Fire! Fire!

We had a close call this past week! One of our friends had brought us dinner and came to see Will- and just as she was leaving, we saw fire trucks just a couple houses down. We wondered what was going on, when we heard the neighbor yell, "There's a fire in your back yard!"

I didn't register it right away- til we looked out our back window, and sure enough, 6-7 foot flames were right behind our fence! Very scary!! 

Lana- our friend- told Dan to hurry and go turn our hose on, so he did. He ran out and turned it on, and started spraying down our back fence, and the back side of the yard, and over the fence. The tall weeds by the train tracks had caught fire- most likely teenage shenanigans- and the fire was spread up and down the width of 5-6 homes! It got dangerously close to our back fence- 1-5 feet in places!! The fire fighters were combating it from 3 directions, and I am extremely grateful that it was caught when it was! It could have really devastated our yard/home and many of our neighbors! 

Dan called the county and we are waiting to hear back on who is responsible for that area- whether it is in fact the county or the rail road. In the meantime, Dan will be going back there every so often to chop things down low behind our home!

Surgery day!

If you have ever had any kind of medical procedure done, chances are you have been asked to fast for 12 or more hours. I don't know about you, but when I am hungry, I am cranky.
Chances are if you have had said medical procedure where you had to starve to death, you also had anxiety and hardly no sleep.  Well, we don't get any sleep around here anyway, but put that on top of some stress and no food, boy, you are in a bad way!

Us grown ups can handle all that, and usually with some dignity and grace. Asking a 13 month old to do so, and man you are in for a rough day! Unfortunately, Cameron's ear surgery wasn't scheduled until 1:15 and he couldn't have anything past midnight. An empty stomach makes his reflux worse, and because he still can't speak, it is really rough to try and soothe and explain to a 1 year old why he couldn't have any food or drink! It was torture!

Cameron handled it mostly well though, good natured and happy except for a few teary and sad moments. It was harder because the OR that he was scheduled to go in was running over an hour behind because of a problem and so some shuffling had to be done to switch OR's. He finally went in for his tubes at 2:30. Not even 15 minutes later, Dr. Colman was talking to us and telling us surgery went well.

By the time we got in to the recovery room, he was wobbly and awake and madder than hell that his mom and dad were no where in sight and he had no drink or food! I held him and calmed him down, and his nice nurse got him some apple juice. He drank it so quickly that he threw it all up and had to be monitored a little longer.

We treated this boy to pancakes and eggs on the way home.

Today, you wouldn't even know he had just had surgery! Good as new, and hopefully no more ear troubles!

February and March can just suck it.

{sigh} When it rains, it pours. I will probably seem snarky and whiny in this post. Having a sick kid sucks. Having a very sick kid that doesn't sleep makes it seem that I am living through the apocolypse.
Yesterday after Cameron's MRI, he was cranky, cuddly, and loopy. The day before he had a high fever, over 102, so I took him in to get checked to make sure he could go forward with the MRI. Well, there was no obvious reason for his fever Thursday, so on with the tests we went.

Let me randomly throw in that we took him to the doctor 4 out of 7 days this week. (UGH)

Cameron seemed to be fine until Friday night. His fever returned, he broke out in a terrible rash, and he didn't drink anything hardly at all since his MRI, and hadn't eaten for 2 days. After he had gone over 16 hours without a single wet diaper, and 3 hours miserably crying inconsolably, Dan and I decided that his fever and our circumstances warranted a 1:00am visit to the ER.

After examining this miserable boy, the ER doc diagnosed him with Coxsackies Virus. Otherwise known as Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. I have no idea where on earth he picked this up, but it has been a miserable 48 hours. They wanted to avoid an IV so they mixed up a magical little potion called Magic Mouth Wash- Maalox, Benadryl, and Lidocaine, to numb his mouth. He has blistering sores all over his diaper area, hands, and feet, and rash all over his body, his fever, and major sores in his mouth. No wonder he won't eat or drink eh!?
After letting the magic mouthwash kick in, he drank a few ounces of juice and they sent us home with a prescription for the magic potion.
He crashed after he finally got comfortable all loaded up on the mouthwash and motrin.

Needless to say, Dan and I are EXHAUSTED.

MRI

Today was Cameron's brain MRI. We had to check into the hospital at 6:30 this morning and we got home about 10:00. 

I was so worried, and so scared, and I know Dan was worried too. Thankfully, Dan and Dad gave Cameron and myself a blessing last weekend, and Dad gave Dan one too. It made this horribly long and difficult week easier to bear. 

Being told there is a possibility that something is wrong with your child's brain is a terrible thing. Knowing he stops breathing at night is a terrible thing. I don't know why he has had a rough first year, but I do know things happen for a reason. 

The MRI itself wasn't the scary part. Waiting for results and the preparation for the MRI were. Because the machine is so loud, and so closed in, and because you have to hold completely and perfectly still for an MRI, they had to put Cam under general anesthesia. 

He couldn't have anything to eat or drink, and he is recovering from a bit of a viral infection, so last night he was miserable. His reflux was worse because there was nothing we could give him to fill his stomach and calm it down. I didn't get any sleep, Dan got only a couple hours. I couldn't put him down because he was so upset from not feeling his best and from being hungry and thirsty. When we all got home from the hospital today, we all crashed. I haven't slept that hard and deep for over a year. It was only a 3 hour nap, but definitely better than nothing! 

