Fixin' Up Our Ears

This morning, our little guy had surgery to get tubes put into his ears. We arrived at Boys Town National Research Hospital around 5:45am this morning, got him checked in and changed into his scrubs. Aside from the fact that we woke him up from a deep sleep, changed him and dragged him to the hospital, he was in such a great mood.

Big boy in his scrubs
(really grainy pictures for some reason)

Hanging with daddy before he goes back for surgery

After all of that we had to wait about an hour until they came and took him from us to start the anesthesia. I hadn't realized we wouldn't be with him when they put him under and was able to hold myself together as they took him away. A mere 20 minutes later, Dr. Allen came in to tell us everything went perfectly and little man was just coming too while being cuddled by the nurses (I've got to admit I was a bit of a jealous mama). And they decided to keep him in recovery a bit longer because of his past with RSV and wheezing.

I was grabbing a coffee in the waiting room when I heard the doors to the surgery center open and looked straight into the face of our little guy, who just lit up when our eyes met. He reached out to me and I snuggled him to pieces.

Our nurse told us we would be there for another hour or so as they checked his vitals. We stuck a bottle in his mouth right away since he hadn't been able to eat or drink anything since midnight and he fell fast asleep.

After surgery...this pic doesn't show it because he hated
the oxygen thingy but he was so good afterwards

I took the day off work so we could heal with little man and he's done so well today. In addition to all of his other meds, he now has ear drops three times a day which he hates and he's had some bleeding in his ears (which they said is normal), but I can't wait until he's back to normal AND finally free of those dreadful ear infections!

Great Helmet News

This morning Cruz had his 1 month check up on the helmet's progress in helping our boy  get a symmetrical head. We have noticed definite improvement just by looking at his head, but were so happy to hear how much improvement he really had.

In the beginning of the appointment we were hoping to find out that he would be getting the cheek pad off his helmet. Originally our Orthotist thought it would only take a month to get his cheeks back on track. Instead, he determined that it wasn't quite where he hoped, so the cursed cheek pad will stay on for another couple weeks.

This bad news was overshadowed by the news of his head correction. When he was first diagnosed with Placiocephaly {an asymmetrical head}, he fell into the severe category and his head measured in at 12 1/2mm of asymmetry. After one month of wearing his helmet, the scan showed that he had 7mm of improvement, which means his head only has 5 1/2mm of asymmetry! We couldn't believe it and Tim was shocked at how much improvement he saw in only one month since the norm was 3-4mm improvement.

The goal is to get to 2mm or less asymmetry.  While we hope to see similar results in the coming month, we are careful to get our hopes too high. Often times, families will see good improvement one month and no improvement the next. . Let's just hope we fall into the minority and our little guy improves enough to get rid of his helmet just in time for the summer heat!

Yet Another Trip to the Doctor

It seems as if we should have a permanent parking space reserved outside Boy's Town Pediatrics because we are there so often. Not only that, but I should plan on just set up an automatic withdrawal from our checking account, because we never seem to be free of doctor's bills from that place.  Little man had been getting sick the past couple of days with congestion and then a cough, but it wasn't too bad and only really set in later at night and in the mornings. Yesterday when we picked him up from day care and the teachers had commented on his increase in coughing & wheezing and just from the time we had him in the car on the way home, we determined we need to get an appointment to get him check out. Fortunately, one of the pediatricians was working late and we were able to sneak in for a 6:45pm appointment.

As soon as the nurse and doctor heard his wheeze, they knew it wasn't going to be a good visit. They let me know that Cruz had contracted RSV {bronchiolitis} yet again and upon further checking that he also had another ear infection, this time in the left ear. By their calculations, they figured he was on his 2nd or 3rd day of the virus yesterday which puts us smack dab in the middle of the worst days of the virus which are days 3-5 {this was true of it the first time he had RSV as well}.

Last night wasn't terrible. He was spitting up mucus {thank God not projectile yet...} and was up later than normal due to the congestion and coughing, but he only woke up once in the middle of the night around 2:30am and I got him back asleep by 3:45am. He slept until just before 8am and I took a couple hours off work this morning until Grandma Carol could come take over {she was a real lifesaver - we already had her on the books to watch him tomorrow and she came up a day early for us}.

