We had a fun day with the kids. They got a rare treat and had fruit loops for breakfast. The girls kept wanting more "colorful cheerios". Later in the morning I had planned a Valentine's party with the kids. We had friends come over and they decorated cookies, made cards and fruit loop necklaces. We all had lunch together. Everyone had a lot of fun. They were all on a sugar high by the time everyone left :)
When Daddy came home from work, we gave the kids their gifts. They each got some stickers and a chocolate. Since they had been eating junk for most of the day when they wanted their candy before dinner I thought why not! They loved it :) For dinner we enjoyed a heart shape pizza and a smores pie for desert. It was yummy!
Everyone had a lot of fun. Thanks to all our friends who came out and helped make the day special.
February 15, 2011
February 8, 2011
February 7, 2011
Recovery... Part 6
Recovery started off tough and as of today is slowly getting a little easier. Trev developed itching with his meds so he was on benadryl also. That seemed to help. He was pretty sore for a few days. He had a noticeable limp and was slightly hunched over when he walked. Holding his buffalo closely to his battle wounds.
Sleep has been hard to come by. Both Trevor and the girls had been staying up very late and getting up very early. Lack of getting energy out can do that to you. Of course I wasn't able to go to sleep until they did. So that meant even less sleep for me. Last night Trev went to bed at 8:30 and woke up around 9:30 this morning! Yay Trevor!!
Yesterday he said his pain was a zero for the first time. It really showed too! I think that is why he fell asleep so early. But this morning he woke up in a lot of pain. It was back to a two. The only thing he wanted to do was play video games or watch movies. It took about 4 hours for the medicine to finally kick in.
Hopefully he will be ready for school on Thursday. If not he'll be back in time for the Valentine Party. He will have another week off of gym and recess, but he will get to do fun stuff during that time like computers, library or playing video games. So I do not think he will mind that much.
Hopefully he starts sleeping better so I can sleep. Also I hope his pain subsides soon and these two weeks of recovery will be over and he can start running around outside again. On the bright side it is rainy and cold outside so that is easier to keep him in the house.
Thank you to everyone who prayed for us and helped us out. We are very grateful for such wonderful friends! Everything happened so fast we did not have time to think. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around everything that happened. It still feels surreal to me.
Sleep has been hard to come by. Both Trevor and the girls had been staying up very late and getting up very early. Lack of getting energy out can do that to you. Of course I wasn't able to go to sleep until they did. So that meant even less sleep for me. Last night Trev went to bed at 8:30 and woke up around 9:30 this morning! Yay Trevor!!
Yesterday he said his pain was a zero for the first time. It really showed too! I think that is why he fell asleep so early. But this morning he woke up in a lot of pain. It was back to a two. The only thing he wanted to do was play video games or watch movies. It took about 4 hours for the medicine to finally kick in.
Hopefully he will be ready for school on Thursday. If not he'll be back in time for the Valentine Party. He will have another week off of gym and recess, but he will get to do fun stuff during that time like computers, library or playing video games. So I do not think he will mind that much.
Hopefully he starts sleeping better so I can sleep. Also I hope his pain subsides soon and these two weeks of recovery will be over and he can start running around outside again. On the bright side it is rainy and cold outside so that is easier to keep him in the house.
Thank you to everyone who prayed for us and helped us out. We are very grateful for such wonderful friends! Everything happened so fast we did not have time to think. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around everything that happened. It still feels surreal to me.
February 4, 2011
Hospital stay... Part 5
By the time we got to our room and settled in it was close to 3am. We got Trev to take a couple sips of water and administered some meds. Soon after he asked for a popsicle. Then nurse explained that he had to wait 15 minutes to make sure he did not get sick from the meds or drinking the water. He seemed fine with that. I was almost asleep on the cot when I remembered Trev's popsicle. It had been about 10 minutes but he was already asleep! I followed soon after, trying to turn off my mind. My body was exhausted and finally it won. Trev woke up around 10am looked at me and said "mommy, why haven't you gotten my green popsicle yet?" I told him because he fell asleep and just woke up! Silly boy! I then got him his green popsicle.
During those early morning hours the nurses were constantly checking him as he had just gotten out of surgery. It was very hard to sleep. Around 4:30 am a surgeon came in and started asking questions on how he was feeling. Really, why do you have to wake him up! Most of the time when asking about pain he said he was a number 2 smiley face. Quite different from his heart procedure where he was the happiest face the whole time. By the way this surgery was exactly 8 months from his last.
