{Sickies - Mason}

Happy Hump Day!

I feel like I haven't blogged in forever! I was off on Friday so posts from then on were scheduled. And then I have been just plum exhausted since Friday night. Friday {how many times can one say Friday in one paragraph?!?}  I went to the Miranda Lambert concert with my best friend {post coming soon} and we didn't get in until late and then had to be up early for Mason's Blast ball game. Then Saturday, Sunday, and Monday night Mason was restless all night and didn't sleep well...which means that Mama didn't sleep well. Yawnnnn...

I took Mason to the doctor on Monday because he had a deep cough, was breathing rapid and labored and wasn't eating very well. The dr checked his ears, throat, and everything else and said that his nose was pretty impressive. It was impacted with junk and she knew right away it was a sinus infection. While she was listening to his breathing she thought she heard something in the lower part. She ordered him up an X-ray to rule out anything serious like pneumonia. I was worried about pneumonia.

Mason did the X-rays like a champ! And then she let him look at the pictures. She pointed out the heart, spine, ribs, etc. Then she said, this is a gas bubble.

He giggled and said, "That's silly...I don't drink gas, cars drink gas!"

The Dr. looked at the X-Ray and didn't see any signs of pneumonia, but was going to have the radiologist confirm that. She prescribed him a strong antibiotic for the sinus infection and we also have to do breathing treatments for his breathing! 

I'm ready for him to get better and for his normal appetite to come back!

Last night he actually slept a lot better and I feel like we both rested. I pray he is taking a good nap at school today. They have pictures today!!

 

{A sick but not-so-sick boy}

Happy Thursday!! Getting closer to Friday!!!!!

Mason has been battling some allergies/cold/something since Sunday. It started Sunday morning when he woke up with crusty/matted eyes and a mucusy cough. He acted just fine, though. No fever and the cough subdued once we got past the morning. So, we sent him to school on Monday. He did fine. Was fine all evening. Around 11:30pm I woke up from a dead sleep to check on him. He was burning up. I checked his temp and it was 102.4. We got him some Motrin, but he didn't want to wake up to take it. It took an hour for us to finally get him awake enough to take the meds. I kept him home on Tuesday and he was perfectly fine. No cough, no fever or anything. Fast-forward to that night...I slept with him, well, didn't really sleep a wink, and checked him throughout the night. His body was burning up...hands, feet, back, stomach...but not his face or forehead. I let him sleep through it. And we decided it'd be best if he stayed home again. 

Nate stayed with him this time. Again...perfect! Didn't act sick one bit. He took a late afternoon nap and was just waking up when I got home at 4:40 and was burning up! We took his temp and it was 103.5. I called his dr but they couldn't get him in until the following day, We didn't want to wait that long so we decided to go to My Clinic a couple towns over. We had a great experience with them. The facility was clean, staff was nice and quick and Mason loved the Doctor. They swabbed him for the flu and strep throat. Both came back negative. Thank God! The doctor said that he definitely had an allergy, thus the crusty eyes and runny nose and sneezing. And he had an upper respiratory infection. He prescribed him a cough med that has benadryl in it so that it covers the cough and the allergies and an antibiotic for the infection.

I am home with him today and he's been perfect! He's had a couple doses of antibiotics and one round of the cough med. I can already see a difference in him...

He's such a hoot! We were watching videos on the "Harlem Shake" and sure enough the boy wanted to try! I took video and will upload it soon! It's hilarious!! 

He's giving me a taste of what it'd be like to be a stay-at-home mom. Shew...let's just say I'd need to stock up on some Moscato for when Daddy gets home to take over! ha. No, it's great. I love to hang out with him. Keeps me going, that's for sure.

So far today I've:

...cleaned up medicine that he spit on the floor because he didn't like it
...hid the next round of antibiotics in a cup of milk
...played numerous rounds of cars/cops vs bad guys, etc.
...changed the dvr from bubble guppies, to Caillou, to Jake and the Pirates and back to Bubble Guppies
...danced in the living room to the "Truck song" on bubble guppies
...made two grilled cheeses
...picked up said grilled cheese bits off the floor
...made cup after cup of different liquids
...given him a 1 hour bath
...spent 15 minutes cleaning the "bath finger paints" off the walls, floor, faucet, him
...did our taxes with one hand while the other hand played cars with the boy
...washed dishes
...did a load of laundry
...worked online {for my job}
and
wait for it...

