What an ordeal!!!

Monday, Ben had his long-awaited eye appointment. We had one scheduled in January, but we cancelled it because we thought the problem had resolved itself. You see, Ben has had a blocked tear duct since birth, and for the first 14 months or so, it was really noticeable. His left eye was almost constantly “goopy.” Then, suddenly, in December, it stopped. Or so we thought. The goopiness stopped, but soon after we cancelled his January appointment, we noticed he was still having clear drainage from that eye. And apparently, appointments with these specialists are hard to come by, because the earliest they could fit us in was July 20!

So we went to the Eye Institute and waited in their lovely, but kid-unfriendly waiting room. Then we went into the little room and waited some more while I tried to keep Ben from examining the high-dollar eye equipment. Finally a nurse came and took a look and left. We waited some more. Ben was being VERY patient, all things considered. Finally, the Dr. came in. Apparently, this doctor is one of the head eye doctors at the hospital and NOT a pediatric specialist! She only looks at kids if all the pediatric measures have failed and they need major surgery! So the doctor left and went to see if peds could “squeeze us in.” ARGH! Are you kidding me?? Our pediatrician’s office made this appointment for us with the wrong person!

Anyway, the pediatric eye people had time to see him, so we went and waited in their wonderful kid-friendly waiting room. Ben had a blast playing in the 2-level playhouse and following around older kids. I actually had to climb up to the 2nd floor of the playhouse to retrieve him when they called us back. Then they took us back, a nurse looked at him, then a resident, and FINALLY, the Real Pediatric Eye Surgeon came in. They were all great with kids but Ben was starting to lose patience. They did a full eye exam and then gave him drops to dialate his pupils. We went to ANOTHER waiting room, waited for about 10 minutes for surgery scheduling, and finally got to see the scheduler. At this point, Ben had had all he could take. He had a breakdown when I wouldn’t let him grab a highlighter off her desk. The scheduler gave him a highlighter and paper and he settled down to draw on the floor.

THEN, we had to go BACK to the waiting room and wait for the doctor, so she could look into his dialated pupils. He played some more before we were finally called back (and I had to go up into the playhouse again to retrieve him). She showed me how to restrain him while a nurse pulled open his eyelids and she looked in. Gee, that was fun.

I was going to take him to Chik-Fil-A for lunch but at that point, I knew he needed sleep more. We were there for two. full. hours.

The end result is, Ben will be having a minor surgical procedure next Thursday (7/30) under general anesthesia. If you look at the picture at the top of the post, you can see there is an opening at the bottom of the duct into the nose. There is a flap of skin there that doesn’t open in some kids. They stick a thin probe down to “punch it out.” Since there is a lower success rate with kids over 1 year, the doctor will also insert a tiny balloon down the probe to stretch out the skin.

It is very minor, and when you consider what other kids with major problems have to go through, we are extremely fortunate. I am of course nervous about the anesthesia, but it turns out that it is not IV- just a puff of gas, so it is very light and he will wake up right away. I am happy to finally have this taken care of!

 

I don’t believe in omens!

Warning: Slightly graphic post ahead…

Well, Wednesday was supposed to be the big day.  I had been waiting all spring for my appointment with Dr. McGinnis.  It was our first consult to prepare for a summer IVF cycle.  I was so excited.  I took off the entire day to make sure I wasn’t rushed, and Tim and I were planning on going to lunch afterward.  I dropped Ben off at daycare and headed to Morgantown.  I was about 30 minutes early, so I thought I would go to Michael’s (they were closed).  I got gas at Kroger.  I had forgotten my hair clip, so I went into Walgreen’s to buy a new one.  I got to my truck, realized that I needed scissors or a blowtorch to get the clip out of the packaging, so I went back in to ask the clerk to help me out.  I put my hair up in the parking lot.  A glance at the clock revealed I had 10 minutes until my appointment.  Perfect.  Tim was meeting me there.