At the hospital Trevor enjoyed many popsciles, movies, ice cream and what ever else his little heart desired. How could one not like the hospital? We went down to the playroom a couple times to play and bring back movies, books, games, legos and crafts to the room. He was still very sore and did not want to walk until he got some strong pain meds. Then he was able to walk around a little better. He also enjoyed a few wheel chair rides. Trevor is waiting for his next hospital stay. Hopefully we will wait a few more years for the next one. This was surgery number 6 for him!
Now we are home and recovery is going as well as expected. He is still very sore and has a cough that makes his tummy hurt even more. He also started to itch after taking his meds. So now we have added benadryl to his medications. He should be able to go back to school on Thursday. He will have to take it easy for the next two weeks while he heals. No gym or recess during that time. He will get to play computers or bring in his own video games to play. I think he will enjoy that :) He was suppose to start swimming tomorrow, but I called and got it switched to March. I am glad they were so accommodating. Although March will be a little busy with swimming and baseball.
I forgot to add that when we were in the ER trying to get an IV in. There were 4 people holding him down, and eventually he needed to be mummy wrapped. He wanted to watch what was going on and it scared him once he seen the needle. I am grateful that he does not have much memory of that particular experience.
During those early morning hours the nurses were constantly checking him as he had just gotten out of surgery. It was very hard to sleep. Around 4:30 am a surgeon came in and started asking questions on how he was feeling. Really, why do you have to wake him up! Most of the time when asking about pain he said he was a number 2 smiley face. Quite different from his heart procedure where he was the happiest face the whole time. By the way this surgery was exactly 8 months from his last.
At the hospital Trevor enjoyed many popsciles, movies, ice cream and what ever else his little heart desired. How could one not like the hospital? We went down to the playroom a couple times to play and bring back movies, books, games, legos and crafts to the room. He was still very sore and did not want to walk until he got some strong pain meds. Then he was able to walk around a little better. He also enjoyed a few wheel chair rides. Trevor is waiting for his next hospital stay. Hopefully we will wait a few more years for the next one. This was surgery number 6 for him!
Now we are home and recovery is going as well as expected. He is still very sore and has a cough that makes his tummy hurt even more. He also started to itch after taking his meds. So now we have added benadryl to his medications. He should be able to go back to school on Thursday. He will have to take it easy for the next two weeks while he heals. No gym or recess during that time. He will get to play computers or bring in his own video games to play. I think he will enjoy that :) He was suppose to start swimming tomorrow, but I called and got it switched to March. I am glad they were so accommodating. Although March will be a little busy with swimming and baseball.
I forgot to add that when we were in the ER trying to get an IV in. There were 4 people holding him down, and eventually he needed to be mummy wrapped. He wanted to watch what was going on and it scared him once he seen the needle. I am grateful that he does not have much memory of that particular experience.
ER... Part 4
I checked Trev into the ER and they had our paperwork ready to go and said they had been waiting for us. We got into triage right away. Once in there I thought I recognized one of Trevor's cardiac nurses from when he was a baby. (She was there for the first 3 surgeries.) Luckily we seen her and she expedited everything for us. They had poor Trevor jump up and down. He was in tears at the thought of it. He did one tiny jump and they were satisfied. We then waited in the waiting area for about 30 minutes.
Karen (his old cardiac nurse) came out a few times and got some info from us that the Dr.s would be asking us and also ordered an ultrasound. This helped a lot as the ultrasound lab tech went home at 7. It was 6:30 at this time. (We arrived at 6pm) At this point we had not met with the ER Doc as Karen kinda took over as he was still seeing other patients ahead of us. She told us that at this point the more serious concern was his appendix not his heart. In a weird way it was almost nice to be there for a normal kid thing, even though it was considered an emergency.
We got to the ultrasound a little after 6:30. Trevor is truly a rock star!! He was so patient as they were poking and prodding on his belly. He kept asking if they were going to make him better after seeing the sleep Dr.
Within 10 minutes of getting to our ER room after the Ultrasound we were greeting with 2 nurses ready to give him an IV. I was stunned, so this means his appendix is coming out now? The nurses were surprised too. They said this never happens this fast. Karen must have pulled some strings to get him seen faster and it was a good thing too. The surgeon had stated if we had waited any longer it would have ruptured.
Poor Trevor and his 2 failed IV attempts. He was screaming in pain and fear as they kept messing up. Finally I put my foot down and told them to stop. There had to be a way, any other way. This will not be Trev's last surgery and I do not want him scared of hospitals. I even asked the surgeon the same question in front of the nurses. I think they could tell I was not happy at this point. Heck, I had been crying right along with Trevor on the second failed attempt. Finally we got a new nurse and she got it right away.
