About Last Night

What a difference 12 hours makes! We have gone from a doctor saying we would likely be in the hospital until at least Monday (he was the ER doctor), to the floor doctor coming in and saying that the vancomyacin seems to be working well and we can go home today. Of course we got the lecture of: If anything changes go straight to Shriners or St. Louis Childrens (as we will be in MO). And of course he is going to be on another ten days of antibiotics, but other than that...David seems to be his old self. So we are back to our previous "tentative" schedule of leaving tomorrow. Notice at no time did I say "plan". Plan, planning and plans are going to be discarded from my vocabulary both spoken and written and those three words never seem to work out for me!

My exuberant excitement last night over having a "comfy" (more comfortable than mine anyway) bed were nothing but a pipe dream. It does not matter how comfy a bed is....if you can't put it to good use!!!!! By the time David was finally settled in, all meds had been ordered, brought to the floor and given and all blood work and night time preparations were done....it was after 1 a.m. David was so tired he was falling asleep sitting up. I thought "cool....he is drifting off and so can I." Silly girl!!! He was so tired that he was too tired! Immediately he began sitting up, bending forward and trying to sleep with his head between his knees. Time and again I got up to lay him back only for him to pop right back up again. Then he began to whimper. I don't know whether he was hurting, just too tired or simply in a strange place, but he was not comfortable at all. Finally I went over to his bed and laid there with him. Hospital beds are nothing more than glorified twin beds and twin beds were never intended for two people!!!! Especially when one of those people sleeps with his knees extended to the sides in a frog type position. I tried to make the best of it and work around the knees but my back was smashed up against the "mandatory" (David's mandatory not the hospitals) bed rails.

David continued sitting up but finally finagled his body to a position where he could lay his head on my ribs. Funny thing about skinny kids.....even their heads are boney. After about an hour and a half of his head squirming deeper and deeper into my left rib, I could no longer take it. I finally laid him over and then the sitting up began again. Another hour and I was out of there. I gave him his bed back and crawled into my own. Oops...time for middle of the night vitals and IV med changes. The alarm on that med infuser was enough to wake the dead and bring David out of the first sound sleep he had been in all night. So we were back to no sleep and a perfectly good hospital bed that had been laid on...but no blissful sleep had yet to occur on it. The last time I looked at the clock it was 5:45 a.m. My eyes were fully open and awake at 6:00 a.m. I can say next to not sleeping at all....this was the shortest night of my life. In fact....the way I currently feel....I would have been better not to have slept at all. Did I mention that David is happily napping as we speak?

So we are back to our original pla....errr....uh.....schedule. I will go home and do laundry, pack and clean and then as soon as Z takes his last final tomorrow....we will be headed to Missouri. This will be our surgery follow up at Shriners and hopefully we will find out the status of his legs and be able to begin weight bearing again. Since David has progressed so nicely we are mixing business with pleasure and visiting relatives along the way and while we are there. This will also help to break the 8 hour car ride up for David. Family really helps to offset the stress of doctors, hospitals and the unknown.

Again I go back to the fact that I can't get too bent out of shape about anything that is happening in our journey. It all seems to have purpose even if I can't quite put my finger on just what that purpose is at the time. The boys and I are doing well...in fact better than we have in a very long time and yes...I am still happy. Go figure that in all of this mess....I find my bliss/happiness/or whatever this strange feeling is. Do I think we are done with the speed bumps that have become the status quo in our lives? Not by any stretch of the imagination...but more and more I am realizing that whatever is put in our lives.....God gives me what I need to handle it and the blessing continue to abound!

Knee-dless to Say....We Are in the ER Again

It's been a while...but we always knew I would be back. I ALWAYS come back! Things have been good in David's life. He seems to be healing well and he went to school all day....every day for the last week. Friday was his last day as we are planning to leave for St. Louis, Monday morning as soon as Z takes his last final.

Of course...we all know how making "plans" can screw up a perfectly good schedule. I must have forgotten. To back track a bit...I have been trying to do a lot of the inexpensive fun stuff that the kids and I have not had the opportunities or perhaps....actually taken the time to do in the past. Maybe it is because...the last few weeks have been so out of control that I have been desperate to put some normalcy....or control back into our lives. What better way to take control than to have some fun?!