I got in my truck and waited to turn left out of the Walgreen’s parking lot onto Pineview Drive (the clinic is only a couple of blocks down the road on the left).  Traffic was fairly heavy.  A guy in a car waved me through since he was just waiting for the light.  I looked left, and didn’t see anyone in the turning lane; looked right, and no one was coming.  I proceeded with my turn.  

I was wrong about no one coming from the left.  Suddenly, a big white truck grille was about 2 feet from my door and coming fast.  Next thing I knew, I could taste blood in my mouth and people were yelling and running at me.  BRAKE!  People were saying.  All I could do was cry.  My car was still in gear and drifting.  I stepped on the brake and cried harder.  Blood was everywhere (it turns out, it was all from my nose).  Someone reached in my window and put my car in park.  Someone ran and got me a rag.   I felt something trickling down my back.  I thought it was blood.  I felt it- I had auto glass in my shirt and in my pants.

After a few minutes of me crying and people standing around staring, the ambulance came.  I kept telling them, through my tears, that I was fine, just upset, and that I just wanted to get out.  They asked me what day it is (I had to think about it but came up with Wednesday).  They asked me how old I was.  I said 31 or 32- I couldn’t remember.  They put a neck brace on me.  They wouldn’t let me move.  More sirens… another ambulance, police and a fire truck.  The other driver was fine, it’s just protocol in bad accidents.  They couldn’t get me out of my truck without cutting the door off.  More crying.  

Then came the worst part…  They had to put a white sheet over my head to protect me from debris as they cut the door off.  I knew that Tim would be coming along at any minute for the appointment and of course I hadn’t been able to call him.  I got hysterical when they put the sheet over me and kept trying to pull it off.  The rescue workers were not very happy with me, I’m afraid.  They gave me oxygen.  At one point when I lifted the sheet I saw Tim in front of the truck crying.  I put my hand up to tell him I was OK.  I must have started crying more because the rescue workers said, “tell that guy to move back, he’s upsetting her.”  I said, “tell him I’m OK!”

They pulled me out of the truck and onto the backboard.  They loaded me into the ambulance and took me to Ruby (strange, since we were closer to Mon. General, but I guess they have some sort of rotation worked out).  While in the ambulance, they cut off my clothes.  I felt completely not in control of my life.

When I got to the hospital, there were about 20 people standing around me working on this or that.  I got an xray and a cat scan.  I was still crying.  Finally, the tests were done and we just had to wait on the results.  Tim was allowed to come see me.  Then the trooper from the accident came for a visit.  He cited me for failure to yield right-of-way.  More crying.

After what seemed like an eternity, they brought my discharge papers and told me I had a non-dislocated broken nose.  They gave me the number of the facial surgeon but said there is nothing they can do for it anyway.  Thankfully, it looks fine!  They let me wear 2 hospital gowns home.

I was going to have Tim just take me straight home and come back later to get a rental car, but when we passed Enterprise, I felt well enough to drive.  We went in (me still in my hospital gowns) and rented a car.  I drove home.  I tried to sleep but couldn’t.  

Four days later, I am still sore, but feel incredibly lucky it wasn’t worse.  I still don’t remember the impact.  If one thing can be learned from this experience, it is to put your seatbelt on before you put the car in gear.  I ALWAYS wear my seatbelt, but I have a bad habit of “saving time” by buckling it after I have started moving.  So, embarrassingly enough, I wasn’t wearing my seatbelt at the time of the accident.  I probably wouldn’t have broken my nose if I had been wearing it.

And, no, I don’t believe in omens, so I rescheduled the doctor’s appointment!

 

Ben’s 18-Month Checkup (at 19 Months!)

Yesterday, it was finally time for Ben’s 18-month checkup.  I made the mistake of canceling the original appointment because I didn’t want to miss this class or that class (you can see how “important” it was- I don’t even remember why I canceled).  It was a mistake because his regular doctor is booked until late July!  So Tim took him in to another doctor in the practice.  He has seen her a couple of times when he was sick. 

