Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Poor Cohen!
When we picked Cohen up from school today, the teachers told us of a little "uh oh" that happened when another child wanted to play with the toy Cohen was playing with. The other child bit Cohen on the arm. The teachers cared for the bite with an ice pack and cleaned his skin after giving Cohen lots of love and hugs. Always something with these boys!
Can you see the bite mark right on the fold of his elbow?
Monday, May 9, 2011
The Stomach Virus Strikes
Is that not a pitiful picture??
There isn't much worse than seeing your child projectile vomiting and having explosive diarrhea accidents for over a week and the only answers the doctor can give is that it's a stomach virus that has to run it's course.
It started last Friday afternoon. We had been to the park that day and then went to the pediatrician for Cohen to get checked because he wasn't feeling well. He was diagnosed with Strep and the only symptoms he really had were intermittent vomiting and diarrhea. Later that night, Luke started with the diarrhea and by Saturday evening, it was explosive and didn't allow him time enough to make it to the bathroom even. Continue that scene until he started vomiting on Monday morning. He saw the pediatrician who said he had a virus, tested him for strep (negative) and said to wait it out. By Wednesday, the vomiting hadn't let up so another trip to the pedi who then prescribed Zofran but gave Luke a tablet in the office and assured us we wouldn't even need to fill the prescription because he'd be sure to recover with one tablet.
Friday comes and things are just worsening. At that point, Luke had been up in the night with diarrhea, vomited twice within the first 15 minutes of waking and couldn't even hold down a small cup of water. He was begging for water and food with the most pitiful little voice, so weak from what he'd been recently enduring and no energy left whatsoever. He asked for oatmeal and when served, he was trying to eat it but his little hands and arms were shaking so badly from weakness that the metal spoon chattered on the side of the glass bowl. He was shaking like a leaf and just limp in my arms, as if all of his muscle tone was gone! I panicked and went to fill the Zofran prescription and was going to take him in for Cohen's 9:30 appointment at the pedi anyway.
We show up to the pedi and they decided to immediately give him an IV with fluids. After the first stick was a miss because his veins were so dehydrated and collapsed, another nurse was able to get the IV in the other hand. That was a horrific few moments, poor Luke screamed his head off like never before and it took 3 of us to hold him still. Very shortly after the IV went in, Luke was tired and we had him lay down on Zack's lap. The nurse turned down the lights and brought a pillow and blanket for him. He slept for 2 hours while the fluids entered his weak body. He woke up in time for them to turn off the IV and wrap his hand, leaving the IV lead in his hand. We were instructed to return in a few hours for a re-check and possibly more fluids.
When we returned, pedi insisted we give Luke another bag of fluids. While that was running, Luke went pee and they tested it, which revealed his ketone levels were off the chart and he was still severely dehydrated. We continued with fluids for about an hour and were released to go home with strict instructions to go to the hospital if the vomiting started again.
So far, we've had no more vomiting. We're still trying to get the diarrhea under control but pedi warned us it could be 5-7 more days before things return to normal. What he's saying happened to Luke was that he got a virus and probably got dehydrated so quickly that his body couldn't regulate his stomach acids, which resulted in everything that entered the stomach being refused and sent back up. Hopefully, we've turned a corner and Luke continues to build strength so he can return to school tomorrow. He didn't even make it to school a single day last week!
There isn't much worse than seeing your child projectile vomiting and having explosive diarrhea accidents for over a week and the only answers the doctor can give is that it's a stomach virus that has to run it's course.
It started last Friday afternoon. We had been to the park that day and then went to the pediatrician for Cohen to get checked because he wasn't feeling well. He was diagnosed with Strep and the only symptoms he really had were intermittent vomiting and diarrhea. Later that night, Luke started with the diarrhea and by Saturday evening, it was explosive and didn't allow him time enough to make it to the bathroom even. Continue that scene until he started vomiting on Monday morning. He saw the pediatrician who said he had a virus, tested him for strep (negative) and said to wait it out. By Wednesday, the vomiting hadn't let up so another trip to the pedi who then prescribed Zofran but gave Luke a tablet in the office and assured us we wouldn't even need to fill the prescription because he'd be sure to recover with one tablet.
Friday comes and things are just worsening. At that point, Luke had been up in the night with diarrhea, vomited twice within the first 15 minutes of waking and couldn't even hold down a small cup of water. He was begging for water and food with the most pitiful little voice, so weak from what he'd been recently enduring and no energy left whatsoever. He asked for oatmeal and when served, he was trying to eat it but his little hands and arms were shaking so badly from weakness that the metal spoon chattered on the side of the glass bowl. He was shaking like a leaf and just limp in my arms, as if all of his muscle tone was gone! I panicked and went to fill the Zofran prescription and was going to take him in for Cohen's 9:30 appointment at the pedi anyway.
We show up to the pedi and they decided to immediately give him an IV with fluids. After the first stick was a miss because his veins were so dehydrated and collapsed, another nurse was able to get the IV in the other hand. That was a horrific few moments, poor Luke screamed his head off like never before and it took 3 of us to hold him still. Very shortly after the IV went in, Luke was tired and we had him lay down on Zack's lap. The nurse turned down the lights and brought a pillow and blanket for him. He slept for 2 hours while the fluids entered his weak body. He woke up in time for them to turn off the IV and wrap his hand, leaving the IV lead in his hand. We were instructed to return in a few hours for a re-check and possibly more fluids.
When we returned, pedi insisted we give Luke another bag of fluids. While that was running, Luke went pee and they tested it, which revealed his ketone levels were off the chart and he was still severely dehydrated. We continued with fluids for about an hour and were released to go home with strict instructions to go to the hospital if the vomiting started again.
So far, we've had no more vomiting. We're still trying to get the diarrhea under control but pedi warned us it could be 5-7 more days before things return to normal. What he's saying happened to Luke was that he got a virus and probably got dehydrated so quickly that his body couldn't regulate his stomach acids, which resulted in everything that entered the stomach being refused and sent back up. Hopefully, we've turned a corner and Luke continues to build strength so he can return to school tomorrow. He didn't even make it to school a single day last week!
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Luke's Gone Fishin'!
This poor jump rope has seen better days but Luke loves it and drags it around all the time. He started "going fishing" with it and I got creative and attached a clip to it one day. He thought it was so funny when he would "catch" something. Some things he caught were broccoli, crackers, and carrots. LOL He always eats every bite that way! I might be on to something...
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