What prompted all of this was....a couple of weeks ago my friend Marni came to town from Texas to help out with David. By the time she got here....David was doing well and we all decided that David's mom needed more help than David did....so Marni, another friend Chris and I all spent the day doing garage sale therapy, shoe therapy and ended the evening by doing friend therapy with several old friends. It was just what the doctor ordered and I realized that through all of this with David....we were actually starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and it was time to start "living" again. It was then that I quit holding my breath waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Since that time....I have taken the boys to the drive-in (Z had never been and David loved it) and I even went to our little town bar Thursday night and watched Z sing karaoke. We had plans for a return trip to the drive-in last night but Z was not feeling well (the cotton is flying off the cottonwood trees which has him sniffling, snorting and coughing). Today however...Z felt better...so after some cheesecake deliveries....we headed to Ribfest....a new event being held annually in Wichita. Five or six professional bbq outfits from all over the country set up shop and served some delicious ribs, brisket, sausage and chicken. This was accompanied by a few fun booths and live music. Although the wind was near gale force and the temps were in the high 80's....the event was a great time. David didn't seem to enjoy the music like I thought he would but he loved the food. Z on the other hand is not the worlds biggest fan of bbq (although he managed to force himself to polish off half a slab of ribs) but he loved the live music. So what started out to be just a quick stroll through the event, eat some ribs and leave...spread out into a large part of our afternoon.

Once home Z happened to look at David's knee and said..."Mom....you better look at this!" I hate it when he does that. It never turns out well! I looked anyway....and one of David's knee incisions was bright red and swollen about an inch across and an inch and a half long. It was hot and just a bit gushy feeling. Crap!!!!! Something told me I had better not wait to get this looked at as this morning the incision had been neither red nor swollen and had been about half the size it currently was. Again....CRAP!!!!

On the way to the ER I happened to look across at Z and realized that in our extended stay at Ribfest his fair skin had burned to a lobsterish hue. Great....Mother of the Year strikes again. My fair skinned child and me with no sun screen. Yep! I am just good like that! In route to the ER we said our usual prayer...."Please God...don't let there be a lot of people there," and obviously He heard as we walked in to an almost completely empty waiting room. We didn't even have a chance to get paperwork as we were immediately ushered back to the pediatric section and from there....immediately seen by a doctor. ****Cute side note****they saw David coming through the pediatric doors and before we were even in the room...they had Spongebob the Movie playing. Not sure if it is that good to be that well known in the ER!!!! At any rate...this was right at the point that I realized that not only was Z burned....but so was our little David. He had red streaks of burn running up both shins and down both arms. The doctor who already seemed a little worried about the knee became down right alarmed when he saw the red streaking on David's legs. Obviously on the verge of panic......fearing that not only did David have an infection but that it was spreading down his leg....I had to fess up about my Mother of the Year status and admit that I had my poor little post surgery child out in the sun without sun screen for several hours. After getting the raised doctor eyebrow....you could see the color come back into his face as he began telling me how he would like to proceed with David. The fear at this point is that with his new surgery and the plates in his knee, possibly an area around one of the plates has become infected. Best case scenario.....we give it some IV antibiotics and the redness and swelling go away. Worst case scenario.....the area around the hardware is infected and the antibiotics don't work causing them to have to go in and remove the plate(s). In order to decide how to proceed they started with vitals and blood work. At the time he was running about a 100.4 temp but some of this could have been due to our afternoon outing in the sun. On doing the blood work they went ahead and put in an IV site just in case. Once again my motherhood expertise was shown.

David never throws a fit when having his blood drawn or having an IV placed, but today he was having none of it. Apparently his last adventure in the hospital had been quite enough for him and he wasn't suffering either myself or the hospital staff lightly. He put up a fight that would have made Ali proud and in the process of me trying to hold his head to keep him from biting either me or the nurse....my finger nail (which is extremely short might I add) caught him under the eye and caused his glasses to go flying. Now along with everything else...he is sporting a blood stained scrape under his eye. Yeah....I am just good like that. 

