Finding the Blessings amongst the CrAzY

I have had this blog post swirling around in my head since all the craziness began last week. The title has changed several times. Here are some of the proposed titles I had going...

"The week from HE!!"
"You wouldn't believe it if I told you..."
"If it isn't one thing, it is another..."


Ok, you get the idea. For those of you who know me, you know that this last week has been one of the worst weeks EVER. I had planned to just blog about the events that have taken place in the past week and a half. After thinking about it some more last night, I decided to force myself to see the Blessing hidden inside all the Crazy. So, I will share the events of each day that had me going "WTH!!!" and then share the Hidden Blessing inside.

If you are a regular reader of The Superhero and The Princess, then you know we have been battling some illnesses since Thanksgiving. Pretty much someone has been sick in this house non-stop since then. Well, it all got worse in the last week and a half.


Tuesday January 4; 12:30am-The Princess throws up 7 times before 5:30am. In MY bed. She recovers ok and rests the rest of the day.

Hidden Blessing: The Princess was a trooper and did her best to stay hydrated. She was willing to go with the flow of the recovery process that day. I work from home and can take care of The Princess while she is not feeling well.


Wednesday January 5; Middle of the night. The Princess has a fever of 102.4. Sigh.

Hidden Blessing: We have Motrin to bring down the fever. I work from home and can take care of The Princess while she is not feeling well.


Thursday January 6; 7:15am - Just as The Princess was about to leave the house with Rod to spend the day with a friend of mine while I worked, she threw up AGAIN. Sigh.

Hidden Blessing: She felt fine afterwards and it was probably just a fluke. Thank God I work from home and she can hang out here with me, again.


Friday January 7; 3am- The Superhero wakes up with CROUP. Trip to Urgent Care at 4:30am. Home with some steroids and back in bed by 5:30am. The kids still spent the day with my friend, Kristi. Rod has not been feeling well for a couple of weeks, a cold/flu or something, but is managing to do ok at this point.

Hidden Blessing: Kids got to play with some friends and I got some work done, kid free!


Saturday January 8; REALLY early AM- The Superhero wakes up coughing. His first steroid dose from Friday wore off sometime around 8pm the night before and he is miserable. I gave him a second dose of the steroids at 1:15am. At app. 1:30am, he threw up. He threw up 2 more times in the next little while.

Rod and I made the decision to take him to the ER and get some Zofran and IV fluids. I called and woke up my parents. The Superhero, my mom, and I were off to the ER. We got him some fluids, Zofran, and he was feeling a ton better in a short time. We made it home around 1pm that day thinking all was well.

Hidden Blessing: Walking into the ER with a vomiting T1 diabetic with ketones will get you into a room with IV's started fairly quickly, especially if they actually throw up for the ER nurses.


Sunday January 9; The Superhero seemed to be feeling better and was eating ok. BG was on the lower end of normal, but we were ok as long as he was eating/drinking. Then he threw up, ALL.OVER.ME. Showers for both of us. Thinking we just over did it. We waited it out at home some more. Ketones were not out of control and BG was ok. Then after a short time, he threw up AGAIN. Forget it! Off to the ER AGAIN, knowing we would be admitted. BG was dropping and ketones were rising.

Again, we were taken right back with our vomiting, diabetic with ketones. IV started. They started with just saline. I PUSHED (a blog post for another day) to get glucose/dextrose with the saline since his BG was DROPPING. Once they listened to ME and OUR endo (again, a blog post for another day), they started it and his BG started coming up from the 70's.

Hidden Blessing: SO thankful for an awesome endocrinologist on our team! Also Blessed to have the ability to get IV fluids for The Superhero and more Zofran.


Monday January 10; Spent another day at the hospital with The Superhero. He slowly went from a liquid diet to a regular diet as tolerated. Love the endo team at the hospital and how they respected my abilities to be The Superhero's pancreas. (our 7.4 A1C for over 6 months helped :) ) --Side note: I start to feel sinusy and have a sore throat today; Rod is at home throwing up and still feeling "fluish".

Hidden Blessing: I have a wonderful support system, in person (my Parents and friend Kate) to watch The Princess for me AND I have ALL.OF.YOU (online friends) supporting me from all over the globe. I honestly NEEDED the support emotionally and it meant so much to me to see so many FB messages of support for me and our family.  


Tuesday, January 11; I had them turn off the glucose drip in the morning to see how the BG stabilized without it.The Superhero was doing a TON better and we were able to go home in the afternoon. After we got home, The Princess broke out in HIVES on her left leg. Not sure what THAT is about. I gave her a bath and used some calamine lotion to clear it up. I thought she must have been bitten by something and then scratched at it, making it look worse.--Side note: I feel worse, Dayquil is my friend. Rod is feeling a little better and has orders from the doctor to take time off work this week to rest.

Hidden Blessing: I got to see my Princess again after several days. I REALLY missed her and I know she missed me too. She keeps following me saying pathetically "Hold me". The Superhero felt a TON better.