Hoping for a quick recovery on this one - it's never fun to have a sick baby. And definitely not fun to have a sick baby at home when you are at work and have family helping to watch him.

Another Doctor's Visit

Well, it seems the Mango's are becoming regulars at the Boys Town Pediatrics office. Late last week we had little man's four month well check and a follow up on his RSV - and all things were looking good. We were very optimistic because his cough and congestion continued to get better as they told us it would after the fifth day. But things made a turn on Monday night, Cruzer's cough came back in full force {more of a barking sound} and you could tell he was coughing trying to clear out his nose and all the mucus in there. He didn't sleep much Monday night - we woke up to his coughing fits about every hour, seemed to be a bit better Tuesday at day care {though they mentioned to Tessa when she picked him up that he was coughing more than normal} and Tuesday night was a repeat of Monday. We called the nurse on Wednesday morning and she advised us to bring him in because she was worried that he now had Croup {ugh...}.

I left work, picked Cruz up and we headed to Boys Town. After Dr Shidler looked him over, she determined that it wasn't Croup, but instead an ear infection {poor baby}. All the coughing was spreading the virus north and it caused his right ear to become infected.

So we made another visit to the pharmacist to pick up yet another prescription and got him settled. Last night he fortunately slept much better - a couple middle of the night coughing spells but none woke him up until 4am {I was thankful for the extra sleep}. Hopefully this junk leaves him soon so we can get our healthy little boy back. The positive side to this...he is still such a smiley little guy! Even though you know he's uncomfortable, he is still in a good mood and giving us those big, toothless grins.

The doctors say it's better for him to be exposed to this stuff now and build up his immune system, so I would say we are doing a great job of adhering to their wishes. Let's just hope the nice weather will end his seeminly endless cold.

Emergency Room Visit

Last night I took little man to the emergency room. I had to work late so I bundled Cruz up and took him over to my sisters. I hated having to leave him, but knew he would be in great hands.

I picked him up around 11pm and he had been sleeping for a while {which is great} but was so warm to the touch. Once I got him home, I took his temperature and it was 101 degrees - while I was feeding him I googled temps and it recommended that fevers over 100.4 be brought in. After feeding him and giving him a breathing treatment {which didn't seem to help because he was coughing & wheezing like mad}, I gave the Boy's Town nurses line a call {well, actually I called while I was feeding him and left my information for them to call me back....it took a while}. The nurse asked many questions to understand how little man was feeling and when she asked that I put the phone up to him and heard his wheezy breathing, she quickly recommended I bring him to the Children's Hospital emergency room {but first asked that I give him another breathing treatment}.

I called the hubby {of course bawling at this point - and effectively freaking him out - I just cannot control my tears these days when it involves this little guy} and let him know we were going in and he was so worried {he's still out of town}. I reassured him I would call him as soon as I got down there and we saw the doctor. Then I called Tessa - I'm not sure why {besides the fact that she or my mom are always my first call in important situations} but told her to hold of on making a trip down. During this time, Nick had called his mom, dad and brother and then called me to let me know Marc was going to meet me there since he was in the area.

We got checked in {but not without a bit of drama, in my haste I had forgotten my wallet and didn't have my insurance card} and then a nurse, resident and doctor all checked him out. While we were there he had a coughing fit and the nurse turned him over on his side where he puked up a bunch of mucus. They told me it had been a good decision to bring him in, but with his case of RSV he is now ascending on the worst of the days and besides the breathing treatments, continuing to suck his nose and Tylenol there isn't much we can do.

I got him back home around 2:30am, got him changed and fed and he was restless so we rocked and walked until about 3:30am or so. He finally fell asleep and didn't wake up until 7am this morning. He was looking somewhat better which made me feel good. After a bottle and breathing treatment, he slept for an hour and woke up to a coughing fit where he proceeded to puke all over himself again - it was bad, in his ear, all over his face and all over himself. A bath was definitely needed and after I got him all put back together, he proceeded to puke up more mucus all over himself and I had to change him yet again. Since he's been feeling a bit better...

Having a sick baby is definitely taking a toll on the both of us. I'm just hoping that if I continue doing what the doctors recommend he will get through this sooner than we anticipate.Once again, another area where being a parent proves to kick your butt and you are NEVER prepared for what's to come....let's hope we get our healthy, little guy back soon.