Is the flu season over yet????

What a week!!!

Here's the story (yep, story, not pictures, sorry!)

We've had some mold growing in our bathroom wall, so on Thursday night (one week ago), we decided to go in and tear it out. John and his dad did a wonderful job, and it went smoothly, and we found that we didn't have that much mold afterall, so we were happy.

Thursday night Cory was up with asthma all night. Nebulizer treatments are to be done as frequently as every four hours, but he was pushing two or three hours, so I called the doc Friday morning, and set an appt for that afternoon. Meanwhile we had santitized and blocked off the bathroom and had air purifiers going. I figured a shot of prednisone and we'd call it good. So, at the appointment, to my suprise the doc suspected pnemonia, and the x-rays confirmed. Whoa, poor kid, with asthma and pnemonia! We got him on antibiotics and lots of albuterol, and although he was definately feeling lousy and having some difficulty breathing, he was doing ok.

We spent conference weekend with him on treatments every four hours, but in fairly good spirits. On Monday I decided to keep him home from school to let him rest and recover instead of throwing him back into a germ-infested environment. Monday morning Dallin started a very strong cough. I went to my doc appointment and ran some errands while John kept the two sickies. When I got home Dallin was asleep, and was grunting to be able to breathe. uh oh He was retracting when he breathed, and his resp rate was upwards of 60. So, call the doc, but he's booked for the day. They recomend going to the ER. Ugh, I just want antibioitics! I went back and forth if I wanted to go to the ER or just the Urgent Care. So, I go ended up going to the ER (funny thing - I was walking in, and one of my friends was walking in with her one year old for similar problems, tis the season, I guess).

So, after waiting in the waiting room for about an hour, they call me back to triage and immediately get us set up in a room. About an hour later they check his oxygen saturation, which is hovering between 85-92 (not very good), they give him his first treatment, and it only goes up to 88-92 (still not good) They monitor him for a while, and he's still having a lot of difficulty breathing. They come back and say they need to admit him. That came as a bit of a suprise, I just wanted antibiotics. They didn't have room at the SV hospital, so they told us we would be transported to TMC, but then they came back again and told us because his vitals were so poor, they needed to helicopter him to the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit). They gave him an IV (which was poorly done, even after three pokes, ughh. Poor little guy!!) He was so sad. Then the transport team came, and Dallin liked all the attention, and the car seat he got to ride in. We went on the elevator and it kept bumping, and he would LAUGH (and then COUGH). Then, the elevator stopped, and there, in front of him, was a HELICOPTER! WHOOH! He was so excited!!! He got some ear phones to put on, and he was on oxygen, plus hooked to an IV, and he fell asleep fast. On the way there, his IV started shooting out of a wire connection. They got it uder control after a few very confused glances.

His x-rays in SV confirmed it was pnemonia. I was so concerned it had something to do with the mold we had torn out, but they kept telling me it was just bad timing. When we got to TMC we were rushed into our room, and started another nebulizer treatment with oxygen. Still not much reaction in his vitals, so they determined to put him on a continuous albuterol/oxygen treatment.

Now, as you may know, Cory and I both have decent cases of asthma, and we've each been hospitalized a time or two for it, but I have NEVER even heard of the continuous treatment! Those drugs are strong, and they make you feel all shakey from the inside out, even when you're doing them about ten minutes out of every four hours. So, my little baby had to be put on the continuous treatment for EIGHT hours straight! By the end I thought he was having a seizure because he was shaking so bad, I frantically called the nurse in, but no, it was "just" a reaction to the meds. His temp started climbing around this time, so they had to give him tylonol, but he refused to take it orally, so they had to do a supository on him (just heartbreaking!) After about four hours of being on the meds, his stats started to get better, his ox saturation was around 95. Around five in the morning, they moved him to treatments every one hour, took him off oxygen, and they gave him some food. He threw up almost imediately, the nurses said the albuterol sometimes has that affect. He was, however, able to eat his new favorite dish: jello!

About 10am they moved him from every one hour to every two hours, which also meant he could go to the regular pediatric ward, instead of the PICU. I was happy to move because the new room had it's own bathroom and shower (hip hip hooray!) The first thing I did was to take a shower. Ahhh Sadly, no change of clothes, but at least I could wash myself.

Once they moved him to Q2 (doing treatments every two hours), he was able to hold food down. He REALLY didn't like getting his nebulizer treatments, and we would have to hold him down to do them. Whenever someone would come in the door, he would bury his face in the pillows or my lap, in an attempt to hide. It was very sad. Around this time they got the lab work done from SV, and found that he had an infection in his blood. This ended up being total crap. It turns out somehow SV had contaminated the sample, so there wasn't actually bacteria in his blood (thank goodness!) Around 5am Wed morning we were able to move to Q3.