His height is still tracking in the 75th percentile at 33.5″- he takes after his dad in that area.  His weight (26 lbs) and head circumference (18.5″) are in the 50th percentile, so he is right on track!  And yes, they plotted him at 19 months on the chart (I was worried they would plot 18 months and not get an accurate picture but Tim made sure they did it right).

They talked about the blocked tear duct, again.  You see, after his 1-year appointment, we made the appointment to see an optometrist (that’s the surgeon, right?).  That appointment was scheduled for January.  In December, the tear duct problem seemed to go away.  So we canceled that appointment.  Soon after, we realized that, although the drainage wasn’t yellow or green anymore (hooray for that), the left eye was definitely more watery than the other.  So we will be making another appointment with the optometrist, hopefully this summer.

The doctor wanted to know if he could say 14 words or so.  Definitely (although I am sure that most of them are intelligible only to us…).  So I thought I would make a list of his words (and their translation when necessary):

da-da
no
more
bink (binky)
bink (bank)
dee (deer)
ball
bah (bottle)
ba (bath) 
juice
tash (trash)
gass (grass)
tuck (truck)
book
eye
bee 
Bee (Ben)
bay (baby)
uh-oh
pop-pop 
shh
uh (up)
dah (down)
ha (hat) 
hi
hey
bye-bye 
jaff (giraffe) 
soos (shoes)
sots (socks)
rock 
boo (blue)
fag (flag) 

(I still can’t pay him to say “mama,” and although he has said it once or twice, it was likely just a coincidence).

This is all in addition to the many animal noises he can make.  :)

He is also in the VERY beginning stages of putting words together.  Like yesterday, when he saw Tim’s notebook, he pointed and said “da da book.”  I’m so proud! 

We are indeed, very blessed.

 

 

 

We’re still here!

It’s been a busy couple of months so I haven’t posted in a while.  We’re still here!  Ben is sick this week (stomach bug- yuk)- I’ve had to pick him up from daycare 2 days in a row.  He’s down for a nap so I have time for a short update.

He’s doing well other than being sick this week.  I was just saying a few days ago that he’s had a relatively healthy streak.  He’s working hard on saying a bunch of words, but he’s still at the stage where usually only Tim and I can understand him (and even then it’s sometimes a guessing game).  He says “ball” pretty clearly, and can make the sound of the following animals: cow, dog, owl, monkey, elephant, snake, and lion.

Yesterday a strange thing happened that made my week (if not my month or my year).  My beloved powerbook’s hard drive failed back in October.  OK, so it’s not MY powerbook; it belongs to the county but after using it for 3 1/2 years I had grown extremely attached to it.  I sent it to our computer tech and figured I would never see it again.  He said he had sent it away and every time he saw me he asked if I had gotten it back yet (it was supposed to come straight to the school).  Yesterday there was a powerbook sitting on the counter of the office all day.  I glanced at it, and it looked more beat up than mine.  At the end of the day, I asked the secretary about it.  She said it had come in the county mail with no note or explanation and no one knew whose it was.  I asked around and nobody knew anything about it.  So I called the computer tech and he hadn’t sent it, but he would look into it.   Today he came to pick it up and said, “I’ll get this set up for you and have it back here tomorrow.”  I didn’t ask the details but it looks like I’ll be getting a powerbook again!  I hope it’s not too good to be true!  Unfortunately I have to wait until Friday since I’m at the other school tomorrow…

On a related note, does anyone know what happens when you plug an ipod loaded with thousands of songs into a “new” computer with only a few?  Do the old songs get erased?

I’m so excited to be getting a powerbook again.  I use it in so many ways.  It is so much more picture-friendly than my pc, so hopefully I’ll be posting some pictures soon!

The other big news is that we’re going to be doing in vitro again this summer!  My first appointment is May 27.  I plan to blog about it again so everyone can read the gory details.

 

Update: 10am Monday

We THOUGHT Ben was better Saturday afternoon.  He managed to keep down his dinner.  However, it was not meant to be.  The bug returned with a vengeance Sunday morning and continued through the night.  Tim WAS going to stay home with him today, but he woke up at 4:30 with the same bug! 