The IV drip and antibiotics were started. This was about 8:30 pm. We were told he would be in surgery once the antibiotics were finished. My dad showed up around 10pm with dinner for me. Thanks Dad!! I hadn't eaten since noon and was famished. The nurses kept offering me food and drink but I kept saying no as Trev could not have anything. Finally around 9pm I gave in and I snuck out of the room to eat crackers and drink some juice. I did the same thing once my dad came back with my sandwich.
There happened to be two other kiddos that came in with a more emergent case than we were so we were bumped back. About 11:45pm Trev was wheeled back and my dad and I stayed in the waiting area. My dad had a nap (he had been up since 2am). I tried to nap but sleep was not in my future. I borrowed his lap top for a while. (The reason for my 1am posts :))
About 1:15am the Surgeon came out and said the surgery was a complete success and Trev did awesome through the whole thing. He explained that because of his heart defect they had to do the classical incision and healing would take a little longer. He said we were lucky that he got it out when we did. Another 20 minutes and the thing would have ruptured! God was surely there with us that night as we ran into Karen and she helped expedite things. About 2am and we got to see Trevor. It was so great to finally see him! The day still seems kind of surreal. Everything just happened so fast!
Karen (his old cardiac nurse) came out a few times and got some info from us that the Dr.s would be asking us and also ordered an ultrasound. This helped a lot as the ultrasound lab tech went home at 7. It was 6:30 at this time. (We arrived at 6pm) At this point we had not met with the ER Doc as Karen kinda took over as he was still seeing other patients ahead of us. She told us that at this point the more serious concern was his appendix not his heart. In a weird way it was almost nice to be there for a normal kid thing, even though it was considered an emergency.
We got to the ultrasound a little after 6:30. Trevor is truly a rock star!! He was so patient as they were poking and prodding on his belly. He kept asking if they were going to make him better after seeing the sleep Dr.
Within 10 minutes of getting to our ER room after the Ultrasound we were greeting with 2 nurses ready to give him an IV. I was stunned, so this means his appendix is coming out now? The nurses were surprised too. They said this never happens this fast. Karen must have pulled some strings to get him seen faster and it was a good thing too. The surgeon had stated if we had waited any longer it would have ruptured.
Poor Trevor and his 2 failed IV attempts. He was screaming in pain and fear as they kept messing up. Finally I put my foot down and told them to stop. There had to be a way, any other way. This will not be Trev's last surgery and I do not want him scared of hospitals. I even asked the surgeon the same question in front of the nurses. I think they could tell I was not happy at this point. Heck, I had been crying right along with Trevor on the second failed attempt. Finally we got a new nurse and she got it right away.
The IV drip and antibiotics were started. This was about 8:30 pm. We were told he would be in surgery once the antibiotics were finished. My dad showed up around 10pm with dinner for me. Thanks Dad!! I hadn't eaten since noon and was famished. The nurses kept offering me food and drink but I kept saying no as Trev could not have anything. Finally around 9pm I gave in and I snuck out of the room to eat crackers and drink some juice. I did the same thing once my dad came back with my sandwich.
There happened to be two other kiddos that came in with a more emergent case than we were so we were bumped back. About 11:45pm Trev was wheeled back and my dad and I stayed in the waiting area. My dad had a nap (he had been up since 2am). I tried to nap but sleep was not in my future. I borrowed his lap top for a while. (The reason for my 1am posts :))
About 1:15am the Surgeon came out and said the surgery was a complete success and Trev did awesome through the whole thing. He explained that because of his heart defect they had to do the classical incision and healing would take a little longer. He said we were lucky that he got it out when we did. Another 20 minutes and the thing would have ruptured! God was surely there with us that night as we ran into Karen and she helped expedite things. About 2am and we got to see Trevor. It was so great to finally see him! The day still seems kind of surreal. Everything just happened so fast!
On our way... Part 3
Once at home I explain to Bri what was going on. I tried to pack things but I could not function. The only thing I could think about was getting Trev to the hospital. He was very excited to be going. He loves his hospital stays :) Movies and popsicles, it doesn't get much better than that!
Scott arrives home and he puts Trev's car seat into the truck. Then he loads Trev up. I know other stuff happened but I do not remember what. I could only focus on getting Trev to the hospital. My dad would be coming later with our stuff while Scott stayed home with the girls. Bri offered to stay at the house with the girls while Scott took the mini down to get the tire changed, and I took Trev to the hospital.
I charged the phone and made a few phone calls to inform people what was going on and to pray for Trevor. Later I looked at Trev's feet and he had no shoes on! Hopefully Scott packs some for him :) I let Trevor know what was going on and that he got to stay the night in the hospital again. The smile on his face was huge!! The first thing he said was he was going to be eating 30 popsicles!! I explained the best I could what would be happening. Of course I would find out that emergency surgeries are much different than planned ones.