At this point, Dallin was practically going crazy. Everyone knows two year olds have tons of energy, but take a two year old boy, pump him FULL of albuterol, hook him to a bunch of wires, and tell him to sit on the bed for three days and not pull any wires...you'd think they'd be kidding! The IV ended up getting loose, so we had to take it out, luckily he had just gotten a good dose of antibiotics, so he didn't really need it for another 12 hours, and by the time the 12 hours had passed, they had figured out there wasn't actually an infection in his blood, so they never put it back in.

During this time, I was also getting sick. I'd been sick from the get-go, but it hit hard while I was there, in addition to being off my thyroid meds, and dealing with morning sickness. Ughh, but on the other hand, it was wonderful to be able to devote all my time and energy to my little sickie. It was a bonding experience. We slept on the same twin size bed, which was nice because I could tell when his breathing became labored. And I got to take a lot of time to just play with him and enjoy his very funny little personality.

My brother ended up ordering us some Dominos pizza for us to enjoy that afternoon (the other stuff was truly barely edible, and most of Dallin's just got thrown around the room). He didn't just do pizza, he gave us the DELUXE treatment, complete with cinnastix and chocolate something-or-other. We were quite spoiled. Dallin's expression when he saw the food was just priceless.

Around noon they moved us to Q4, which meant we could go home soon, as long as he stayed doing good. Well, my little trooper pulled through. His oxygen saturation was still a little low, around 92-95% without meds, but they could see he NEEDED to go home, so we were released around 4pm.

Since we were transported up to Tucson, our insurance paid for transport back, so we got a taxi and rode home. On the ride home, Dallin threw up in the taxi. Luckily the guy was pretty sweet about it. He said he's seen a lot worse. (Ew, don't even want to think about it)

So, we finally got home around 8 last night. Ahhh, so good to be home!! Dallin thinks so even more than I do! We brought the older kids a presant (an edible gummy snake) and it was a wonderful reunion.

I was thinking we were done with this, and we could get back onto our routine...

but...

this morning Bryson spiked a fever and had a cough, and I've gotten worse, I think the darn cold is settling in my chest too. NOOOOOO!

I took Bryson in, and he's on antibiotics now, but my doc insists that I go to the ER because they think it's the flu (yes, even after I told them we've had two cases of pnemonia in the past week, and the hospital confirmed it was NOT the dreaded swine flu). So, I refuse to go to the ER for a chest cold, so hopefully it won't get to the point where I HAVE to go to the ER.

Grrrr...

Just a little brother

Dallin has always enjoyed watching his big brothers get on the bus. He watches closely as they get up the steps, and as soon as they sit down, he waves. He waves until the bus is half way down to the next bus stop. Then he'll usually turn around and find a cool rock to play with or something.

Well, today for whatever reason, he thought he was getting on the bus too. I think he was just following his brothers (he instinctively mimics their every move), and when he got to the steps, he realized that he COULDN'T go. He turned around and looked at me, made the most pathetic little pouty face and ran to me, crying. I held him and he clung to me for several minutes, crying "Bus. Go. School." Oh, it just breaks my heart. My poor little one! It'll come, hun, just hang in there a few more years.

Bryson doing the macarena, and Cory with a loose tooth

Cory has had a loose tooth for a while now. Quite a while now, actually. Two loose teeth actually, but one in particular. That darn thing just won't come out, it's got one little root hanging on for dear life. He can literally turn the tooth around backwards or up-side-down, but it won't come out. Because of Cory's little sensitivities, I don't have the heart to just give it a yank (or some string and a door), so there it sits. Here he is three days ago with his tooth barely in, and no, it still hasn't come out.

Bryson's kindergarten teacher came up with a very....unique...or creative....way to teach the kids their months of the year - to the Macarena! Yes, that dance we did over and over and over so many years ago. Here he is doing it for us.

Just to embarrass him a tad further, I have to share how I found out he knew the Macarena.

He was in the bathroom...doing his thing...and I happened to walk by (he rarely closes the door) and he was on the pot doing the Macarena. HA HA HA HA. I had to look twice to make sure what I saw was indeed what I saw, but it was. I guess he got bored. ha ha ha ha

Dallin turns TWO!

Let him eat cake.

...and grapes!

I made his favorite dinner...pizza and grapes. He was one happy little guy.

We had lots of baloons to play with, and the kids kept calling the baloons "babies". Here is Alyssa with all her "babies". So cute!

Even Dallin wanted a baby!

And of course, the little party horns were a huge hit, as always. There were several horn wars between the kids and Jason, but Jason won, hands down, when he brought out his coyote caller.

Dallin didn't know how to blow the horn, so he just made the noise himself. You can sort of see it on the video at the bottom.

Bryson found a nice comfortable spot to read midst all the confusion.

I totally did the easy-way-out cake this year, but I don't think Dallin cared.

Only two candles on the cake, it looked kind of strange.

Blowing out the candles - it took him a few tries.

Sarah Avalos came for the celebration, and brought with her...

