Sleep specialist and a 7 year old

I took Big M to a pediatric sleep specialist last week, 3-hours south. Why we have to drive so far, I have no idea. Little M's gastroenterologist is 2.5 hrs away.

I explained to doctor Big M's sleep issue and after a long talk, I didn't really have an aha moment. Daddy didn't have that moment either after I relayed what happened with our visit. Big M takes at least 2 hours to fall asleep, sleeps lightly and wakes up several times a night and sometimes he stays awake for an hot or longer. He has night terrors frequently. As a result he is always tired and it is affecting his behavior, it affects his learning, and his emotional state. We've been trying to cope with a very low dose melatonin, but he is still barely getting enough rest.

The specialist seemed to hone in on his night terror. She said that the night terror could be the culprit and is waking him up and because he isn't getting enough sleep it is making him more prone to even more/worse night terror. That made sense to me even though I don't believe that it is the root cause of his problem.

Ever since Big M was an infant, he is a light sleeper. I have to rock him for him to fall asleep. Then we had to lay with him for him to fall asleep. Daddy and I remember that at 1-2 yrs old we had to be in constant contact with him in bed. We learned to inch away a little at a time so that we could sneak out at night, only for him to extend his arm or leg so that he could keep touching us - when we were pretty sure after 1 hour that he was already sleep. It makes sense now, that he probably wasn't sleep because it took him very long to fall asleep.

We have no answers yet and we don't expect to, not until the actual sleep study. We are going to get called by the sleep lab within the next week or so to set up an appointment . Daddy will be with him , for the over night stay. Hopefully then we would know why Big M has such a hard time sleeping.

Curious George's first blood work

Late this afternoon, I rushed the kids to the hospital where LabCorp is in order to do Curious George's blood work up. I met Daddy there, since we know it was going to be difficult for Curious George. I helped Curious George, while Daddy took care of the girls.

I didn't tell Curious George what we're there for until I pulled in the hospital parking lot. "Why are we at the hospital?", Curious George asked. "Matty, we're here to make sure you're not sick. I need you to be brave." I told him. At that he started his whining, "I don't want a shot!"

I couldn't even get him in through the door when the called him in. And when we finally made it in, I sat him on my lap and the tech made me hold his arms down. With all the crying and a little trashing, I was afraid something bad was going to happen. I urged him not to thrash around or it would hurt more, which he thankfully listened to. I told him not to look at it, but with my hands occupied holding his arms, I couldn't make him not look. Then he started screaming, "When is it going to be done?"

The tech had to "fish" for the vein, which of course resulted in a quarter sized bruise. But at least he didn't have to pull the needle out and re-poke him. Finally, when it was said and done, we made him choose where we would eat for dinner and told him he could get any toy he wanted at the store.

Before we left the hospital, which happened to be a Children's Hospital, we let them play around and watch the fountains.

That's Daddy in the middle, looking like he's ready to pass out.

Thing 2 tries to climb up the elephant.

With a little help, she makes it!

Daddy rides with Thing 1. Daddy said that after he helps her up, she wants to promptly get back down saying, "Too big, Daddy."

The 3 stoogies trying to climb up the same elephant.

We won't know the result of the blood work until late this week.

it's just all about the knee

After completing 6 weeks of physical therapy post right knee arthroscopy with bilateral release, I'm still in pain and have a great deal of pain lifting my leg straight up (with knee straight/locked). I saw my orthopedist again a few weeks ago and he said that usually this operation alleviates pain and it doesn't seem to be working so I was referred to a Sports Medicine Ortho. On Wednesday, I had a consult. He said that because there is pain right on the knee that I can't get passed, the physical therapy is not doing it's job of strengthening/developing the quads (thigh muscles). This is important to keep the knee cap where it's supposed to stay. There is definitely more surgery that could be done, but the Sports Medicine Ortho said it's a lot more invasive and more downtime and something that should really be put off after trying other measures.

After x-ray of both knees, he said that the cartilage under both my knee caps are thin, especially the right one. He gave me a cortisone shot on the knee to take the pain away in order for give physical therapy a chance to do it's magic. I agreed that this was the best course of action. I don't really want to have another surgery (cartilage replacement from a cadaver) with our financial future in limbo. The words "knee replacement" were thrown in the discussion, and hopefully I'm many many any years away from that.

I must confess that I never really knew how much pain/discomfort my knee was in until the pain was gone. Halleluiah! Now, I still can't lift my leg straight up because there is still pain and my thigh is very weak. But at least now, the pain is not as intense and I can do more exercise.

I will be doing physical therapy until April at which time, both the doctor and I can discuss whether the physical therapy has done it's magic. If there is improvement, we will continue with the shot and go for more therapy. And if there is no improvement...well. Who knows.

I've been in physical therapy for a total of 6 weeks for both knees pre-surgery and 6 weeks on the right knee post surgery and an additional 4 weeks. Now, with this new course of action, I will have another 4-6 weeks. I tell you, my physical therapist and I are pretty chummy, but apparently, we're going to be even closer.