Had to tell Mason to put his "beep beep" back inside his diaper. He came over to me and said, "Mama, my beep beep is hanging out." I tell him to put it up and he looks down and says, "Sorry beep beep, time to go back in the diaper." Seriously!!!!!!!!! #boymomprobs

Oh, one things for darn sure...I'd never have a clean house. I've been running circles around him cleaning mess after mess, toy after toy! I'm exhausted...

{Our Sick Day}

{written 1/22, but didn't publish}

This morning as I was getting ready for the day I hear Mason calling my name. I thought he had just woke up for the morning. I walk in there and he says, "Mama I throw up." 

Not the way I wanted to start the day.

I absolutely loathe when my sweet boy is sick. It hurts my heart.

I get him stripped down and in the bath. He says he feels better, but it's hard to tell. It was early and he was abruptly woken up. I got him out and gave him some meds. He kept telling me he felt better. As the day went on and after a lot of prayers I could tell that he truly did feel good. I wasn't in his bedroom when he got sick, but I am thinking the sinus/allergy/drainage made him cough/gag/get sick. It's the only thing I can imagine happened. I'm just thankful it was a one time thing.

We hung out the rest of the day. Honestly, the day took off and ran. I am not sure where the time went. But we had a good time. 

Later in the day Mason says, "Mama, wanna go on the porch and take pictures of me?" - yep at 2 years old he already knows how to work it! Mercy, I am in trouble!!

So, we went outside and took advantage of the sunshine. Oh, and I took pictures!

{Another trip to Children's Hospital}

Saturday morning Nathan and I had planned to get out and complete all of our Christmas shopping. Nate's mom had agreed to keep Mason for the morning/afternoon. We woke up on Saturday and Mason was great, a little croupy, but great. He was playful and silly and eager to go to Nana and Papas. Nathan took Mason to get donuts while I finished getting ready. Then we took him to Nate's mom and dad's. Still good. 
We went to Toys R Us first. I think we got there at 9:45. We had just enough time to get Mason's "Santa" gift before we got a call that he had thrown up pretty bad.  That was around 10:30. He was in the bathtub and saying that he was feeling better. They said he acted fine and that it might have been just a one time thing. He had some drainage, so we all started praying it was just that.    We headed back that way. I couldn't just hear that he was "okay", I had to see him. Hug him and kiss him. When we got there he was playing and acted fine. He ate and entire gatorade-type popsicle. We hung out for another hour or so and decided to take Mason home to get a nap. On our way to the car Mason got sick again. Luckily we were outside.   We went home and he played for a little bit and then Nate got him to lay down for a few. He slept for about 30-45 minutes and then woke up. I could see it in his face he was about to get sick again. And he did. And it was a lot. And it was our deciding factor to take him straight to Children's. He wasn't taking in enough for the amount that was coming out. We were scared of dehydration and what happened last year. Read about that here.
We checked into the ER at 3:45 and were introduced to the not so glamorous side of Children's. The last time we were there it was by ambulance, so our care was a little nicer. We sat in a filthy waiting room with 5-10 people with masks on. It was obvious it's flu season! Mason wanted to get up and play on the toys but we wouldn't let him. I felt bad, but I didn't want him to get any sicker. He had a full lesson of germs during that wait! 
After an hour and half or so later they finally called us back. They took Mason's vitals and then put us in a room. Mason threw up again right when we got in there. That was 5:30. We told the nurse and she laid a towel over it said she would notify housekeeping. We sat in this room for what seemed like forever. The housekeeper finally came about an hour and a half later to clean up the mess on the floor. And at 7:30 we finally saw the doctor. She checked him over and he wasn't dehydrated at that point. She ordered him a Zofran tablet and wanted to give it 30 minutes to set in. The nurse brought it in and then took us to an "internal waiting room". Again, filty, lots of really really sick people. I kept Mason in my lap and tried to cover his mouth as best I could. At this point I was so ready to get out of there! Mason drank apple juice and gatorade and held them down. About an hour later the doctor checked him and he was doing great. She got our discharge papers ready and we went to a room for one last round of vitals. They prescribed him Zofran.

