Tuesday, January 6, 2015

New Year Update!


Waiting for a David update??? It has been awhile. Life got incredibly crazy or maybe.....I got incredibly blog lazy?! I prefer to think it is the former. Life just got crazy. At any rate, things are okay right now.

Before Christmas, David missed a lot of school. First it was seizures, then it was the bitter cold and then there were the fevers. During the Christmas break, we managed to visit our local ER about four times. These were due to his foot, hip and a really nasty rash. The last trip I think, exposed us to the flu or some equally disgusting germ and so as school was back in session on Monday for the new year, David has remained at home.

If you remember that this time last year, David had undergone his second hip surgery in St. Louis and we were well into a hellacious four months of ambulance rides, ER trips and hospital stays. Once again David managed to go from zero to septic in the blink of an eye and I sat by his bed side wondering if he would be okay. This year, I plan on much less ER/hospital time and much better health.....present time excepted.

I am the worried mom who is erring on the side of caution and not sending David to school when it is 5 degrees out with a 40 mph northerly wind. Other than the ER trips David stayed home during the Christmas break and stayed as far away from germs as possible. Can I protect him from everything? Obviously not as he has already succumbed to a stomach bug (not sure who or what to thank for that one....but I'm thinking Z) and now he is sporting a really hacky cough. Part of me wants to try and send him to school tomorrow, but........ we shall see.

In the big scheme of things, David seems to be progressing well. His hip issue sort of freaked me out as he couldn't or wouldn't put any weight on his leg and was even whimpering with it. After x-rays to make sure there was no break (after all....we know he is not above breaking things) and numerous blood tests to make sure his body wasn't holding any infection, it was decided that he had simply pulled or twisted his hip and within days, he was back to normal.

Unfortunately I have learned that with a kid like David, sometimes you can't just sit back and take a wait and see attitude. That is when infection and sepsis can take hold. From his hips to his ankles, David is nothing but metal plates and screws. Because of this, I am always conscious of the fact that his hardware can get infected. Thus, I am always on my guard.

So far, we are just hitting and clearing speed bumps and I hope that we are in for a lot less crazy this year and a lot more happy/healthy time. In order to achieve that.....I will be ever vigilant in making sure that I take the necessary precautions to guard his health,even if that means keeping him home at times.

Christmas was really good this year and David was much more in tune with it than in years past. He loved the tree and would sit and watch the lights for hours. He was not particularly pleased when I took it down for the season. He also was really happy with all that he got for Christmas. He got electronic drums, electronic drum sticks, cars, blocks and more Spongebob stuff. Since Christmas he has clocked an awful lot of hours in his room "playing". It has actually been a joy to watch his interaction with everything.

The past year was not particularly fun for any of us but especially not David. It is my hope that 2015 is a new year, with new hope and a lot less ER/hospital time. I also hope to do better about keeping everyone up on things in Davidtopia.

Happy Tuesday everyone!