Three weeks of confusion

We finally seemed to have gotten a proper and accurate diagnosis of what was ailing our youngest. After weeks of random “illness” we became quite concerned. When a child throws up you almost instantly think of an infection, usually viral. That’s how it all started but it seemed suspicious even then.

He appeared to have a fever one evening, the became ill. He slept the night with no incident, which was odd. He awoke, had a bottle and became ill again. Afterwards he proceeded to run around the house like a madman. This child wasn’t “sick” so off to daycare he went.

The week went by without incident, until Friday.

The daycare calls around late morning and he is vomiting. By the time I got to him he’d done it again and while picking him up he became ill yet again. This went on for hours. I believe I counted at least 10 times that he got sick to his stomach. He looked bad, lethargic and just laid on the bed, not moving, except to get sick.

If you’re a parent and you’ve experienced the feeling of helplessness when your child is ill, it’s an experience like none other. We hurt when they hurt.

I was angry at whatever was causing this. All I could do was shake my fist in the air and curse. It didn’t help my son though. I finally took him into the pediatrician late that afternoon. I had a towel with me at all times but amazingly enough he did not become ill in our visit.

They poked and prodded him but were dumbfounded, as was I. They said he had slight fever but the whole time he felt somewhat cool to the touch. He didn’t feel feverish though he sort of acted it. Usually a sign of viral infection in children are the “fun” diapers. His only symptoms were vomiting and lethargy with sporadic (days apart) bad diapers. That should have keyed us in but I’ll get to that. I left with the loose diagnosis of it being a virus but no one was sure. That wasn’t a good feeling.

Yes, I know, talking about vomit and poo aren’t exactly glamorous but it’s been a long ordeal and I am going to blog about it!

He seemed to recover from that Friday ordeal and we went nearly another week without incident. Then early this past Saturday it all started up again. Uncontrollable vomiting, lethargy, etc. He exhibited the same exact symptoms as the previous Friday. This was no virus but what was it?

We took him in to the doc again and they agreed, finally. Though instead of ordering some tests to confirm anything we still felt left in the dark. Dammit I want some tests run! The whole weekend he acted weird.

Sunday afternoon he became ill again… (Happy Mother’s Day!)

Then Monday evening he became ill, yet again….

Finally Tuesday morning he was ill and we decided it was time for a second opinion. We called up our old pediatrician that the oldest went to (he is now 6, the youngest is nearly 2, btw). They said to bring him in, no question about it, something wasn’t right. I was at work and anxiously awaited an answer.

They ran a few tests which came back with nothing unusual. Then they ordered the X-Ray and at last, we may have found the answer. Our kid was constipated.

Whoa, whoa… say what? I got the call from my wife and I was actually shocked. How could it be so simple? Then the symptoms all made sense. The doctor listened to everything and indeed everything pointed to that.

Why the throwing up? There was no room in him! It wasn’t a complete blockage which explained why it seemed to come and go but it was enough to be prolonged. More was going in than coming out, that’s the bottom line. So now we have him on a few things to help move things along and we’re going to watch his diet more closely.

He seems to have improved over the past two days though we’re still watching him. I’m just glad the initial diagnosis was something simple.

We now end our poo broadcast.

[this is where you see my speechlessness]

What a HELL of a week.  Monday started off ok.  I went to my old surgeon to check on my hernia region.  I have some pain there but he says the hernia is still under wraps.  So I just have to live with the pain.  That’s how that rolls.

Well that evening my throat started hurting a tad, meh.  The next morning rolls around I’m feverish and have chills and I’m a bit uncomfy but I go into work with some cough drops and other meds to ward it off.  It’s not working and as the day progresses I feel worse and worse.  Around lunch I decide I gotta go to the doc again.

I go in at 4pm and give them the story and the first thing out of the doc’s mouth is ‘You’ve got the Flu’.  I have to say I wasn’t surprised really.  Well she tried to confirm it by sticking a cotton swab in my throat, eh, no thanks.  She said Flu, I’ll concur, get the swab away.  You ladies [sexist comment omitted]… oops.  Anyway, so I’m down with the Flu.

