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Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Ewww! I mean...This poor child

Oh little Savanna... my sweet little girl, you are a medical nightmare.

Most of you reading this know that our first daughter Abby is a tank. She is the size of a small 5 year old (at 2 years old), and there ain't nothin' that can get this girl down. When Abby plays, she plays hard. She has the bruises and scrapes to prove it. She gets hurt, "I'm ok!" is usually the first thing you will hear. Fever? Doesn't slow her down a bit.

And then there is Savanna.
(Have you seen the movie "twins?" Scott made a joke one day that Abby got all the good genes like Arnold's character and Savanna got the left over stuff like Danny Devito's character. Sad, but true.

This poor girl got her mommy's immune system. Anything that is going around, she will get it, and it will be x100. Ever since she was born there has been something wrong with her in one way or another. And the last 10 days have been no exception.
In fact if you have a extra seconds in those prayers, maybe throw a shout out for her in there.


Our little girl has some form of herpes. Yep herpes (oral)... She was taken to urgent care last week and we were told it was Herpangina. Basically her whole mouth had filled up with blisters. But now after a little more research I'm thinking it's actually primary herpetic gingivostomatitis. Reason I'm thinking it's this is because it's mainly infecting her gums. OMG, her poor gums! The other reason I'm thinking it's this is because Scott, Abby, and myself have had cold sores in the past and herpangina is EXTREMELY contagious, and so far we are all fine.

What is primary herpetic gingivostomatitis? Well if you have ever had a cold sore, you have the herpes virus. But sometimes in young babies or kids, when they first get it, their bodies freak out and they will get a case of cold sore on steroids.

 I've never seen anything like before. I never knew it could get so bad.

You know sometimes if you look up a disease you will see images of extreme cases and just think "OMG, that poor person. Is this a real photo?"
That's Savanna right now.
Her gums are completely cover in blisters and lesions. Her gums are so inflamed that you can no longer see her teeth, other then small portions of the front 2. The front of her tongue was cover with about 8 cold sores. She has gotten blisters on her legs (None on the foot or hands, so it's not HFM disease) and now they have spread to her chin  and her cheeks. I would try to take a picture of the inside of her mouth but honestly it would just hurt her, and it is truly disgusting. Just the slightest touch to her gums and they bleed. Abby nicked her a little laying down next to her last night, and Savanna didn't really notice, but I got scared to death when she smiled and her mouth was full of blood. I mean full. I got a cotton ball and was trying to soak it up because I honestly though Abby may have knocked out her tooth. I couldn't see her tooth and there was so much blood. Eh, well her teeth are all there. At least as far as I can tell. Like I said, you can't see most of them anymore.

The other night we almost made a trip to the ER because the pain was so much for her. It was like 1:30 am and Scott and I just watched her scream on our bed for about 40 minutes. It was hardest thing to watch. We were right about to go into hospital when the meds started kicking in and she quieted down, and actually became quite perky.

Since that night neither Savanna or myself have quite slept well. I think the worst part is knowing that it's a virus. There is nothing that can be done. Just pain medication, and possibly anti-viral meds but after the first outbreak it shouldn't happen again. Gosh I hope not.
It's day 10 now of this lovely experience and the blisters should be starting to disappear and she should be getting better. However she is still getting new ones and so it's off to the doctors again. Geesh.

Of course it is now 12 days til the funnest week ever and we need to be in tip top shape! So this doc better have a miracle cure, I'll keep you posted.
 

Friday, May 13, 2011

The discussion

    Now for most things in life, my husband and I see eye to eye. We have never really argued, and we can usually see each others point, and it ends in a "I guess we're both right" kinda way. I think I owe this civility to a handful of bad relationships where I wasn't always willing to be so complacent. But last night we had a discussion up the utmost importance, and it maddened me that I could not get him to see it my way...

"New" Micky Mouse vs. "classic" Micky Mouse.
You will notice a certain trend here in my posts leading up to our vacation. This house is filled with non-top talk of all things Disney, and I love it!