We left the hospital and headed to get his prescription and a few other essentials. We let Mason pick out a toy because he had been so well behaved at the hospital. Throughout the whole sick day he was so sweet and patient and kind.    We finally got home and Nate's parents met us there with food. Nathan and I hadn't eaten all day and were starving. But of course at that point we were just exhausted and too tired to eat. We had a few bites and that was it.    Mason was so tired. It was around 11:30pm and he was upset that he couldn't have any milk. He fell asleep in my lap watching Toy Story around 11:45.    We took it easy on Sunday. Mason was great and starving! That boy asked for everything we had in the house, plus some. He did great all day! Nate took off Monday to be with him. We wanted to give him another day to rest. I took him to school on Tuesday, but picked him up early. We wanted to ease back into it!    He's been great ever since. Praise the Lord!!!

{One sickness after another}

My poor sweet boy!! Couldn't catch a break there for a while. It started with Strep throat...which was going around like crazy. Everyone I talked to had it, or knew someone that did. The dr said that almost every patient they'd seen in the last couple weeks was for strep. 

Anyhow, Mason had it and was on an antibiotic for a week and a half. Once we thought he was over that he started getting a horrible cough. That was on a Saturday and by the end of the weekend it hadn't gotten any better. I also noticed that his breathing was getting tight. We went to the dr Monday morning and he had Bronchiolitis. {viral infection in the lungs} They gave him a breathing treatment there at the office and that was complete torture. I was there by myself because Nate had to work. Mason fought the breathing treatment with every last muscle he had. It scared him and he had never had anything like that before. 

I was certain that he didn't get much of the medication...but much to my surprise his lungs responded very well to the treatment. So off we went with a breathing machine! He had to do treatments for over 2 weeks. It got easier and better with each treatment. We found that if we distracted him he took it better! 

And when we thought he was getting better from the treatments we had 2 nights of absolutely no sleep. He couldn't get comfortable and cried and whined. I knew it was his ears. Nate took him to the Dr the next day and sure enough, double ear infection. His dr said that was usually the next step after the Bronchiolitis. 

I am so thankful that Mason responds well to medication. After a couple doses you wouldn't even know that he had an ear infection! And has been sleeping great since then.

I am also thankful that he was feeling well for CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!

{Our trip to Children's Hospital in Dallas}

What an awful week it's been!!

WARNING - long, detailed post!

Last weekend {9/16 - 9/18} Mason came down with a stomach bug. It came out of no where - no warning signs! He had been fine all day at school and in the evening. We were at the grocery store and he puked everywhere {and a lot}. That was around 7:15pm. We left the store and started heading home. He puked 2 more times before we got home. It was the saddest thing in the world. He had no clue what was going on or what to do. He kept saying "Mommy, Daddy" in the saddest.makes.your.heart.hurt voice. All he wanted to do was lay his head on my chest. Needless to say I went through about 6 shirts that night. His vomiting lasted until about 1:30 in the am. He went to sleep around then and woke up around 4am and was thirsty. We gave him some juice/water and he also ate a couple crackers and we went back to sleep. He held all of that down just fine. He woke up well on Saturday morning and had a little breakfast. Then he took a FIVE {whoa} hour nap. He was catching up from the day night before. All day Saturday he was fine and held down everything he ate/drank. That evening around the same time {7:00ish} I started feeling ill. It hit me hard around 10:30pm. I was vomiting every 30 minutes until 7am the next day. Sunday I caught up on some sleep. Nate came in and told me Mason got sick a couple more times. Nothing big, just a couple small ones. The rest of the day he was fine. He ate, drank and played hard. We sent him to school on Monday thinking he was fine and that our stomach bug was gone. I wasn't at work an hour and they were calling us to come pick him up. 

Nate and I left work and went to pick him up. I am so thankful now that we both went to get him. On the way to pick him up we called his normal Pedi. and made an appointment. She was able to get him in right away. She checked his chest, ears and throat...his throat was a little red so she swabbed for Strep throat. It came back negative. She chalked it up to a stomach bug considering I had it as well. She told us what to do to keep him hydrated and we were on our way.