Wednesday, January 12; I took the day off from work to re-cooperate and get my house in order. The Princess broke out in HIVES AGAIN. This time they were ALL over her legs and arms in patches. I covered her in calamine lotion and messaged a friend of mine with a picture (the awesome nurse from our pediatrician's office). She mentioned giving her benedryl so we could go at the hives and whatever was causing them from the inside out. I don't know why I didn't think of this!? Dosed her up and the hives were gone. Hoping they don't come back, or that we can figure out what is causing them. 

Hidden Blessing: Awesome friends to help me diagnose/treat symptoms in my kids as needed. I love my nurse friends. Naps are awesome too.


Thursday, January 13; I.feel.worse. I am back to working today, but am planning to re-schedule all of my conferences from this week for next week so I can catch up on other things and be prepared for them. I am SO achy today and tired. I have both kids home with me. We made the decision earlier in the week to pull The Superhero out of pre-school for the rest of this year. I am tired of paying $300 per month for him to not be going due to illnesses right now. So, we told him the school year was over and moved on. Hoping to rest while the kids nap today. I had a hard time sleeping last night due to yesterday's nap. 

Hidden Blessing: I work from home and my job can be somewhat flexible. The kids feel better and are playing nicely today (mostly). I am going to rest during nap time.


And THAT is a rundown of my life in this new year so far. Sigh. Hoping things improve soon and we can get rested. Hoping NO MORE illnesses strike our family for a LONG time.

I have CRIED more in this past 2 weeks than I have in a LONG time. I held it together pretty well until we had to go back to the ER the second time. Then.I.LOST.IT. I am SO grateful for all the love and support from everyone on FB. I NEEDED it more than you know.

On the way to Urgent Care with The Superhero on Friday EARLY morning, I started thinking to myself "What is God trying to tell me?". I am still working on this one. Not sure what the message He is trying to send our way. Hopefully I will hear it more clearly soon.

Please PRAY that our family can get better and our immune systems have time to catch up before we get sick again. Sigh.


*Disclaimer: I am a mom of a T1 Diabetic child. I am NOT a doctor. I just play one in real life. Please do not take anything in this post or any other post on this blog as medical advice. If you have questions or concerns of your own, please seek advice from your doctor.*

I wish

*SIGH*

I wish I could tell you I have not been blogging because I have been SO busy with the holidays. You know, all the planning, shopping, partying, etc.

BUT, that is not entirely the case.

You see, the kids have been SICK for WEEKS.

It all started on Thanksgiving (yep, 3 1/2 weeks ago).

The Superhero woke up on Thanksgiving night with ear pain. Trip to urgent care at 2am and back home with antibiotics an hour or so later.

Then The Princess and I got sick that weekend too. I can't remember, but I think Rod avoided illness #1.

The Princess was coughing a lot. We started breathing treatments up again 2x per day, or more if needed.

We all started to get better within a few days.

Then a couple weeks later, it started again. I blogged HERE about The Superhero and his croup/steroids. I took both kids to the doctor the following Monday. They were both pretty miserable. LOTS of coughing.

The Superhero had an ear infection. Antibiotics. Cough should get better with Xopenex treatments.

The Princess also had croup. Keep doing breathing treatments and humidifier. And the doc thought one of her tubes might have a problem, it had a little dried blood around the tube. I should follow up with her ENT and use ear drops 1x per day for 7 days. I decided to wait to make the ENT appointment until I could see if the drops seemed to help at all.

I took her in again the next day since her breathing was worse AND she had a fever above 102.0 degrees.

She was breathing FAST (up to 50+ times per minute). Her O2 rate was 95%. Sent for chest x-rays and blood work. Her chest x-ray came back normal. Her blood work came back with white count low, which means it is just a virus.

Virus just means we watch and wait. I got sick again somewhere in there too.


We kept The Superhero home from school the whole week before his break to make sure he could rest and get better.

If either one of them over did it, they would start coughing and not be able to stop easily. It was much harder to breathe. So we tried to keep things low key with no major play time.

We spent the whole week being cooped up in the apartment. Let me just say, being stuck inside with 2 sick, but starting to feel better kids, while trying to get all of my work done before my break, was F.U.N. (NOT)

After 2 days of ear drops, I LOST the bottle. I waited it out until Friday morning when I realized she was getting worse. I called the doctor's office to see if they would refill the rx since I lost it, they did. We started drops again that night. Only now instead of one ear needing them, the right ear was leaking and was definitely infected. I chose to do drops in both ears. She has the tubes in place, but that does not mean she won't get an infection. The ear will just drain now instead of filling with fluid. And let me tell you, it is G.R.O.S.S. Blood and fluid coming out of her ears and into her hair. Drying on the outside of her face and ear. Yuck.

And then yesterday, The Superhero ALSO started complaining of ear pain. AGAIN. He JUST had an infection and JUST had antibiotics. This is NOT good. I am NOT going to Urgent care again. I have been drugging him up with Motrin every 6 hours and I will take him to the doctor on Monday if he is still complaining.

