Stuff

Okay, first off, if you haven't yet watched this video, watch it now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbxnfGvEojg&feature=related

I've watched it several times, and each time, it makes me smile. Everyone just looks so incredibly happy, which is how a wedding should be. I mentioned it to my favorite deacon, a 70-year-old woman, today at church, and she beamed. "Oh, I saw that on the news! I haven't seen the whole thing, but what I saw, I loved! All weddings should be that happy!" When I got home, I emailed her the link for the whole video.

Frank is doing well. Thursday we stayed home all day, and my mother in law came over. She stayed for dinner and overnight, leaving Friday at 12:30pm, when I put Frank in for a nap. By Friday, he was acting a bit more cranky, which eventually I figured out was because the kid was bored, so I took him to the library and to a couple of stores after his nap. That improved his mood a great deal. Over the weekend, he's been fine, too, except when we had to give him his medication (an antibiotic- preventatively, and ear drops). He hates them both, and cries the whole time I put the ear drops in. Fortunately, yesterday was the last day for the drops, and tomorrow is the last time for the pink medicine.

I'm watching a show right now entitled "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant". I wish my pregnancy had been so easy that I didn't know I was pregnant!

Saturday I leave for Phildelphia for five days, for the national conference of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID). I'm driving down with three coworkers, and rooming with them, and I can't wait! It's going to be so much fun. Oh, and I think I can get all the CEUs I need for the entire year in five day, too. :) I'm meeting a friend of ours from college, G, for brunch on Monday morning. He lives in NJ, just outside Philly.

I've been trying to weed, and get an hour here and an hour there done, but it's hard- number one, herding Frank at the same time makes it somewhat unproductive, so I have to wait until he's in for a nap, and number two, the mosquitoes are TERRIBLE this year! I have so many bites, and I think a couple of them got infected. I scar very easily, too, so it doubly sucks.

We finally got the deck furniture this week we ordered from Target in early May, and got it up today. It looks nice. Things are finally starting to look put together around here!

Surgery

Frank's surgery was this morning, at 9:30am. I wasn't terribly nervous about it until I got the phone call on Monday telling me the time it was slated for. I've been reading a couple of books to him about hospitals the past few days- Curious George Goes to the Hospital and Harry Goes to the Hospital. I've been talking the past few days about how, "Wednesday, we'll all go to the hospital. You'll go to sleep and the doctor will fix your ears, and when you wake up, Mommy and Daddy will be there." I'm honestly not sure how much of that he got, really.

He was in a great mood when we woke him up this morning, and was singing "Bob the Builder" the entire way to the hospital. This can get quite grating after a minute or so, because he only really knows the "Bob the Builder/Can we fix it/Bob the builder/yes we can!" part. He mumbles his way through the rest of it, and then sings nice and loud again for the chorus...and insists that whoever is in the car sings with him.

We got to the hospital at 8:20am, signed in, and I filled out paperwork while Darrel entertained Frank. At 9:15am, they took us back in, and we had more paperwork. We got Frank into his PJ bottoms and the blue hospital gown top. He sat there and cried the whole time. Once we identified to the nurse that I was the parent who was going into the OR with him, she gave me an outfit to put on over my clothes; as Darrel put it, "Look, Frank- Mommy looks like she's ready to go clean up a toxic waste dump!" It was a one piece white (disposable) jumpsuit, booties of the same material, and a hat. (If you've seen ER, then you know what kind of hat I am talking about.) The jumpsuit zipped up the front.

We then went to another waiting area, this one with some toys, which cheered Frank up a bit. Oh, and the nurse gave him stickers, too, which are always a winner. We met with the anesthesiologist there, and Dr G came in to talk to us for a few minutes. Darrel had never met Dr G before, so I introduced them, (Darrel's comment later: "Boy, their styles [both ENT doctors] really are very different!") Once that whole thing was over, it was time. We took Frank's shoes off, and I followed Dr G and carried him into the OR. The OR looked exactly like the one in the Curious George book, a fact I pointed out to Frank...who was not at all impressed by it, mostly because he'd been crying constantly since we took his shoes off.