    It started by me asking if for a VERY early birthday gift of decorating the bathroom with a mild Mickey Mouse theme. We talked for a minute, and he knows I like Mickey stuff, and without thinking about it I slipped in "well if you ever get me anything Mickey, make sure it's classic Mickey."
"What do you mean?" He says. "What's the difference?"

"What?!?!" I though to myself. And I married this man?!?!
Now I'm just kidding... but I did feel the need to leave the dinner table and go to the computer to find examples of what I meant. And for those of you poor souls out there that don't know, I'll show you:

This is Classic Mickey:

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSC4l3JLvYMBltv4Vx0KAsCioCUIlerUtGbiplsjTzILANGQ1bX

And this is New Mickey:
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRWtOB96pk65Rikx1gMTkbtGqeQuI9yoXCIqNET2zZ3aJm2DBVr
 
And he says, "So what's the difference? They look the same"

Ummmmm, really? Is it just me? Am I crazy? They are totally different! But he just couldn't see it. This led to 10 minutes of pointing to a feature and discussing, pointing to another feature and discussing some more.

I eventually realized I need to pick my battles and I began to let it go.And of course at the end he threw in "Well I guess they might be a little different if you add up all the small stuff."

So it was draw. And once we again we reached common ground. However we never finished the discussion on the bathroom decor. Eh... We'll get back to that one.

But as a side note, we ended up having a great night last night because of our computer scene!
    My daughter Abby LOVES to watch you tube videos of rides from Disneyland... No really.
And it wasn't my doing I swear!
    After her last trip to Disneyland she begged everyday to go back on the pirate ride. It got to be a little old so I decided to find a video of it on you tube and she LOVED IT!!! With her imagination and a computer screen she has gone all the good rides over and over again. She gets really into it! She pretends to sit down, buckle her belt, she will raise her arms when she knows there is a drop, and yell as she reaches the bottom. It's quite a show. But after every short video I hear "mommy can you play it again?"
    But last night Scott came up with the idea of having her watch the parades.
She freaked out and started dancing all over the place. She demanded an audience and made told Scott and I to "sit on the ground and watch me." So we did. And we all danced to the "celebrate" parade. It was quite an evening =)

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

41 more days.

41 more days... 41 more days!!!

   41 more days until my first ever "official" family vacation and I am so stoked! Anyone that know me, knows that my upbringing didn't really allow for any "family vacations". Unless of course you count the one time my mom and I left in the middle of the night to drive 4 hours to my Aunt's house to hide away in a model apartment she managed so my step father wouldn't find us. But that's a story for another time.... But otherwise there have been no trips, no car rides, and I have never been camping or ever even really been to a zoo! (I know, I know) So this is a big deal to me.

    I am normally known for my VERY spur of the moment trips and not the well thought out planned excursions. I must mention that my husband is super awesome because he usually lets me have my way. We're talking 5:00 pm and I say "lets go to Knott's Berry Farm tomorrow".... and the next thing he knows it's 2:00 am and we are trying to navigate to a hotel room. (For those of you not from California, no it's not a berry farm. Think Magic Mountain but with home cooking. I had a few friends at the time say, "You want to go to a berry farm?!?!)

   But in just 41 days my family and I are going to Disneyland/ Disney California Adventure for 6 days. Or I should say California for 6 days, Disney for 4. 4 WHOLE days of nothing but DISNEY!!!!!

I'm a little bit of a Disney dork.

It's going to be so freakin' fabulous, you really have no idea. LOL
I have PLANNED THIS OUT BABY, YEAH!

  • Disney credit card for Disney Perks and dollars... check! (Don't worry, balance is paid in full about every week. Never even has the chance to gather interest)
  • Reservations made 60 days in advance for Ariel's Grotto, princess greeting dining... check (Oi! It's like $38 a plate... but it's THEE place to eat if you want to see the princess. and we DO!)
  • Reservations made for dining at the Blue Bayou restaurant located in Pirates of the Caribbean... check! (Another pricey meal, but SO good!)
  • Hotel booked at HoJo's... check !(For those of you who are not Disney dorks, this is the most popular resort that is not an actual Disney resort. And it's the closest resort located to Disneyland. Closer then the actual Disney hotel and it's got a water park)
  • Flight booked for the grandmother that is no longer going... check! (Don't get me started on this)
  • Pre-bought all of our Disney Collectible Trading Pins... check!
  • Buy tickets for the sale price... check!
and the best part.... are you ready? READY?!?!? It's already paid for!!! Now everything we set aside is going to be for food and fun! The big stuff is covered. LOVE IT!

