up like a balloon above the diaphragm, a stuck wrap and a huge belly. The first step was to rehydrate our little man by using those ugly two letters “IV”. Then they had to shrink the belly which involved a mighty jaunt through hell otherwise known as inserting a NG tube into the nose of a conscious and PISSED child. Then it was, wait and see if______. The ______ being what they wanted to see next to prove he was on the mend. And ______ was never what happened. They finally pulled the NG tube about 7 tonight so the latest films seemed to enforce the idea that this is not a blockage issue. It looks like if we can get him to hydrate off of his IV and eat and poop (tall order if you ask me) then we may be able to go home tomorrow. But that’s what they said on Thursday. Did I mention that I came home tonight (Dave is taking the late shift, he sleeps through anything) to a dog vigorously knocking at deaths door? Vomit everywhere and death rattle breathing? Well, I aced my mid-term : /

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Puke And A Cold And A Mid-term, Oh My!

I have a cold that is really no biggie if you don't count the wracking coughs that nearly make me throw up (not to mention nearly pee). No sore throat, no snotty nose yet no sleep because I am a coughing fool. Not that clear-your-throat-cough but that deep-down-in-your-lungs-cough-drops-can't-touch-it cough. Yesterday Ben came home from school with a tummy ache. He has never actually said that he has a tummy ache except after his fundo and even then I think that he said it once. His tummy ache turned into an all out tummy hurt that made him curl up in a ball and sob until he fell asleep. Then it turned into an all night wretch-a-thon. Temp at 103, puked up the Motrin, Tylenol and Zofran. Kiera, not to be left out, decided to move onto her floor to sleep and woke up in a puddle at about, hmm, the 5th puke fest. Wet jammies, wet carpet and screaming 2 1/2 year old. And I have a mid-term tomorrow! Can I hear a good old WAAAAAAAA! Sometimes it feels good to complain about the little things. Usually means the big things are quite.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Straightening Up

It has occurred to me that I have some house keeping to do. A bit ago something happened to me for the very first time. I won an award! A few in fact and not to appear ungrateful, I had/have no idea how to even accept these wonderful awards. So thank you MeghatronsMom , Heike and Melanie and once I get the hang of it, I'll post to pass on the love! Also, I have been running with the same "Other Blogs" for as long as I have been blogging. I'm trying to do a bit of clean up but seeing that Kiera is drumming right next to me I feel my time is limited. I, like many others I suppose, do a lot of jumping around and can never keep up with the list of blogs I check in on. But I will try to add some that I check in with most frequently. Just don't ask me to sort them! Like I said I'm on someones elses time so... By the way, who are you? Who is reading? Drop a note if you like, I would love to visit!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Where To Begin?

OK.
The good news is, I have been sleeping at night.
The bad news is that I haven't been blogging (or keeping up) and I think that my meds are jacked and that is why I am so dead tired. No thyroid is a pain in the a** sometimes.
So where to begin?
Ahh, the bus!
My last post about the bus was actually made from Chicago where I was having some much needed girl time. My yearly girls weekend was all but rained out and I came home with a killer cold which I then turned into bronchitis and a sinus infection but, it was TOTALLY WORTH IT! I went from high stress to shut down over the weekend and was able to turn off the "Mama Mode" for a few minutes and let my shoulders fall back to where they belong. You know, NOT in my ears. We even went so far as to have croissant and coffee brought to the door every morning. Heaven.
I was there to put Ben on the his very first BIG bus and would you believe? See all those tears?
Yeah, me neither! No problem getting on this bus, just climbed on said "Hi, I'm Ben and this is my mom Shannon and you are Ms. Annette." Little stinker took me for a ride this year. We had one weird moment (Why are we stopping here? Oh we have to pick up that disabled kid.-from the back) but all is well. Now he gets on and everyone says "Hi Ben!" and he says "Hi everybody!" the best part is the the bus driver is very cool and is friends with the old bus driver who asked her (in tears no less) to take care of her Ben. Nice.
Another update is that my friend had her sweet baby boy at 32 weeks. All went well but they are in for a stay. Keep up the good vibes!
Oh! Have I mentioned that I am taking a class? I finally got back on the horse and after 15 years off I am taking my first baby steps into re-starting/getting/finishing my degree. I'm glad I'm doing it but I have my midterm on Thursday so I may change my mind about that.
So much has happened and changed in the last couple of months. I wish I could bottle it up and look in on it now and then until I had a chance to write about it. To save it. Ahh, well. I'm sure not sleep again soon, right? ; )

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

One Little Monkey...

One little monkey jumpin' on the bed.
He fell off and bumped his head.
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,
"No more monkey's jumpin' on the bed!"
Yep.