Pinky Toe Infection

Who knew a tiny little cut on your pinky toe could turn into this?!  I  had the cut for a few weeks and then it gradually got more and more sore.  Then yesterday Max stepped on it in the parking lot and it just about dropped me.  I screemed like a little girl.  And later in the dayI stubbed it on our rubbermaid tub of trains and almost peed myself it hurt so bad.  That's when I realized there was a red streak going up my foot and I decided I should go have it checked out.  Three IV antibioitcs, a quickly growing red streak and six hours later, I was discharged with an additional 10 day oral supply of antibiotics and a diagnosis of Staph Infection.  Not cool.  And not helping my training if I can't even put a shoe on.  Sucks!

Lapro Choly

Seems so weird to me that I can be sitting here, 48 hours post op,  without my gallbladder and not feel like its missing. Serously.  It has been with me for 33 years and then poof, it's gone.  I kind of feel like I should have thrown it a farewell party or something, but nope.  Nothing.  All it got after having me cuss at it for 9 months was a first class ticket out of my belly button in a platic bag.  Poor thing was probably just as sick of me as I was of it.  Holy cow.  I hated it.   And despite the fact that I was born with it, I do not miss it one bit.  Sorry GB, no soup for you!!!

T6 & Counting

It's only taken 10 months, 1 ER visit, an ultrasound, two meds, a couple x-rays, a CAT scan, a HIDA scan with CCK, 1 trip to Anchorage and an Endoscopy but in 6 days everything will hopefully be better and my gallbladder will be out of me!! 

Lesson Learned The Hard Way

Lesson: Pushing down a trash bag into the trash can to force the lid to close is not a good idea unless the above mentioned trash bag is full of feathers and definitely not half peeled back tomato soup can lids. Duh! Who would do that? Well a severed nerve, chopped blood vessel, nicked tendon and 15 stitches later (4 inside, 11 out) I definitely won't ever again.

Max Eye Surgery

For the first time in his life, Max woke up this morning with beautifully clear eyes. It's amazing.

He has had a clogged tear duct in his left eye since birth and finally got it fixed yesterday. His eye was always weepy with green goop in the corner and red dry circles underneath with some mornings it being crusted shut. But Dr. Zamber from the Eye Clinic of Fairbanks did a great job and now his eyes sparkle.

The night before surgery

Here's the same pic but zoomed in

We had to be at the hospital at 7:00am with surgery scheduled for 8:00 so we woke him up at 6:30, put him in the car and headed on over. He was such a trooper and never minded any of the poking and prodding that was involved in the pre-op. I was shocked. I thought he would have hated it but he just sat there and watched the nurses work on him. I was so proud.

Afterwards he was a little frantic which we were warned might happen from the anesthesia but after about 30 minutes he was allowed to have some apple juice and began to calm down. The poor child was starving! He hadn't had anything to eat or drink since 7pm the night before. So 6 oz of watered down apple juice and 5 oz of milk later, he was beginning to perk back up and was released to go home a little before 10:00am.

Mark on his head is to identify the correct eye to operate on

Summer Recap 5 - Bees!!

A few weeks ago Bo came running into the house squealing and crying. It was one of those shrills that as a mom you know something is REALLY wrong. He was tugging at his shirt and pointing to his back and screeching and screaming and squirming. . . .BEES!. . . . He had stepped on an in ground bee hive while playing in our front yard with his friend Devon and the little bastards flew up his shorts and tshirt and were stinging the living bajesus out of him.


I immediately started to strip him down but there were still bees hovering around him and a few clinging to the top of this sock so it soon became a battle of many fronts. Not only did I need to take care of Bo, but also protect Sam and Max, and get the freakin bees out of the house. It was chaos. Thank God Devon's mom, Becky, was here. I'm not sure what I would have done without her.

Being severely allergic herself, Becky took Bo into the bathroom and shut the door. This way she could help Bo and quarantine herself from the bees. She threw him in a hot shower to help reduce the sting. "TWELVE! THIRTEEN! FOURTEEN!" She tried to count the number of stings but lost track. There were too many. "WHERE'S THE BENADRYL?!"

All the while, I was bouncing around the kitchen like a crazy woman, swinging a turkey fryer lid in the air with one hand and a pot in the other. Quite the site, I'm sure. Especially when one of the bees bounced off the big ass lid and landed on my cheek. I honestly didn't know I could juke that fast or squeal that loud but boy let me tell you, it was not pretty.

It sucked!!!

