Another busy day

You know, I KEEP telling myself that I will NOT over-fill my day with too many appointments! Yet, I continue to do it!!! What is wrong with me???

Well, I know how it happens. At first there's just one appointment. Great. And then there's one appointment on each day. Then, I find out that Harlie needs to have another appointment done by a certain time. And when I go to schedule it, there's two appointments. Fine, I say. I can handle that. Then something else comes up and there's no other day that works for the other party, or me for that matter, and BAM! We have three appointments in one day. And while that might not sound that bad to you, it is. Trust me. It is exhausting. For all of us.

Today Harlie got another RSV shot. I really can't wait till spring when she doesn't have to get anymore. I am hoping this will be her last year. She's had them for three years now. But, no RSV, so that's good. This shot really hurt her. She was anticipating it. She is definitely becoming more aware about what is going on. So, since she was fighting a bit, I guess it hurt more than usual. She cried for about 20 minutes. And she's NEVER done that! But, she's okay now.

Then I had to go and order her next month's food supply. Then I had to rush home to collect Brandy and all the kids to go to see her local cardiologist for an echo (an ultrasound of her heart). She had to have this in preparation for her upcoming heart surgery. I took Murphy with us because he had a VSD (ventricular septal defect - a hole in between the ventricles of the heart) at birth, that closed up on its own. However, before his surgery this summer, the doctor noticed a murmur, so her cardiologist said he would be happy to take a look. He's good, no issues.

I think Harlie having the RSV shot earlier made this appointment much harder. They couldn't get a blood pressure reading because she was too upset. And the echo wasn't any better. He said it is hard to tell because she was crying during most of the echo. And getting the echo doesn't hurt her. It's just an ultrasound on her chest - but she didn't want any parts of it. But that's okay, her heart cath will tell us all we need to know. She needs to have a cath in preparation for her surgery, as well. That should happen in the next few weeks I'm guessing. Then all the info will go to DC for them to see before her surgery.

That's it. Oh! And her head is getting better. It is less swollen now (the worst was yesterday - it was huge!) But now it is black. Nice.

Take care,
Christy

Happy Thanksgiving...a little late.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We had the most quiet Thanksgiving we've EVER had. My parents went to Florida to visit my aunt and uncle for the holiday, my big brother, Bruce, and his family went to Northern Va, my little brother, Cabell, and his girlfriend went to her family's house, and my sister had her in-laws. So, that left us and my aunt that lives here in Richmond. So, it was just the six of us. Although, Harlie played outside that afternoon and by dinnertime she was wiped out and fell fast asleep on the couch (which she NEVER does, well, I guess I can't say never anymore, huh?). Anyway, so with Cooper and Harlie sleeping, it left the four of us at the table. But, Tom made a GREAT spread and we had fun and enjoyed the peace and quiet for a little while.

Unfortunately, Cooper had a terrible night. He coughed all night long. He's been fighting this cold for a while now (like weeks) and it just seemed to get noticeably worse all of a sudden. So, as soon as the peds office opened, I called and made an appointment for him. Although I have to tell you - deciding to take one of my "well" children in to the doctor is not easy for me. My perspective is so different now after all that we've been through with Harlie. I'm afraid that I've become a little desensitized. For example, he asked me how his work of breathing has been - labored? Um, no. I think. His nose isn't flaring, I know that. But I saw how hard Harlie worked to breathe last summer - like respirations over 100 was her NORM! So, what do I know??? Anything seems better than that. But I have to look at his baseline, not hers! Get a grip, Christy!

So, anyway, the ped did not like his cough at all, or the way his lungs sounded. So he checked his sats with their pulse ox and his sats were low 90s, high 80s (which is not good). So, he told me to take him to the ER for chest x-rays, RSV test, and pertussis test. And he told me to not be surprised if he was admitted. WHAT? Admitted? Cooper and not Harlie??? Whoa!

So, off to the ER we go. They took some blood and started an IV (he was such a champ, too, hardly even cried) plus they took a swab for the RSV test. Which came back positive! He has RSV. Luckily, it doesn't seem too terrible right now. And with my oxygen, pulse ox, and nebulizer availability, they let us take him home. There's nothing they can do for RSV, other than monitor him and give him oxygen when needed. And I can do that at home. So the risk of him catching something worse at the hospital is greater than the risk of bringing him home. So, we did. Hopefully we'll keep him here. Oh, and he has another double ear infection to boot (his second in just 2 months)! My poor little guy!!!

On a lighter note.. the other day, Harlie wanted to go outside with Murphy. Here's how it played out:

Gotta get my brother's hat on...





Okay, I'm all set...





Gotta sign "outside" just in case the hat and standing by the door isn't enough...





Here, I'll even open the door for myself...




No??? I can't go???





UGH!






Guess I don't need the stupid hat after all. Mean mommy.



And another day with her refusing to take a nap. Despite sitting in her crib for over 2 hours! Man, is she stubborn!!! So by dinner time this is what happened...










And lastly, I'll leave you with a few recent pics of Cooper. He's my round-faced charmer. He really is a sweet baby.














Take care!
~Christy