For the anesthesia, they just used gas to knock him out. They let me hold him while they did it, and he was not happy about the mask. It was one of the longest minutes of my life waiting for the gas to work while he was upset. Once he was out, I almost lost it because I could just feel him go limp. It was so scary. Our anesthesiologist was so nice, and so good, with a high reputation at Primary Children's and he made me so much more at ease. I told him that it has never been without a fight that I could put him down. 

His MRI took about 40 minutes, and then we got to go to recovery while he woke up. That anesthesia sure did make for a groggy and grumpy day!

Here he is while we were meeting with the nurse practitioner for a final health exam for the procedure and with the anesthesiologist. 

We are becoming way too familiar with doctor's offices, and Cam really loves the stools. 

Here is my sweet boy just after he got knocked out! 

Crashed! Thank heavens for rest and cuddles!

I was thinking that we would have to wait a few days at least to hear about the results, but Dr. Tan's nurse called me this evening and went over the results with me. 

YAY for a normal brain! So relieved!!!! 

Dr. Tan said now that we can cross off the serious brain possibilities, and his tonsil and adenoids, we can now pinpoint that his issues with sleep are from his reflux. It has never been under great control, and now after meeting with the specialists, we found out that the reflux can actually cause the central sleep apnea. The plan for now is to see gastroenterology specialists to get his reflux resolved/managed, then work on his sleep from there!

I am so so grateful for prayer, for family and friends, and for all the love, concern, support, and prayers we have felt this week. It has been rough and we aren't in the all clear yet but we are getting answers, and answers with managable treatment options! 

Sleep Study

All my medical training, experience, and technical knowledge of what was going to happen just could not prepare me for the trauma it would cause my own son.
It was so upsetting to watch him get so upset and not understand why he was being tied down and hooked up.
I just about lost it, but I was able to hold my cool long enough for him to be hooked up and fall asleep.
Dan came home and was so upset about it that he couldn't sleep.
I was really stressed out about this because I knew that they would need 4-6 hours to analyze findings- but I was set at ease slightly when we arrived and I found out it didn't have to be 4-6 hours straight, just 4-6 hours total.
Well, it was a really rough night. Cameron fell asleep around 9:30- but slept really fitfully and restlessly until 12:30- he had woke up 3 times, and then I finally gave him some warm milk at 12:30am, and he was out! He finally fell into a good sleep pattern from then through 3:30- the respiratory tech over his study had to come in because one of his leads was unhooked, and she couldn't find where- unfortunately looking woke him up- and the frustration for her, Cam, and I, was that it wasn't even unhooked on him, but on the machine and he didn't need to be disturbed. How would she know without checking though?
Anyway, I tried for a long time to get him back to sleep, and I succeeded, until I put him back in the crib, then he just would not sleep, only play. We gave it a good effort, and decided to just unhook him an hour and a half early.
I think they got 4-5 hours, it will be cutting it close. Amber- our tech- I really liked her- said that if they didn't get enough hours, they will let us know and try to reschedule for as soon as possible, otherwise we will follow up with the sleep specialist in about 2 weeks.

After much deliberation, tears shed by all 3 of us over all the trauma that was this study, we won't repeat it. So I really hope and pray they got the info they need to help my son!

Here he is getting hooked all up!

All upset, but done and ready for bed-

While sleeping-

All done and unhooked- his poor skin reacted to the adhesive.

On the car ride back home, Amber our tech sent him home with a monkey blanket souvenir.

My baby Cameron is officially a toddler

Amazing how fast this last year has gone by! I love being Cameron's Mommy. Dan and I are so blessed to have such an amazing spirit in our home. We have learned so much about Cameron, babies, being parents, ourselves, and each other over this new adventure of becoming parents.
We decided to kick off birthday traditions and go all out with food, festivities, and presents.
Dan and I have decided we will write him each a letter every year on his birthday to keep with his baby book to give to him some day when he is grown up.
We also got him balloons, a big hit!

We all went out to eat on Saturday to our favorite- Olive Garden since Cam's birthday was Sunday this year.
We threw him a Pirate party! We had Pirate Booty snacks, veggies, cupcakes, and I made a pirate smash cake.

He had a great turn out for his birthday. I was really good about getting pictures of him opening some presents, and his cake, and him, but not so much of his actual party- bummer! We had great friends and family over to celebrate with us though, and we are so grateful for all of them. Cameron was so spoiled and got many new toys that he has really enjoyed playing with already!

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!"- Interpretation: Look Mom, another Book!!!

Of course the fur-babies helped celebrate too… Don't worry, it took lots of treats, distraction, and talent to capture a moment like this...

Cameron was so good to share his new toys with his friend Braelynn- She is 4 months younger than Cam. He is really noticing his friends and other children more and more and he loves to give babies kisses. Braelynn was no exception and he grabbed her and planted a kiss right on her while they were playing.

I didn't think too wisely about the whole candle, flame, cake thing- and I put Cam by his cake while the candle was lit. I couldn't keep him from touching it, and he touched the flame. I think it upset and scared him more than anything, because he didn't burn or even have a mark at all- but it made me sad because he was ready to dig right into his cake, and because of the candle he got upset and hesitated. Then, when he finally decided that his cake would be yummy and fun, everyone cheered for him so loudly he got scared and cried.

"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to…"

We really enjoyed celebrating our Cameron. He is such a bright addition to our home!