So we’re all home today: Tim is in bed, Ben is curled up in a makeshift bed of blankets and pillows on the floor, and I am here in my PJs, hoping I don’t get it!

 

Stomach Bug!

Ben seems to be over the pneumonia, thank goodness!  However, he was not healthy for long before a stomach bug set in!  Last night he woke up at 12:30 covered in… well… his stomach contents (sorry if that’s TMI!).  We changed him and his sheets and put him back to bed.  Ten minutes later, the same thing happened again, but now we were out of clean sheets for him!  We put a towel down on our bed and brought him in with us.  He was sick off and on all night and none of us slept well for the rest of the night.  This morning, we thought he seemed OK, so we gave him a bottle.  A little while later that came up.  He’s napping now.  He fell asleep in my arms on the couch and didn’t wake when I transferred him to his crib.  Poor Ben!

 

Stupid Pneumonia!

Poor Ben!  He has pneumonia!  He’s had a little cough for a couple of months now, as well as a runny nose since he started day care full time.  He’s had 2 sinus infections practically back-to-back and been on amoxicillin three times.  I should have known 2 weeks ago when he had a fever of 103 that it was not just a sinus infection and I should have stood up to the doctor who prescribed amoxicillin again, even though he had just finished a course of it!

Anyway, last night he had a fever of 103.2 at 10:30.  The doctor on call said to give him Tylenol and see if that helped and make the call on whether to bring him in in the morning.  This morning it was up to 104 and he was trembling!  We left immediately.  This doctor had the sense to order a chest x-ray.  She saw a spot that she thought could be pneumonia (are you kidding me? of course it’s pneumonia!).  She called his doctor and they discussed whether to admit him to the hospital (I had some serious mommy anxiety going on waiting to hear).  His doctor advised trying a stronger antibiotic and bringing him in to see her in the morning.

He’s feeling better than this morning, but he’s laid around a lot today and cried more than usual.  He also still has a slight fever.  Stupid pneumonia!

 

Ben’s 1-Year Stats

It’s a snowy Sunday morning and Ben is down for a nap.  I’m enjoying sitting inside, working on laundry and a scarf for Ben.  I haven’t posted in a while, so it’s time for an update.  I have to admit I’ve been putting off posting until I can do a spectacular, picture-ridden post like some of my friends do, but let’s be realistic.  I don’t have time to do a perfect post.  So I’ll settle for a post, period.

Ben went for his 1-year checkup a couple of weeks ago.  He was between the 50th and 75th percentile in height (30 3/4″), in the 25th percentile in weight (21.5 pounds), and 25th percentile in head circumference (18″).  Everything checked out fine!

Ben can now say “Da” (Dad), “ta” (cat) and “dah” (dog).  He occassionaly says “mama.”  He knows the difference between dogs and cats, but every other animal is EITHER a dog or a cat!  He is very proud of his ability to identify animals and does so every chance he can.  He has taken to carrying around his stuffed moose and saying “dah” (dog).  He still LOVES his books, especially ones with animals and babies in them. 

I will try to give updates more often, even if they don’t contain lots of pictures!  Bring on the snow days!

 

Ben’s 9-Month Stats

I just realized that I forgot to post Ben’s “stats” from his 9-month appointment!  It was a couple weeks ago.  He weighed 20 pounds and was 29 inches long.  His head circumference and weight were in the 50th percentile, and his length was in the 75th percentile!  So he is doing very well.  There were no shots at this appointment- Hooray!

This picture is from our recent visit to my parents.  They don’t have carpeting, so Ben really enjoyed using this cat scratching post as a walker.  It slid along very nicely!

 

Ben’s Healthy Streak is Over…

It lasted exactly 8 months and 1 week.  (Hmm…Is it a coincidence that his healthy streak ended 2 days after his first day care experience?  Umm, doubt it.  But I don’t hold it against them).  