But thankfully by the time my frantic kitchen dance was successful, Becky had already given Bo a hefty dose of Benadryl and had him almost entirely dressed. We both decided I needed to get him to the ER pronto because we had no idea how his body was going to react and we live 25 minutes away. I was freaked of anaphalaxis and out the door we flew.

(Becky stayed with Sam & Max until Marcia (Grandma) could get here.)

Luckily Bo never experienced any breathing issues but did receive an Epi shot, an oral steroid (prednisone) and another dose of Benadryl during the 4 hours we were at the ER for observation. They finally discharged him and sent us home with a 4 day prescription of prednisone and more Benadryl but told me to bring him back if the welts ever spread to areas other than the sting sites.

The sting sites started out as light red welts with his shoulder and calf hurting the most

Then turned into dark bright red patches locally around the stingsWhen I picked him up from school the next morning he had welts all over his abdomen, bum, forearms, and hamstrings. Needless to say, we went back to the doctor that afternoon and got prescribed an Epi pen for next time, just in case his reaction is worse. . .

. . .hopefully we will never have to find out.

Sam's 1 Year Stats

Height: 29.5 in (50%)
Weight: 24.5 lbs (75%)
Head: 18.75 in (75%)

And healthy as can be.

Croup De'Ville

We found out tonight that Bo has Croup*.

He's had a sore throat for a few days but nothing crazy. Then this morning he started complaining about it more and gradually started wheezing and making hoarse coughing sounds (which I now know is called "barking"). By the time he woke up from his afternoon nap, he sounded horrible, looked miserable, and was running a high fever.

I called our babysitter to come watch Sam and I took Bo to Urgent Care. When we got there his fever was 103 and he sounded even worse. The doctor diagnosed him immediately with Croup just by listening to his labored breathing and barking (he checked his lungs and ears but they were clear).

Said his first concern was to get Bo's fever down. We (I held him down while the doctor forced his mouth open) tried giving him some Tylenol and Motrin but he immediately puked it up all over us. Yummy.

On to plan B.

A Tylenol suppository (which Bo hated - I don't blame him) followed by a steroid shot in each thigh (hated that too) (normally would be given orally but due to the puking he had to get the shots), and a 15 minute breathing treatment. The nurses wrapped him up in a sheet like a burrito to keep his arms trapped down, and placed a dragon mask over his nose and mouth. He resisted for only a few seconds before falling asleep on my lap.

We then had to stick around for a couple of hours to make sure he didn't have a worse relapse after the breathing treatment wore off (which he didn't. Thank God). It was a long 2 hours but Bo was really good, despite the nurses giving him a coloring book with no crayons. What's up with that, Mr Supply Guy?

But we're home and he's in bed now, asleep. The poor guy has had a traumatic afternoon. I just hope the night is much less eventful. I'll keep you posted.

*Croup - Infection, inflammation and swelling of the larynx and surrounding tissue. This causes labored breathing and a characteristic "barking" noise with each inhalation or cough. Caused by contagious viral infection.

8 More Days

I had an OB check up yesterday, the first one since our ultrasound to "date the baby", and despite what Wes & I were told at the ultrasound, the doctor has our due date as October 10. Ugh. I am so frustrated. Not that 8 days is really that much of a difference when it's all an educated guess anyway, but still. I have had October 2 in my head for a month now and as far as I'm concerned, that's the due date.

But no, now I have to "redo" my 17th week. It's almost like having to repeat a grade in school (not that I really know what that would be like but just stay with me). You did it once, you thought you wouldn't have to again, but then someone tells you to go back and start over. Seventh grade again? Not cool.

And because I am a week behind what I thought, now I have to wait 4 weeks until my next appointment before getting the referral for the big ultrasound. Again, not cool. I was really banking on getting the referral yesterday and hopefully finding out the sex of the baby in a week or 2. Now I have to wait a good 5 more weeks to do so and I'm not happy about it.

But I really should shut my mouth; I have nothing to complain about. I am happy everything checked out yesterday. The baby's heart rate was strong, my blood pressure and weight on track, and all labs have been negative thus far. The baby appears healthy and he/she will decide whether Oct 2 or 10 is the right day, not the doctor.

House Of Snot

Sam is full of snot again. Poor guy. He's been running fever for 24 hours and has tons of green snot coming out of his nose at all times. He's a mess and thanks to the wonderful socialized health care of the US Army, there are NO appointments available yesterday, today or tomorrow. What's that all about?!?