   Actually the best part is how excited Abby is. I started introducing her to Disney stuff awhile back and she loves it. We don't have cable, so Abby has never watched the Disney channel, but she sure knows who everyone is! And she is ALL ABOUT the princesses! *sniffle* I thought this day would never come...

   When I started planning this trip, I got what I call, "the Disney itch". So we spur of the moment took Abby and Savanna to Disneyland. That was awhile ago and no kidding that girl still talks about it at least once everyday! She knows we are going back, but doesn't know when. So everyday she asks if we can go.
Won't she be surprised when we actually say "yes!"

So I wait, and wait and wait...
and wait some more.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Doctors.... ARGH!!!!!!

This is a really long and drawn out story about recent trip to the ER, and you are not required to read:

   1st I want to say, I hate shift change time at hospitals. Hate 'em! New nurses and new doctors that have no idea who the heck you are and to be honest they don't seem to really care.
   
   For the last few weeks, our family has had a little bit of a medical meltdown.To start, our youngest daughter Savanna had been very sick the whole week before Easter. Now I'm not a worry wort parent by any means, but her fevers were high, she wouldn't drink, and couldn't sleep. A few 2:00am trips to the Urgent Care and a week of not sleeping meant that I had no sleep as well. Literally about 10 hours spread out over 5 days.
   I am one of those people that needs sleep. If I don't sleep, I WILL get sick. Not usually, ALWAYS!
If I were a betting gal I could make some easy money because it happens EVERYTIME.....

    Soooooo, Easter Sunday we do a scavenger hunt for the baskets (super fun!), I make a big fatty breakfast (Super Yum!), and I get a little light headed so I decide to take a nap. Now when I woke up from this nap, I felt like I had been hit by a semi-truck. It proceeds to be a major pain in my left ear leading down to my throat on the left side and a fever. Now when I say fever, I mean FEVER. To put it into context for you, when the fever started to get much better, it was temped at 102.6.Yes, I was hating life. Everything got so bad I ended up "loosin' my lunch" and missin' an Easter dinner.
 
   The following day my kids were taken to a sitter and I had another horrible day. So the moment my wonderful husband gets home we head to the Urgent Care. This urgent care was recommended and I liked this doctor. The waiting room sucked beyond comprehension with it's very hard plastic booth like seats, but the doc was great. I had a fever of 102.8 and that was AFTER taking 200mg of Ibuprofen. He looked me over, gave a strep culture (which was negative), and found that my left ear was just filled with puss. Ewww. Now this doc was awesome and he gave me the best antibiotic, Augmentin. I love me some of this drug! I have taken it many times and it's so kick butt that usually after just 1 pill, I feel oh so much better. He tells me to, "go home and take IB and Tylenol together for the fever and pain for a couple days to let the meds kick in and all should be well." Then he cautions "If the fever is still there after 48 hours, I need to come back right away."

So 1 day passes
Then 2
Then 3...

   On the night of this 3rd day after taking 3.5 days of Augmentin, And being on 600 mg IB and 1000 mg of Tylenol I can't get my temp under 100.2 and I am in major pain in now both sides of my... well everything above my neck. So I force myself to face paint at an event (needed the money due to increasing medical costs) and the we rush off to a different Urgent Care since the one I liked was closed.
   They see that I still have a fever and they do a strep culture. Doc walks in looks me over. "You coughing?" he asks. "Nope" I say. He looks into my mouth and it is COVERED is white puss and white nodules.
"They did a strep test at the last doctor's office right?"
"Yep. Negative."
"Negative?!" He asks very confused.
"Yes negative" I repeat.
"Well my dear, I can see you have a VERY bad case of strep throat and our culture came back positive."
"No, But I was told it was just an ear infection"
"Nope, ears are good. But you have been on Augmentin for 4 days. No matter what it is, it should be gone by now. I'm going to my own culture and see."