The traffic was pretty good until we got to the U district. It took us 30 minutes to go through to get to the hospital! Once we arrived there was no room in the emergency parking so instead of going to the overflow parking ( I knew we would be staying anyway, plus it was dark and Trev had to be carried, no shoes remember!) I headed over to the whale parking. Once inside they had to escort us to the ER since we came in a different way.
Scott arrives home and he puts Trev's car seat into the truck. Then he loads Trev up. I know other stuff happened but I do not remember what. I could only focus on getting Trev to the hospital. My dad would be coming later with our stuff while Scott stayed home with the girls. Bri offered to stay at the house with the girls while Scott took the mini down to get the tire changed, and I took Trev to the hospital.
I charged the phone and made a few phone calls to inform people what was going on and to pray for Trevor. Later I looked at Trev's feet and he had no shoes on! Hopefully Scott packs some for him :) I let Trevor know what was going on and that he got to stay the night in the hospital again. The smile on his face was huge!! The first thing he said was he was going to be eating 30 popsicles!! I explained the best I could what would be happening. Of course I would find out that emergency surgeries are much different than planned ones.
The traffic was pretty good until we got to the U district. It took us 30 minutes to go through to get to the hospital! Once we arrived there was no room in the emergency parking so instead of going to the overflow parking ( I knew we would be staying anyway, plus it was dark and Trev had to be carried, no shoes remember!) I headed over to the whale parking. Once inside they had to escort us to the ER since we came in a different way.
Seriously!?!... Part 2
Sometime during the night on Tuesday Trevor came into our bed saying his tummy really hurt. (Later he told us that it hurt so bad he had to crawl to us). He fell asleep pretty quickly so I didn't think much of it. When we woke up in the morning Trev looked a little pale, and had the sniffles and the starting of a cough. I was right, he was getting sick...
He stayed in my bed and watched cartoons all morning. Not moving an inch. He refused to eat during the day. I pushed fluids on him and flavored his water with apple juice. Around noon he started to scream in pain that I had to carry him to the bathroom. I thought he might have a tummy bug at this point. I rushed him to the bathroom and he was in so much pain. This scared me, I started pushing on his tummy and he would scream. I then tried his sides and back and he was fine. I then called the Dr. right away. We got an appt. for 3:20 about 2 hours away. It didn't seem fast enough, but I needed to find someone to watch the girls. My gut instinct told me something was really wrong.
I made a few phone calls and finally Bri came to the rescue! From talking with her and looking things up online it looked like he may have appendicitis. I sure hope my gut instinct is wrong! Okay here is the part of the story where someday I will find the humor in all this:
Since I knew that Trev could not walk on his own I loaded him up in the mini before Bri got here. Once Bri pulled in, she pointed out that I had a flat tire. You have to be kidding right! I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry at this point. I finally pulled it together and Bri offered me her car. She then informed me she was out of gas and I would need to fill it up. By this point I had about 15 minutes to get to the appointment and it was about 15 minutes away! We load Trev up get to the gas station and some not very nice person pulls in front of me. Arrgh! I quickly get gas add a little extra as a thank you, and back up in a weird angle to get out of there!
We finally arrive at the Dr's. office 10 minutes late. Did I mention because of the insurance change this is a brand new Dr. who has never met Trevor before! I was impressed of his knowledge on Trev's defect and that made me a little more comfortable with his new Dr.
I told the nurse what I thought was wrong with him. The Dr. asked a few questions about Trevor first and I told him that I thought it was his appendix. After examining him he said that yes I was right. Why did I have to be right!?! I told him it was great meeting him and welcome to your new patient :) The first day he meets Trevor it is for an emergency. Hopefully he is prepared. Trev has a lot of tricks up his sleeve!
The Dr. informed me they would not be taking him by ambulance and that because of his heart history he wants him to go to Childrens. Great! That was my first choice also. But over an hour away in the middle of traffic. Lovely. The Dr. told me they would call Childrens and they would be expecting me. I go to call Scott from my cell and the battery is dead! The nurse lets me use there phone and and call Scott. He is not answering his work phone or cell... Not good. The nurse looks up the main work number on the computer and we go from there. Of course I am put on hold for 5 minutes and transferred twice as I tell them who I am, and what is going on and I need to get a hold of Scott now. Finally I get a hold of one of his co-workers who passes the info along. I then go to the car only to find out I do not have Bri's keys! Are you kidding me!?! We go back inside and they are sitting on the desk. I must have put them down while making phone calls.