I thought he might have an ear infection so I decided to take him to Urgent Care last night but once again, thanks to the wonderful inner workings of the US Army, the waiting room was packed. Standing room only. All infants and kids. (Can't someone see the pediatric unit needs a complete overhaul here? Hello!) So when the triage lady told me it was a 4-6 hour wait, we turned around and came home. That's ridiculous. I'm sorry but the last thing I wanted to do was sit there for hours upon hours. Besides, I think I got sick just walking in there. Hepatitis maybe. Or gangrene. Can you even catch gangrene? I don't know but I think I just did.

And to make it all worse, Sam HATES, and I mean HATES to have his nose wiped. The mere site of a tissue makes him cry. So I have tried to become the stealth wiper. Coming in from all angles when he least expects it. Over the top, around the corner, with tissues, with fingers (I'm desperate), with washcloths, with burp rags, you name it, I've wiped with it. Although 9 times out of 10 I just end up smearing it all over his cheeks rather than really wiping it up. Not good. And then in his attempts to evade the apparently not-so-stealth wiper, he ends up burying his face into my chest and smearing the snot all over my shirt. If only you could see me now. Me and my skid-marked snotty tee. Yumm. I am quite the site, let me tell you.

And so we are home, waiting it out. The snot and the cold. It is really cold here today. Our thermometer has been hovering around -20F and it's supposed to keep getting colder this weekend. Ugh. Thank goodness we are getting out of here in 2 weeks. Warm weather here we come.

Miracle Drug

This stuff is AMAZING!! I have had the worst head cold for a week and have felt like shit the whole time. I have used almost an entire box of Sudafed and at least 2 boxes of tissues this week and nothing has helped relieve the intense pressure behind by ears or horrible block of cement that has so rudely taken up space in my head. Well, nothing until now.

Thanks to advice from my Uncle Doc, I went out tonight and bought some Afrin. 20 minutes and 6 squirts ago, I became a new woman. I can breathe clearly for the first time in days and am loving it. I keep inhaling huge breaths through my nose to feel the cool mouthwashy feel it left behind. It's so great. I'm telling you, if you haven't ever tried it, you need to (if you get a bad head cold that is).

What I don't get though, is why my doctor never suggested it to me. It sure seems simple enough and much cheaper than the drug cocktail of Sudafed, Motrin & Vicodin he prescribed to me. Is this something that lots of other people know about or no? Either way, it is new to me, and believe you me, I am a new fan and will always keep a bottle on hand just in case.

I'm going to go to bed now and enjoy sleeping on 1 pillow instead of having to prop my head up on 3 to try and breathe. I just hope it lasts until morning becuase the bottle says to not use it more than twice in 24 hours. My fingers are crossed.

More Of An Ohlendorf

Today was Sam's 4 month well-baby check up and other than a slight problem still with cradle-cap, he's healthy (and BIG) as can be.

Height: 25.6 in (75%)
Weight: 16.83 lbs (90%)
Head Circumference: 17.13 in (75%)

Bo was always in the 50% for height and weight, more of a Madden, but Sam appears to be taking on the size of an Ohlendorf. We'll know for sure if his calves start bulging out of his socks, oh wait, they already do. Sorry, Sam.

The doctor seems to think his eyes are going to stay blue. She says you can usually tell by 3 months if they are going to change or not.

He was supposed to get shots today but the doctor was running so far behind that by the time we finally got done, the Immunization clinic was closed. Gotta love socialized health care. Heaven forbid they figure out how to schedule more than one shift of people so they don't have to close down for lunch. But wait, that would make too much sense and nothing makes sense when you're dealing with the Army, now does it?! And as if lugging 2 kids to the hospital wasn't fun enough today, we get to go back again tomorrow. I can't wait.

Foot Update

After spending yesterday morning in the ER getting x-rays of Bo's foot, it turns out it's just sprained. Thank goodness!! He is still limping and occasionally drops to his knees to crawl but at least nothing is broken.

I think the nurses were really bored while we were there because Bo got ultra pampered. He got a glove-balloon, a Popsicle and a sticker. He even got pushed around in a wheel-chair, but nothing seemed to cheer him up. He cried and cried and cried to "go home". It wasn't until we stopped and got a chocolate shake on the way home that things started to get better. Imagine that.

So for now, we are back to life as usual. A slower, less jumpy form of usual, but usual none-the-less. Now, if only we can do something about our yard being covered in snow this morning, we would be really doing great. Ugh . . .