I head to work to tell them, they run me off as soon as the word Flu left my mouth.  So I head home.  I’m aching, throat is KILLING ME and otherwise just feel like poo on a stick.  I popped my meds as soon as I got them and layed down for the night.  It was a long night, sweating profusely, throat throbbing, weird dreams.  I woke up feeling like a train rolled over me.  I started on the steroids ASAP and those helped a lot.  My throat really benefited from them.

For the next several hours I’m on a roller coaster of feeling so-so and feeling like total crap.  I get some naps in and so forth and feel like I’m on the upswing from this mess.

I went ahead and stayed out one extra day because it’s the right thing to do, to try and prevent the spread of this illness.

So now I’m back at work and feeling better though I still sound bad and I’m pretty dang tired.  That’s it for the year.  No more sickness.  Done, Fin, Kaput! GRRR!!  Leave us alone you damn dirty germs!!

Falling Down

Anyone remember this movie?  Pretty normal guy just gets absolutely crapped on to the brink and then he snaps.  The guy trying to stop him is in a similar but worse situation yet retains optimism and hope.  Well I think we all have a little of both characters in us.  Sometimes we want to go and “right” all the wrong doings to us and society.  We want pay back.

Sometimes we don’t have control over things.  Sometimes we bring things on ourselves.  So that leaves only a portion of that original angst to be brought out on what other people have done to you.  Chances are that whoever did something to you was doing their job and their boss got it passed down from their boss.  It gets to the point where whoever makes the decisions isn’t really saying that YOU will fall victim to them, but everyone will (well, most everyone).  So now we’re left with the guy who can’t drive because he pulled out in front of you.  Have you ever pulled out in front of someone and didn’t realize they were going as fast or that you swear they weren’t there?  Yeah now more and more you realize that you’re actually in control of more than you thought.

Where am I going with this?  To echo the previous post, the past 30 days have been hell.  Illness ridden, unhealthy eating habits, etc.  The good news is that we weren’t in control of most of that.  We can’t decide when to be sick and when not to nor can we decide that for our children.  We can choose whether or not to give up or keep pushing onward.

So we keep pushing onward.  We have our plan for success and now we have to make sure the things we can’t control aren’t in the way.  With the latest string of illness hopefully nearing an end we can act on the plan.  Choppy writing here too, my apologies.  I’m at home with the sick child.

[L]

Sickness

This go ’round the kids seem to be sicker and more often.  Our youngest just can’t shake a cold.  It comes and goes but at least it does so quickly.  He’ll be rough about 2-3 days then he’s good for a couple of weeks, then he gets a cold again it seems.  The oldest is sporting a nice cough as well and we’ve all battled colds, strep and the like over the past few weeks.

I’d really like a good solid REAL snow event but more than that, I want warm, no, I want HOT weather.  Cold weather is nice for a few days then it just needs to go away.  I mean, what good is cold if there is no precip eh?

The year in money so far is ‘so-so’ much the same way our diet is ‘so-so’.  Exercise just doesn’t exist right now.  With two kids (and sick at that) there just isn’t time. 

We’re still waiting on a couple of late Christmas gifts to get our basement gym in working order.   A food saver will also be in that package and we’re going to take a bit of sidework money for the freezer.  After those expenditures the budget goes into ‘debt pay’ mode.  With that, she and I will agree on a strict budget.  To which we’ll add a structured eating routine.  We have enough randomness in life and random money spending with random eating just makes it randomania.  I don’t wanna be RANDO-MAN!

50% through the day – Update!

I have pharyngitis. It will come to the relief of the wife and kids that I won’t die from a sore throat.

Another side update. We’re tracking our intake once again on www.fitday.com – If you haven’t seen or heard of this site, then you have now.

Problem: I CAN’T LOSE WEIGHT
Cause: I HAVE NO IDEA!
Solution: Track what you eat. Everything. All of it. Every single bite.

You’ll find that tracking your daily food intake can be quite eye opening. The old adage is true. Eat right, exercise regularly, drink plenty of water and you will, for the most part, be healthy. No, it is not a cure all for everything. If you’re going to go through life, you might as well try to live up to your potential, yes?