He stayed in my bed and watched cartoons all morning. Not moving an inch. He refused to eat during the day. I pushed fluids on him and flavored his water with apple juice. Around noon he started to scream in pain that I had to carry him to the bathroom. I thought he might have a tummy bug at this point. I rushed him to the bathroom and he was in so much pain. This scared me, I started pushing on his tummy and he would scream. I then tried his sides and back and he was fine. I then called the Dr. right away. We got an appt. for 3:20 about 2 hours away. It didn't seem fast enough, but I needed to find someone to watch the girls. My gut instinct told me something was really wrong.
I made a few phone calls and finally Bri came to the rescue! From talking with her and looking things up online it looked like he may have appendicitis. I sure hope my gut instinct is wrong! Okay here is the part of the story where someday I will find the humor in all this:
Since I knew that Trev could not walk on his own I loaded him up in the mini before Bri got here. Once Bri pulled in, she pointed out that I had a flat tire. You have to be kidding right! I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry at this point. I finally pulled it together and Bri offered me her car. She then informed me she was out of gas and I would need to fill it up. By this point I had about 15 minutes to get to the appointment and it was about 15 minutes away! We load Trev up get to the gas station and some not very nice person pulls in front of me. Arrgh! I quickly get gas add a little extra as a thank you, and back up in a weird angle to get out of there!
We finally arrive at the Dr's. office 10 minutes late. Did I mention because of the insurance change this is a brand new Dr. who has never met Trevor before! I was impressed of his knowledge on Trev's defect and that made me a little more comfortable with his new Dr.
I told the nurse what I thought was wrong with him. The Dr. asked a few questions about Trevor first and I told him that I thought it was his appendix. After examining him he said that yes I was right. Why did I have to be right!?! I told him it was great meeting him and welcome to your new patient :) The first day he meets Trevor it is for an emergency. Hopefully he is prepared. Trev has a lot of tricks up his sleeve!
The Dr. informed me they would not be taking him by ambulance and that because of his heart history he wants him to go to Childrens. Great! That was my first choice also. But over an hour away in the middle of traffic. Lovely. The Dr. told me they would call Childrens and they would be expecting me. I go to call Scott from my cell and the battery is dead! The nurse lets me use there phone and and call Scott. He is not answering his work phone or cell... Not good. The nurse looks up the main work number on the computer and we go from there. Of course I am put on hold for 5 minutes and transferred twice as I tell them who I am, and what is going on and I need to get a hold of Scott now. Finally I get a hold of one of his co-workers who passes the info along. I then go to the car only to find out I do not have Bri's keys! Are you kidding me!?! We go back inside and they are sitting on the desk. I must have put them down while making phone calls.
Looking back it all adds up... Part 1
On Sunday Trevor started to complain that his right side hurt when he jumped on the trampoline. (He seemed fine otherwise, running around the house playing) We told him not to jump then if it hurt. He said, "no, I like jumping" So we figured it must not hurt that bad then. The same thing happened on Monday, we told him the same thing.
Tuesday morning we got him up for school and all seemed fine. I packed him his favorite lunch, pancakes. When he arrived home he did not run to me, which he usually does, but walked slowly. I asked him if he had a tough day. He said his tummy hurt. Once inside I looked through his backpack and noticed that he only ate 1 pancake. I asked if he was hungry and he said no. I figured he must be coming down with something. He took it easy until dinner and just picked at dinner. At 7:30 he volunteered to go to bed. Yes, he must be getting sick! So we started to get ready for bed. It was perfect as the girls had not napped that day either. While brushing teeth Trevor asked if his Daddy could do it and carry him to his room. He was asleep within 5 minutes!
I decided that since he did not have school on Wednesday I would let him stay in my bed and watch cartoons. It seemed he was coming down with something and I wanted him to get his rest so he could go to school on Thursday.
Tuesday morning we got him up for school and all seemed fine. I packed him his favorite lunch, pancakes. When he arrived home he did not run to me, which he usually does, but walked slowly. I asked him if he had a tough day. He said his tummy hurt. Once inside I looked through his backpack and noticed that he only ate 1 pancake. I asked if he was hungry and he said no. I figured he must be coming down with something. He took it easy until dinner and just picked at dinner. At 7:30 he volunteered to go to bed. Yes, he must be getting sick! So we started to get ready for bed. It was perfect as the girls had not napped that day either. While brushing teeth Trevor asked if his Daddy could do it and carry him to his room. He was asleep within 5 minutes!
I decided that since he did not have school on Wednesday I would let him stay in my bed and watch cartoons. It seemed he was coming down with something and I wanted him to get his rest so he could go to school on Thursday.
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