    So he does one and leaves. When he returns he has another doctor with him.
"Oddly, this last test said negative! So here's the situation... you have massive infected nodules on the back of your throat and I believe you might actually have a ___insert long technical term___ abscess. I wish I could send you on you way home with a scip, but you are already on the strongest antibiotic we can give here. You need to get to the ER immediately where they will either A) give you a super antibiotic that can only be administered by an IV in a hospital or B) manually drain and remove the abscess.. But you need to go now."

  So to double check he has the other doctor look me over as well and he is just as baffled and he agrees that something needs to be done now due to the fact that I haven't been able to really eat or drink for days and I've lost 5lbs. So we trek across the street and head into the ER with our referral.

   At first we were treated like "ok whatever, you have a sore throat" but then the ER doc came over and took a look. It was basically spelled out to us that yes it was very bad, drugs may work, I need a CT scan and they will take me into the operating room to remove an abscess or the tonsils.

Great... surgery.
I'm scared now. What will we do? Scott can't miss work! Our kids are at home with a babysitter!

   So in-laws are called and my super awesome father in law drives 45 minutes out to our house and sleeps on the couch to watch our girls. Super cool! And everything in the ER goes super fast from that point. Urine test... check. Blood test.... check. IV hooked up... check. Given steroids... check. CT scan... check. After the CT scan I'm told it will be about 30-45 minutes to get the ball rolling and get results. It was fastest things have been done for me in an ER!

But then something strange happens...

NOTHING.

It's 3:45 am, I'm in major pain, 3 hours have gone by and we hear nothing from anyone!
I'm getting all stressed about surgery or some crazy new super drug. Scott is stressing about what to tell work because his job is on the line if he misses a day.

And yet, nothing.

4:00 am a new doctor comes into my little assigned area and says... "You're hear for a sore throat?"
The inner me was saying in a very sarcastic tone "uh yeah. I have a sore throat. That's the whole reason I have been waiting in this evil ER, spending waaaay too much money for a damned CTscan, and getting poked and injected, and bracing for surgery. Because of a little sore throat"

But what actually came out was something like, "uuuuuuhhhhhh. Well not just a sore throat" And I proceed to tell him the whole friggin' story you are reading now. And I might add that I have had to go over things with like 6 people already. You would think they would read a chart before they walk in!

"Hmm." He says. And he leaves.
 He returns now with paperwork and also a very condescending, and patronizing manner about him and (with his hand on my thigh![I should mention it was in a weird way]) he proceeds to tell me he doesn't think anything needs to be done. Every looks fine... Everything points to virus. No need for meds. Heck, I don't even need the meds I was on before!

He can tell I'm pissed.

And here's the kicker... He then says that "if it would make me feel better (emotionally)", he will still give me the super antibiotic. Even though in his medical opinion it's totally not needed, he will give it to me if it's what I want and will make me happy.

"Why would I?! You said it wouldn't work. I had 4 doctors tell me one thing, and you tell me something totally different"

He just repeats what he said before, just in different order.

"No! Just let me go home then."

And that was it! I like roller coasters... I do. But tonight was like one loooong, sloooow pull up a big hill (Anxiety flowing... I'm nervous, scared, excited (because I get this ailment all the time and to have tonsils removed I wouldn't have to deal with it any more) only to have the roller coaster ride end right after the top!

It sucked.
I'm pissed.
I'm very tired.
Still in pain.
Scott's tired and has to work!!!

This is why I hate doctors.....

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Really?

Have I really not posted on here since last July? Woah
Alright, alright... I had a friend get on me about blogging. I guess she actually read them, and LIKED them. So I can't let my audience (of 1, thanks Jamie) down. If I have a moment to spare tonight I'll write a little something
.