We have truly been blessed with a healthy baby.  Ben has been growing and thriving right on track, and has not gotten sick.  Until this week, the only health “problems” he’s had are his flat head (which has now rounded out, by the way) and his blocked tear duct.  We knew he would get sick eventually, and I kept “knocking on wood” every time I thought about the amazing fact that he hadn’t been sick!  In fact, on Monday, as Tim and I discussed our plans to take Ben to day care on Tuesday, we had a brief conversation about it:

Tim: Gee, do you think we should expose him to all those germs when we don’t HAVE to?
Me: He’s going to get exposed to them eventually anyway; why not expose him to a little each week this summer?  Besides, he’s built up a great immunity by breastfeeding and it’s a really clean day care.
Tim: Well, if he gets sick next week, we’ll know why…

Yeah.  

So Thursday morning, when Ben woke up, I noticed that the skin just below the inside corner of his left eye was a little red.  At first, I thought maybe I had massaged his tear duct a little too hard.  You see, we are supposed to massage there several times a day to help clear the blocked tear duct.  I had massaged it in the dark when I fed him in the middle of the night.  

Later in the morning, it was a little more red and there was increased drainage from that eye.  I thought, hmm… he might be getting a little infection in the blocked tear duct.  We might need to go to the doctor to get some eyedrops.  I decided to watch it for a while to see if it got any worse, since that eye almost always has some drainage due to the blocked tear duct.

That afternoon we went to the library and the grocery store.  When we left, the skin all throughout his eye socket was starting to get red and a little swollen.  On that trip, I had to wipe his eye at least every 5 minutes, and the drainage wasn’t clear or light yellow (like normal), it was thick and green.  As the trip went on, the drainage increased.  OK, I thought, that tear duct is definitely infected.  I called the doctor and got an appointment for first thing Friday morning.

When we got home from the trip (about 3 pm), Tim noticed the redness, swelling and drainage and agreed that the tear duct was definitely infected.  He was glad I got the appointment.  As the evening progressed, the redness and swelling (and drainage) got worse.  As we gave Ben his bath (at around 6:30), Tim began to get worried at the rapid progression of the symptoms.  I called the doctor and asked if they could squeeze him in that evening.  The doctor was completely booked and they were very sorry, but they couldn’t squeeze him in.  If it was an emergency I should go to the emergency room.  

Tim was very worried.  I was too, but I really thought it would be OK to wait until morning.  I finally decided to play it safe and take him to the urgent care center in Cheat Lake in hopes of getting a prescription.  On my way there, I called Ben’s doctor’s office.  They are a huge WVU-affiliated center with all kinds of care offered.  I said, “Is there ANY doctor there who can look at Ben’s eye and write a prescription for eye drops?  This has gotten significantly worse in the last few hours.  It is oozing green gunk and extremely red.”  The receptionist called back to the doctor.  The doctor was on her LAST patient of the day, but she agreed to stay late to see Ben!  Hooray!

I love Ben’s doctor.  She is very friendly, thorough, and knowledgeable, and she is a mom herself!  Even so, it was 7:30, so I just expected her to look at his eye and write a quick Rx and get us out of there.  However, she did a through examination.  She said she was glad I pushed and brought him in tonight, because his tear duct was not the problem.  Not only does he have pink eye, but he also has cellulitis!  This is a serious bacterial infection that moves quickly and can damage the eye muscles.  They occasionally have to admit kids to the hospital for it, but his is a mild case. (As bad as Ben looked, I’d hate to see a major case!)

She gave me eye drops and an oral antibiotic, with instructions to start them as soon as I got home.  She told me to watch him through the night and if it got any worse, go to the ER.  If it wasn’t any better in the morning, bring him back.  

Wow.

Ben slept through the night, but I checked on him several times.  It didn’t seem to be getting worse.  When he woke up Friday morning, it wasn’t as red but it was a LOT more swollen.  The green drainage was still plentiful.  I took him back to the doctor and they gave him a shot of antibiotics.  By Friday afternoon, it was looking better.  It’s still a little red and swollen, but he’s definitely on the mend.  Phew!