Once we got home Mason was acting sleepy so I thought he may nap. I changed his diaper and put him in a t-shirt. He didn't want to lay down so I took him to the living room. He sat in Nate's lap and was drinking some water out of a sippy cup. I ran out to the car to grab our bags and when I came back in I saw Mason going into a seizure. I dropped the million things in my hands and fell to my knees screaming. {I know, I know} It was all I could do. I was freakin' out. Scariest thing I've ever seen before. I asked Nate what to do and he said call 911.

I called 911 and was connected while he was still seizing. It seemed like it took forever to go through the hundreds of questions they ask. The dispatcher stayed n the phone with me while they sent the ambulance. She had me tell her what Mason was doing each step of the way. At one point she asked, "is he breathing" and my heart dropped to the floor. Nate confirmed that he was. As soon as he came out of the seizure we went to the front porch and Nate held Mason's very limp body while I was on the phone with 911. He fell into a pretty deep sleep that scared the fire out of me. They said that was normal. But it was terrifying to us. He could barely open his eyes. We counted his breathing, which never skipped a beat. I packed a bag to take to the hospital. I couldn't think straight for things we might need. Thankfully I did think of our phone chargers! The ambulance arrived about 25 minutes later. HELLO living in the country! It seemed like an eternity to me. The paramedics were fabulous! They took Mason's temperature and he wasn't running any fever so they said we needed to take him to be evaluated. Apparently if there as a fever, then it would have been a febrile seizure and they wouldn't have had to do much testing. But it wasn't.

While we were buckling Mason's car seat into the ambulance a Sheriff pulls up to our house. You have got to be freakin' kidding me! The paramedic told me that it's standard if you call 911 for a child's sake. The Sherriff walks up...doesn't really say much and just watches what we're doing. The paramedic finally spoke up and said, he's been sick with a virus and just had a seizure. I was holding Mason in my lap at that point and balling my eyes out. He asked me Mason's name and dob. And then he asked the same for me. I looked at the clipboard he was writing on and the line he put my name on said SUSPECT. I lost it. I am sure it's a standard form...but it hurt my heart so much that they would put my name next to the word suspect. I would never in a million years hurt my son or do anything to let him get hurt. :( 

The drive to Children's Hospital in Dallas seemed like it took 2 hours {only 30 minutes}. Nate's parent's beat us there and were waiting for us. I called my family from the ambulance and they were there shortly after. We arrived around 2:00pm and they had a room waiting on us. They immediately got started with Mason. They took all of his vitals and then a Dr. came to talk to us. We went through everything starting with Friday. He told us the procedure would more than likely be:

Bloodwork

Lumbar puncture {gasp}

Cat-scan

But that he had to talk to the Head Doctor to be certain.

I started balling and praying to God that Mason would not have to get a spinal tap. Nathan had to have one several years back and still has pain there. It was the most awful thing ever. I prayed and prayed and prayed. 

Boom!

Power of Prayer!

The Doctor came back and said they would not need to do a lumbar puncture! We were all so relieved. They were going to start with blood work and go from there. They, and when I say "They" I mean a 6 foot 7 {no lie} nurse, another nurse, Nathan, his mom and I had to hold Mason down for the IV. It was pure awful. I didn't watch, I buried my face in his bed. I just held and rubbed his feet to let him know I was there. He did well, considering! They took a couple vials of blood and sent it off for the lab. He had a small IV drip of fluids in the meantime. A couple hours later they came back and told us he was dehydrated and his glucose levels were down. They gave him some juice boxes and wanted to check back later. They also had to take a urine sample. Mason did extremely well with that. We waited and waited. Mason slept on and off while in the ER. He was getting more exhausted by the minute, though. He had tons of visitors and his face lit up every time someone came into his room {that wasn't wearing scrubs}! 

Around 8ish we were under the impression that we'd be going home soon...but then they came in and told us that Mason needed to be admitted for fluids and evaluation. When we got there his glucose was at a 57, on the 2nd check it was at a 56. It should have gone up after he had the juice and fluids and it didn't. Around 10:30 they got us his room and we moved. He slept on the way there...but of course woke when we got to his room because they had to take vitals and whatnot. They did another glucose test around midnight and it was up to a 122...which was such a relief to all of us. And they only had to poke his finger! Mason didn't mind so much, but threw a fit to get the bandaid off. :)

When we finally got to sleep it was glorious! Mason slept well, as did we...given the circumstances. The nurse was phenomenal and was very quiet every time she had to come in and check Mason's IV {every hour}. Mason woke up bright-eyed and bushy tailed sometime after 8am the next morning and was in the best of moods. He was refreshed and ready to party!! Our sweet, happy and silly little Mason was back!!! I can't tell you how much I needed to see that. The sleep and IV fluids did wonders! It was a challenge trying to keep him still and keep from hurting his IV.