I sat him down on the table, and the anesthesiologist moved him towards the pillow/head area, so that he was sitting there, looking at me, with his back to her. She gently placed the mask on his face, and held him and the mask firmly. He didn't fight- he just sat there crying, looking utterly defeated. I gently held his hands, told him I loved him, he was doing a great job, and when he woke up, Daddy and I would be there. In less than a minute, he was completely limp- it took me by surprise as to how quickly it happened, truthfully. And it was a bit creepy seeing it happen, and seeing him so limp like that, more limp than when he's sleeping, even!

Dr G escorted me out of the OR and pointed me back towards where Darrel was waiting. He also complimented me on how well I'd done. "Yeah, we get some parents in here...they get very emotional, which obviously doesn't do the kids any good. You did a great job and so did he."

Darrel and I went back out to the waiting room. 45 minutes later, Dr G came out- everything went fine, Frank was in recovery, and when he woke up, someone would get us. 15 minutes after that, we were informed that he was awake. We hurried back, and he was sitting on a full-size gurney, looking so tiny...and crying. As I approached him, he sobbed, "Can you pick me up?" We maneuvered the IV lines and pulse ox monitor, and I picked him up and held him. They wheeled the gurney out and a recliner chair in, and I sat on that, holding him. He lay his head on my shoulder again and fell asleep almost immediately, and stayed asleep for another hour, when we were moved to the secondary recovery area. He woke up enough at that point to indicate something of an interest in a Teletubbies video they had there...and threw up, twice. It was pretty much all blood and mucus the first time, and it wasn't much- apparently that'll happen because it gets into his stomach during the surgery. The scond time, it was applesauce and "Grover juice" (white grape juice, so called because there's a picture of Grover on it).

We left at close to 1pm. He fell asleep in the car almost before we left the parking lot. As I told my mother later, "It was like he was narcoleptic- he was crying, 'Waaaa-'. I looked back at him, and he was snoring!" He slept the whole way home, waking up when I undid his carseat. We tried to get him to drink or something, and he drank a few sips of Grover juice...and yakked all over one of our couches and himself and me. *sigh* (Side note: I think I need a new couch, it's that bad.) However, once I was changing his clothes after this fiasco, he looked up at me and announced in a clear voice, "I feel all better now!!" *giggles*

A short while later, he said his belly was hurting again. I took a chance because he wasn't being whiney about it (With him, whiney + "my belly hurts" usually = vomit soon; statement of fact about belly hurting usually means extreme hunger.) and gave him half a bagel...which he tore into like a freaking animal, he was so hungry!! I cautioned him to go slowly, but he kept tearing into it. He kept that down, drank a full Grover juice, ate a few bites of applesauce, and two chicken nuggets between 4pm and 7:30pm. I think he'll be fine. ;)

Side note: His voice is really high pitched now. It sounds like he's been sucking on helium. (They had told me this could happen, and should clear in a few days.) It's freaking hilarious. I have to work to keep from giggling each time the kid talks!

Surgery is scheduled...

...for July 22nd. I don't yet know what time, but it should be in the morning, since, as was explained to me, they take younger kids earlier. He's having ear tubes put in, and adenoids taken out. He is also having what's called a tonsil ablation (sp?). Basically, this means they are not removing the tonsils; they are instead, shaving them down, leaving some tonsil tissue. It sounds like a win-win situation for him: it has approximately the same recovery as just adenoids and ear tubes (a few days), and a fraction at most of the pain associated with full tonsilectomy, because they don't cut away onto the throat muscle, not to mention much less risk of bleeding and stuff. (The surgery itself should take all of a half hour, a fact that surprised me, but apparently, as far as surgeries go, none of these are very complex.)

The doctor recommended this as opposed to simply leaving them or removing them altogether for a few reasons: Just because he's never been diagnosed with tonsilitis doesn't mean he won't be in the future, and chances of that happening are much less with less tonsil in there. Same goes for sleep apnea, which he currently does not have; it doesn't mean he couldn't develop it at some point in the future, but the chances are much less.

Time-wise, the 22nd works out well for us, too: it's well over a week before I leave for my RID convention, which means if he takes longer than expected to recuperate, I'll still be around to take care of him during the day. We're not going away on vacation at all after that, either. And it's just over a month before I go back to school.