....a toy bus!!! He tried hard to wait patiently as she unhooked everything.

And here's a few videos...Dallin opening Grandma Marilyn's presant...







Dallin playing with his new Elmo toy...










And Dallin eating grapes...

Such a wonderful birthday for such a cute little guy. I love my little Dal, he brings so much color to my life...in a good way. :)

Letter from Cory's teacher

So, for a Cory update on how he's doing at school, I got the following letter from his teacher (Mrs. Chavez) today...

"Cory has been having some difficulty the last couple days, crying and saying he misses his mom. I then offer to let him draw you a picture or sit somewhere else so that he can take a break. He has not really been completing the assessments I have given the class either. We have been doing a lot of assessments and I am hoping that once we are done with this, he will not feel so stressed and participate in class more. At one point this afternoon, he was crying and so I just had him get up and hold my hand while I walked around the room helping other students. That calmed him down and in less than a minute he went back to his seat and felt better. He has been enjoying reading time and really does a great job during partner reading. He also participated during math time this afternoon, which he enjoyed and finished with some help."

So, not GREAT, but not BAD either. I still consider this success. I really like his new teacher so far.

Also, I got a call from Bryson's teacher (Mrs. Wood) today as well. For a history, occasionally Bryson gets into a funk, and there is no talking him out of it. He will sit and pout and glare and tear up any sheet of paper that is given to him. For a long time I attributed it to the "terrible three's", but it has been an ongoing problem. (Any of his primary teachers will know what I'm talking about) I think it may be a learned behavior from dear older brother, at least I hope it is. Well, today Bryson got into one of his little moods at school, and the teacher wasn't quite sure what to do with it. He wouldn't come in to class, then he wouldn't do an assignment, then he wouldn't get on the bus. She called me with some ideas, asking my opinion, and seeing if I had any other recommendations. It sounds like she's on the right track, but I've got to say, I'm embarassed to have BOTH my kids acting up. Other mothers of school-age children out there, is this normal to have kids acting up at school??? I pray there isn't something "different" about Bryson too!!

Back to School

Please forgive my pictures, I had to get the kids to the bus stop by 7:20, so there simply was not enough time to take good ones. We literally almost missed the bus taking the pics we got!

Today wasn't technically the first day of school, but sadly, Bryson ended up with strep throat on the first day, and Cory and Bryson were both sick on the second day. Not exactly the liberating week I had pictured, but today they were able to make it to school, thanks to a wonder drug called amoxocillin.

Everyone in their backpacks.

Brothers going to school! Cory into 1st grade, and Bryson into Kindergarten!!!




Big boy Bryson, the kindergartener!



Getting on the bus! Bryson's climbing in, and Cory's right behind him. While in the car, Cory told Bryson, "Don't worry, I'll show you where everything is at school." Bryson couldn't have a better big brother.

And here's poor Dallin wishing he could get on the bus. Give it a few years, bud, it'll happen. I allowed Dallin to wear a backpack too, so he could feel like a big boy.

Cory and Bryson rode the bus, and I drove, and when I got to the school, I couldn't find them. I looked and looked. By the time I found them, Cory had already gotten Bryson to his class, and he was waiting in line for his own class. What a big brother!

Here's Bryson being lead by his teacher in front of the line (in the yellow). His first day in class, and he gets to be the line leader! Cool!

So proud!

Also, I have to tell my triumphant story of Cory's first day of 1st grade!

First of all, let's refresh. Here is the whole story, but the short version is: Last year, I got a call half way through the day saying that I needed to come to the school. Cory was just too overwhelmed to function. I literally saw him run, screaming down the hall being chased by three teachers. For the next several months I routinely picked him up after lunch.

This year, he found his class all by himself, and when I got there he was waiting in line, very happy to be a first grader. He went in without a fuss, and I didn't get any calls from the school. :)!! When I asked him how he did at school he said "I fussed a little at school and a lot on the bus." Well, considering what happened last year, I'd consider that a HUGE success. I am eager to talk to his teacher (who I really like!!) and hear the "real" report. I am so proud of him!

Good thing mud is washable

When you're stuck without a cooler in AZ, you've got to get creative about how you're going to cool yourselves off.

Hey, it works for rhinos, so why not kids???

Yeah, so our swamp cooler (which I have never loved) finally gave up and stopped working, well, it works on "low", but that's all. Since we're doing the work ourselves, it takes a little big longer to fix. It's not too bad, actually, but when the kids get to complaining that it's hot, I have to come up with SOMETHING to cool em off, right? We usually do baths in the middle of the day or go to my parents house to bask in their AC, one day I cleaned the carpets (between that and the fans, it actually worked pretty well), and today was roll-in-the-mud day. ha ha ha Don't judge me.

Bryson stayed remarkably clean. I later learned that it was because he was the one throwing the dirt on everyone. Sneaky.

Gotta love being a mom.