They unhooked his IV fluids around 10ish and he was free!! He kept roaming his hospital room and at one point he started counting "1,2,3,4,5" - Nathan and I looked at each other like "Surely he didn't just count to five"...and then he did it again, over and over and over. We were so shocked. We count to 3 at home all the time...but they must count beyond 3 at school! Our little smart boy!!

The Dr came and saw him around 11:00ish and said everything was looking great and that we'd be going home soon. They discharged us after lunch time. We took Mason to see the Trainscapes at the hospital and he was in awe! It was so adorable to watch his face light up every time a train rolled by. We let him enjoy the trains for a while and then we headed home. I thought he'd crash and nap on the way home, but he didn't.

I have to say that Children's Hospital is nothing short of amazing! They took such great care of our little man, and us too. We can't say enough great things about them.

We were definitely blessed!! We had so many people praying for our little guy...even people we didn't know. It was overwhelming and amazing! Nathan and I are so thankful for each one of you that were praying. This was one of the most scariest experiences of our lives. I pray that no one ever has to experience that. Seizures are awful to watch, especially when it's your 15 month old child. Below is a great site for Seizures in children, just in case you want to read up.

Seizures in Children

Below are all camera phone pictures {all we had at the hospital}.

The next morning when he was feeling better.

{Hand, foot, mouth....WHAT?!?!}

Well...

I've been MIA from the blogging world for a while. I'm still reading, just not writing. Too exhausted to blog.

We've had a rough couple of weeks.

On Sunday, August 7 Mason came down with a fever. He was in a weird mood all day. All he wanted to do was lay around {mostly in my lap with his head buried in my chest}...which is so unlike him. He's a busy kid, always on the go. So of course this raised a red flag. We also noticed that Mason didn't have much of an appetite. And he wasn't drinking...which is also unlike him. That boy can put down some water! We also had a rough time with sleep that night. He couldn't get comfortable and wanted me to hold him {on the couch}. I was almost positive it was his ears...

So, I made him an appt the next morning with his pediatrician. Thankfully they got him in right away. 

Dr Gold examined him and much to my surprise his ears were perfect! We told her all of his symptoms and she knew right away what it was. She checked his throat, hands and feet...and her assumption was right.

Mason had "Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease".

What the hell?

I've never heard of such. I know my baby is sick, but you throw in the word "disease" and hello...freakin' out mom here. Apparently is a very common virus in infants and his Dr. said they've seen a ton of cases of it lately. 

Definition

Hand-foot-and-mouth disease is a mild, contagious viral infection common in young children. Characterized by sores in the mouth and a rash on the hands and feet, hand-foot-and-mouth disease is most commonly caused by a coxsackievirus.

There's no specific treatment for hand-foot-and-mouth disease. You can reduce your risk of infection from hand-foot-and-mouth disease by practicing good hygiene, such as washing your hands often and thoroughly. 

{via}

Ugh! Really?

We practice very good hygiene with Mason, thankyouverymuch. He takes baths daily {sometimes twice in one day}. BUT he's a BOY for pete's sake.

Naturally we suspect his school...but his dr said he could have contacted it anywhere. 

So, we were home all last week. It's a virus that just has to run it's course...which is normally 7-10 days. I didn't mind. It was fun playing the role of a STAHM. And now I wish even more that I could be one!! Mason was in such good spirits, so sweet and as funny as can be. I loved my time with him...just wish it were under better circumstances. He's my little best friend, for sure. We have a blast together.

Hubbs started getting all of the symptoms of this virus on Tuesday evening. And then another virus...but that's a whole other post.

I don't know how I didn't get this one. Mason is attached to my hip!

Mason's 100% better now. The rash and blisters are gone and he has an appetite and can eat/drink without any pain! YAY!

Hate when my boys are sick :(

Pictures of my sick baby boy...