Still, though...this is my baby going in for surgery. He's going to be scared and confused, no matter what books we read him beforehand or what we tell him! :(

My son the charmer

So, I picked the kid up from daycare today. Now, just so you can visualize this properly, I did yardwork for the two hours prior to me picking him up, and was wearing an old tank top and shorts. (I also haven't shaved my legs in at least three days, but I doubt he notices such things.)

We got home, I turned on his favorite TV show, and I went to get his dinner and ours ready.

When I brought him a sippy cup with milk in it, he looked up from the TV and said, "Mommy, you look GOERGOUS!"

I burst out laughing. I did thank him. He looked pleased with himself for making me laugh. If he were older, I would have responded with, "Okay, what do you want?"

Oh, and he said that his new girlfriend is J, a different little girl than K, his one true love these many months. K does not come to daycare on Mondays and Fridays, though, so I am willing to bet that when K shows up tomorrow, she is now his girlfriend again.

In about ten years, there are going to be females calling this house day and night.

I am so screwed.

Bees!

We have bees! Those who know me well will be able to hear the mortal terror in my tone when I say that line.

Bees have decided to make the eaves just off our deck their new cozy home. Darrel sprayed this evening, after the sun went down, with some Raid wasp and hornet spray. He reports that the bees seem pretty pissed, and are completely unwilling to go anywhere near the eaves. Me, I'd rather have them dead than pissed, because alive and pissed means they can just find another home...hopefully one far away from my house!

As if I didn't have enough to worry about here, between the bears and the snakes...

Oh, I never mentioned the snakes? Well, one snake, but still. Two weeks ago, Frank and I were coming home in the afternoon, and we walked around to the front door. As we passed one of the bushes, I looked closely at the odd thing that looked somewhat like a stick nestled cozily on top of it.

It was a snake. Mere feet from my house. And mere feet from my two-year-old, who fears nothing.

I picked up said two-year-old, and pointed out the snake. "Ohhh...can I touch it?" he asked, as I'd known he would. (I do hate to say it, but in certain ways, I am finding toddlers to be quite predictable!)

"No," I told him. "Never, ever, ever touch a snake. Snakes can bite, and it will hurt! Don't touch the snake. If you see a snake, don't touch, tell Mommy and Daddy."

I think it's (sort of) sunk in, mostly because I quiz him on this from time to time. "Frank, what do you do if you see a snake?"

"Tell Mommy and Daddy."

"Do you touch the snake?"

"No!"

Who knew I moved out to wild freaking kingdom??

Walk to Defeat ALS

I noticed I got a comment from the ALS Association of Greater New York on one of my previous postings *waves* Yes, I did walk again this year, and I raised more than I had ever raised before- more than $1000!! I don't have an exact amount yet, because a couple of donations have just come in now, two weeks after the walk. I'm really pleased with how well I did; I think my top before was $500.

Frank, a coworker, P, and I walked that day. Well, we planned on walking. P brought a friend of hers, and we met up with her neighbors there, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise- Frank had an absolute meltdown! See, the area before you actually start walking is noisy, with a huge sound system blasting out music, and there are tons of people there. It was too crowded and too noisy for him to handle- he just started crying and couldn't stop. Usually, he doesn't seem to have a problem with noise- Lord knows there have been plenty of times I've walked into daycare to pick him up and the place has been an absolute zoo- but for whatever reason, he couldn't handle it that day, so he and I left before the walk even started. :( Still, though, the ALS Association got the money, which is the important part, I guess, but I was rather disappointed. I'm going to definitely reconsider whether I take him next year or not! Anyway, P and her friend walked together, and they had a good time. The weather was perfect that day, too.

I have an appointment next Thursday with Frank's ENT doctor. Hopefully I can schedule his surgery while I am there.

I'm back!

Yeah, okay, I took a couple of months off. Honestly, I wasn't sure what to write about, and then I was too tired, and too lazy, so...yeah.

Anyway, it's officially summer! I say officially because school got out this past Monday, and Graduation was Monday night. It's hard to say who's more happy on Graduation day- students or staff. I think this year the staff won that contest. I can't say too much here, but there's a lot of things going on at work right now that are making it a very stressful place to be. Hopefully a summer of rest for everyone will help that situation a bit.

