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!
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