Once the blood work came back it showed his white count to be basically normal but some other test was slightly elevated which showed there could be an infection being fought in his system. The doctor was concerned enough with him having a temp along with the red swollen knee to have him admitted and put on IV antibiotics. That's right....we are back to our old friend vancomyacin and our Redman rash.

So now we are in a room on the peds floor and out the window we got to watch a spectacular thunderstorm and lightning show. And I have to ask....is it bad that I am excited to be sleeping on something tonight other than a futon mattress with a hard metal bar under my back? Yeah...that's right.....I have my very own hospital bed. I am a lucky girl. What can I say....I have to find my silver linings where I can!!!!

We are back to waiting. Will the vanco be all that he needs to put him on the mend? Will his knee look better tomorrow? Will we actually be able to leave as planned on Monday or will we still be a guest of casa Wesley? I have no answers. I just hope and pray that whatever is going on resolves itself without surgery so that David can get back to the business of life and walking.

So what have I learned? Continue to take those fun moments and enjoy them. Plans seldom come to fruition and sweating the fact that a plan has changed course and taken your life on a joy ride that isn't particularly joyous is just part of what life is all about. Tonight I will just resign myself to the fact that once again I am not the one in control and be satisfied with the fact that my back won't hurt tomorrow. Until then....night all!

Doing Really Well

As you can tell...I have taken a few days away from the blog. One because I was REALLY busy and two and probably even more important.....David is just doing really well, so there is little to blog about.

Last week I realized that David was starting to get less than amused with his lovely mother. David...while I am sure is still in pain....is more about anticipating the pain right now. It was so bad Monday and Tuesday last week that if I even moved towards him...he began to cry. He was just sure that I was going to change him or put him on his stomach or do something that might cause him pain. So he cried when I even looked in his direction. It was getting a little disheartening for me. I was wondering how this was going to go on as he had cried more in the last couple of weeks than he had cried in the last eleven years.

On talking to Shriners last week, his health care coordinator told me to get him back into school. He is healing nicely, he wants to be up and around and he is down to the occasional  tylenol to keep his pain in check. There was absolutely no reason that school was not possible for him IF the school agreed. Luckily...school missed David as much as David missed them....and agreed that was a good place for him these last few weeks! Good thing as even Spongebob had little entertainment value anymore.

David did Thursday and Friday last week....half days. I think Thursday was a bit rough but Friday went better. This week he will do Monday and Tuesday half days and hopefully be back on full days after that until the end of the year. While I am so happy that he is doing this well...it has really changed things from what I thought they would be to what they really are. Even with our hospital setback when he got the pneumonia...he has done so much better than any of us (even the doctor) ever anticipated. I think David is largely responsible for that!!! He has drive and a fighting spirit that even a difficult surgery and almost dying can't beat down. He is an amazing kid!

So in light of all the new changes....I talked a little to Cassie (my volunteer coordinator) about needing volunteers in the future. My first reaction was to say...I no longer need anyone, but she pointed out that I might still need people from time to time, so I am saying that in large part I will no longer need volunteers on a regular basis, but if anyone is interested....I might need someone from time to time. I will do as Cassie suggested and keep my options open.

This whole adventure has opened my eyes to many things. I have found out a great deal about not only David's strength, but also Z's kindness along with the kindness of countless others. I can never fully thank all those who have reached out to us and have been there for us from prayers right on down to food and volunteering to help with David. It has been amazing and grateful does not begin to cover how I feel about this. Thank you all.

This weekend was a much needed distraction for me. I was able to go watch Z and all the kids sing at Catapalooza. As always they were great and what made it even better is that my dear friend Marni came into town from Texas to spend time with me and she also went to Catapalooza. Saturday I was able to get out and go garage saling thanks to Z being there with David and Saturday night I was able to go out and have fun with friends and just relax (again...thanks to Z). The weekend was so needed and I think David was glad I was anywhere but hovering over him.

Today starts a new chapter. Yeah...I know we have had many chapters of late, but as some one told me not too long ago...the books with the shorter chapters that keep moving steadily  forward.....are usually the more interesting ones. Hmmm....if that is the case...then our story must surely be a doozy!