Frank is doing okay. I'm not sure if I've blogged about his ear infection saga or not, and am feeling too lazy to go back and check. Anyway, he had an upper respiratory creeping crud thing back in late January; I brought him to the pediatrician, and she looked in his ears and told me that he also had a double ear infection, a bad one. She prescribed an antibiotic and told me to bring him back in a week to get checked out, it was that bad; normally, for ears, she has patients come back in four weeks. Darrel took him back the following week, and the upper respiratory thing was much better, but the ears were just as bad, so home they came with antibiotic number two. One month later, we went back- the ears were better, but not totally healed, so home we went with antibiotic number three. One month later, (we're now on the first week in April, for those playing along at home) back we went- the ears still had fluid, albeit noninfected. She said that, if not for his history, she wouldn't be concerned about it, but with his history, she recommended that we take him to an ear, nose and throat specialist. (ENT)

Darrel and I took him to Dr. L. Not only was his card one of the handful of possibilities that the pediatrician gave us, but the mother of one of Frank's classmates recommended him, saying he had a good way with kids, and was not "quick to cut". I did not like this doctor, but couldn't put my finger on what bothered me. Anyway, he recomended tubes, which we figured was coming, and when he looked in Frank's throat, he said his tonsils were huge, and would need to come out, and oh, the adenoids would need to go, too- did we hear that nasally quality in Frank's speech? That was from the tonsils and the adenoids being too large. They also needed to come out because they were blocking the Eustachian tubes, and even if he got tubes, in a year or two, we'd be back where we started with the ears. He basically just threw this all at us, without really giving us time to ask questions.

Well, I asked him if the surgery could wait until July- I have off for the summer, and it's not really feasible for either of us to take two weeks off during the school year to be home with Frank while he recovers from surgery. His answer? "It's possible but not optimal. Get Grandma or someone to stay with him, if you can't."

"Well, see, that's precisely the problem," I told him icily. "We don't have anyone who can stay with him."

"Well, you can get Family Leave, right?"

"No, not really. I've been absent too much this school year as is, and I do not have tenure."

Grr. Anyway, we went home and thought the whole thing through, and I talked to my coworkers, experienced mommies all. After hearing many tell me to bring him for a second opinion, I did, to Dr. G.

I should have gone to Dr. G to begin with! From the start, I felt much more comfortable with him. After listening to me tell him the history, he looked in Frank's throat and commented, "Well, his tonsils are kinda big, but they're not the biggest I've ever seen. How many times has he had tonsilitis?"

"Um...he's never been diagnosed with it," I told him. Yes, I fully appreciate that he may have had it but never been formally diagnosed with it, which is why I phrased the repsonse that way. Dr. G frowned.

"Does he have sleep apnea? Snoring, sounds like he stops breathing during the night?"

"He breathes deeply, but he doesn't do that stereotypical snore, you know? And as for the breathing...we don't keep the monitor on all night. I can't say that he does, but I can't say that he doesn't, either."

Dr. G explained that he was not a fan of "while we're in there, let's yank the tonsils, too." He said without sleep apnea and without a history of tonsilitis, he was uncomfortable recommending the tonsils come out, and referred him for a sleep study, in the pediatric sleep lab at the hospital.

We did the sleep study Friday night. Yay for spending the night ina vinyl recliner next to Frank's crib. [/heavy sarcasm] Frank was confused and upset, and kept asking to go home. :( Beforehand, I had cringed at the thought of the electrodes- yay for putting sticky things on the skin of a child with Sensory Processing Disorder! This is a child who won't even let us put a band-aid on him. Seriously, he'd rather bleed. We even tried the Elmo band-aids- no dice. However, he handled the electrodes better than I had thought he would. he still wasn't happy about them, but he didn't try to yank them all off like I'd expected him to.

The other annoyance was, when he rolled over during the night, some of the electrodes fell off, which meant the tech had to come in and reattach them, waking him up in the process. Needless to say, both Frank and I were just in a wonderful mood by about 6am, when they sent us on our merry way. Saturday night, we both slept quite well!

The good news is, he does not have sleep apnea! I need to make the follow-up appointment with Dr G (I transferred his records from Dr L to Dr G last week), and then schedule the surgery. But I feel much better not having to do the tonsils- the recovery time will apparently be half without that!!