And then Rod and I got sick AGAIN too. We are both sinusy and not feeling well. My parents got sick too. They have been around the kids off and on over the last few weeks, so it was inevitable, but still sucks. They both have the same crap we have now. This sucks.

We all HAVE to get better.

My brother comes in town from Texas tomorrow. The Superhero turns FOUR on Tuesday and we are supposed to take him mini golfing and have his party at the pizza place. I don't want to miss the Christmas Eve service at church. I have missed SO many services lately and this is one I don't want to miss. Then of course Saturday is Christmas with fun filled plans. Then my older brother and his wife and my niece will be coming in on the 28th.

We HAVE to be better. Period.


*Disclaimer: I am a mom of a T1 Diabetic child. I am NOT a doctor. I just play one in real life. Please do not take anything in this post or any other post on this blog as medical advice. If you have questions or concerns of your own, please seek advice from your doctor.*

Croupy Princess, Curious Superhero, and Soapy Kids

Ok, this has been one crazy week and it is only Wednesday!

The Princess started doing a weird breathing thing on Friday of last week. We waited through the weekend and took her to the doctor on Monday. Turns out she has croup. She was put on steroids to help with her swollen throat so she could breathe better.She has been on the steroids since Monday afternoon and has 2 ½ more day to go. She is a little more fidgety and has a hard time sleeping. I am pretty sure she is a little dizzy from the meds since she wants me to hold her non-stop and keeps putting her head down on me, this is not normal for my busy and active baby.

We went for a follow up today and she appears to be getting better, but due to her eczema (also told about this on Monday at her appointment), she may need to have regular breathing treatments. Her oxygen level on both Monday and today was 96, not too far from normal, but they are keeping an eye on her. We go back on August 3rd for her 9 month well-check and they will determine then if she needs breathing treatments (she will be off the steroids then).

The Superhero. Oh, The Superhero. My curious little boy. He continues to “look” for trouble.

A little back story: The Superhero does not always come to find The Daddy and I when he wakes up in the morning. We installed a gate in the hallway of our old house and he was forced to come to our room first. In the new house the kids are on the opposite side of the house from us, so the gate does not do us a lot of good. We do not usually latch it at night because The Princess’ room is right next to it and he would wake her up should he come out of his room before morning.

Fast forward to this week on Monday…

On Monday morning I woke up and had a feeling The Superhero was out of bed. I looked on the monitor (yes, we have a video monitor), and sure enough he was up. The Daddy got up and found The Superhero in the kitchen. He was sitting there with his blankie and binkie, and the following: Parmesan cheese, mustard, chocolate syrup, and cotton rounds (used when we check his blood sugar). He sat there and smile for the camera as The Daddy took his picture.

The Daddy and I swore we would remember to lock the child lock on the fridge regularly. We had gotten out of the habit of doing this.

Last night was a ROUGH night in our house. The Princess had a hard time sleeping. I finally got her to “stay” asleep at about 10pm. She woke up at 1:30am to nurse. At 2:30 I woke up to The Superhero coming into my room. No biggie, The Daddy puts him back to bed. (I suspect he was up from the time The Princess was up at 1:30 until 2:30 when he came in our room)

3:30 am The Princess wakes up, again. I go in and rock her back to sleep. I go back to bed.

4:30 am I hear something in the living room. I tell The Daddy that I think The Superhero is up. He looks on the monitor, says no, it looks like he is in bed. I tell him that I am pretty sure The Superhero is up and he should check..

Sure enough, The Superhero was up. The Daddy found him and went back to bed.

I get up this morning and take my shower, come out and see that The Superhero is up with The Daddy (now 6:45am or so). I ask The Daddy about The Superhero being up at 4:30am. The Daddy had stayed in The Superhero’s room from that time on to when I woke him up so I could take a shower, he needed to watch The Princess.

He said I needed to see the kitchen. Oh great! I was not prepared to see the kitchen. I walk in and find a HUGE mess! He had the parmesan cheese ALL over in front of the sink on the rug, mixed with lotion (we did not know it was lotion for a few more minutes). There was also chocolate syrup out, though he did not open it.

We also found a toy bowl with parmesan cheese, parmesan cheese on the floor, and lotion on the toys and floor in the toy room/ office.

What a way to wake up.

Always looking for trouble…

This evening The Superhero climbed into the Pack N’ Play with The Princess despite me telling him that he was too big. He continues to do this on a regular basis. Tonight he did it again and I ignored him because I just needed a few minute break and The Princess loves having him in there with her.

I was doing a little work on the computer and noticed it was getting a little quiet in the other room.

Quiet is NEVER good in this house.

I go in to find The Superhero and The Princess COVERED in Dial foam soap that The Superhero found on the kitchen counter. He covered his sister and himself! I did not think fast enough to take pictures. I ran them both in to my bathroom and rinsed them off in the shower.

This boy is constantly looking for trouble! What will it be next?