On to a possibly bad news - my husband and I have decided to elect COBRA coverage. We submitted the application a few days ago, and when that kicks in, we will have the same exact health insurance coverage that is effective the day after his termination of Feb. 6th. I stopped going to PT a week after that because didn't know which route to take with the health insurance. But once we've decided, I kept on seeing other doctors. Yesterday, my husband tells me that should the company (who has already filed for Ch. 11) file for Ch. 7 bankruptcy, there will no longer be COBRA coverage. If that happens, this means that I've been seeing doctors without health insurance. I estimated that we'll already be about $1,500 in the whole, and it's just going to be bigger if I keep going 2x a week for physical therapy.

Do I keep going to therapy even though there is a possibility that we'll have to pay for the treatment out of our own pocket? Or I do I stop now and proceed only when we're certain of the future? Questions, questions. My wonderful hubby thinks I should keep going. I'm pretty much useless if my knee doesn't improve. And the Sports Medicine ortho already said it won't improve on it's own if I don't do anything.

Oh my. And to think I used to think I was as healthy as a horse.

the nebulizers are out, it must be winter!

I took the twins to the Pediatric Allergist today for their 3 month follow up after they had their allergy test done. It just so happened that the girls are sick too. Thing 1 has been coughing nonstop at night, keeping her up and Thing 2 is not far behind her. It's funny to see grown people say, "Aww, twins. How cute!" and then 2 seconds later, they inch away when they hear them cough their lungs out.

The doctor has ordered them back on Albuterol, Palmicort, and to add to the mix, Atrovent. Their nasal swab also showed that they have sinus infection, so they are now on the dreaded Amoxicillin. (I dread what it does to their poop!) Oh yeah, and Nasonex. What baby likes things squirted up their noses?

Immediately, my mind started working out the math of time. How much time am I going to have in the day to rest if I were to be using the nebulizer on them every four hours? So I asked for another nebulizer machine. We have one from their bout of mild RSV last year, but I refused a second one. Why would we possibly need two of those? Shyah. So here were are today with 2.

Now we get to lug all the medicines off to Nana's and Papaw's.

Did I mention we were at the doctor's for 3 1/2 hours? No one seems to care about time in this place. Maybe because it's a university hospital? It was 3 hours that infringed on nap and lunch time. Hopefully those two get a good night sleep tonight, especially Thing 1. She hasn't slept through the night in the past 3 nights.

Katie's first bloody lip

I was spending time with the girls on the floor just having a great time. Katie now pulls up to full standing on her own and she enjoys trying to reach whatever she could get her hands on. Jojo is also pulling up, but she is not a pro at it yet.

Jojo was standing up holding on to the couch, and Katie was standing holding on to a wooden chair. Both their backs were against mine, leaning on me, using me to balance. But shortly after, Katie came tumbling back. I picked her up and saw blood in her mouth. She was crying, my sleeve was covered with blood, Jojo was crying because I had left her. It was insane!

When I finally got Katie's bleeding to stop, I saw that the frenelum (the connective tissue in the middle of the upper front teeth that connects the gum to the upper lip) was torn. I wasn't too terribly worried about it, but I thought I should call the pediatrician anyway. I don't want Katie to end up with a lisp or something worse because of it! The nurse took an hour to call me back and said this had just happened to her 3 year old son and everything should just be fine. I proceeded to describe the length of the cut and that I thought it looked deep. She then asked me if I thought she needed stitches. Um. Yeah, Ok. I'm not a doctor! Instead of answering, I kept on describing the cut. She told me to go ahead and bring Katie in.

The doctor took all of 1 minute to look at Katie's gum and said she'll be alright and sent us home.

Grrrr!! I knew that Katie would be OK, but I wasn't about to ignore a health professional. I just wanted to hear the nurse say "yeah, nothing to worry about". But in the middle of telling me that, she decided to call us in!

Interestingly enough, big brother's first bloody episode was 1 week before his 1st birthday. The twins are going to be a year old in 2 weeks.

Down, But Not Out.

Runny nose, cough, fever, irritability and possible ear infection sent the twins to the doctor today. Little Miss Katie, you have the worst of it. Your fever was 101.4 at the doctor's office. The doctor was great and wanted to be on the cautious side. He had your blood oxygen measured but the machine didn't cooperate. You were a trooper though! You hardly made a sound when the nurses were fiddling with your toe, then your finger, then your ear, then your foot. They finally just gave up and said you're nice and pink! But you do have bronchiolitis, could be due to RSV. Thank goodness you have had RSV shots.

Katie fell asleep while on the nebulizer.

Jojo, fell asleep in her carseat while sissy was on the nebulizer.

Little Jo, you have a runny nose and maybe an ear infection but the doctor said you don't need anything. But mommy has to watch out because you probably have RSV, too, just not as far along as sissy.

You girls will age mommy! But that's alright, it's my job to worry about you and your Big Bro.