Surgery Update

Ty had surgery on Tuesday. She did very well with little bleeding. They did an open biopsy on the left and a needle biopsy on the right. They were able to get alot of samples that they sent off to pathology and to be cultured.

The Dr just called... no final report yet on the biopsy, but no organisms growing from culture so far. They will call me when they know more. Honestly, I was hoping something would grow so we can know what’s causing the reoccurring infection. She is a little sore when she sneezes or coughs, but is doing good overall. She went back to school yesterday.

Keep praying for some kind of answer!

Swollen Again, Update

The doctor called me last night. He said there is some concern regarding Ty’s MRI results. There is a cluster of lymph nodes that are enlarged back deep behind her saliva gland on the left side. He said that is pushing her saliva gland and that is causing the infection. He said we would skip all the scary words that that radiologist wrote on the report and we will schedule an open biopsy to remove the lymph nodes as well as the lymph glands. I guess where it is, is deep under the facial and shoulder nerve. She is going to have an incision on her neckline but when it’s all done and healed it will blend into the crease. I asked him if the problem on the right side was all lymph nodes or did her saliva gland look diseased when he took it out. He said that there was definitely scar tissue on the right parotid gland and he removed the lymph nodes that were around that then. I guess I have a lot of questions for him. What is causing the enlarged lymph nodes/glands? Why is she constantly having infections? What can we do to prevent this in the future? I know they are testing for cancer, but if that isn’t it, what could this be? They have her on a very strong dose of antibiotics for now and they are going to call me today to schedule her surgery. Hopefully its something we can do pretty quick… the waiting is the worst part. I get very anxious not knowing. If they give me a diagnosis I can deal with it…making plans to do whatever is needed. The sitting around in wonder is the hard part for me.

Swollen Again...

On Monday afternoon at 4:11 (Yes, I know the exact time b/c the Drs office closes at 4pm and I realized that I just barely missed them) my daughter calls me from her dad’s house saying that her neck is swollen on BOTH sides and she is in a lot of pain.

Freaking great. I hung up and wanted to cry. I hate to see my little girl in pain. I hate the agony that she goes through. Just makes me feel so helpless as a mother.

She came home later that evening and I gave her Tylenol, got her in the tub, got her some sour candy to suck on and eventually got her off to bed… She didn’t sleep well that night. Nor did I. I could hear her whimpering from her bedroom. At 430am she came in to ask if she could get in the tub to see if that would help her feel better. At 6am I went in her room to wake her up, gave her some Tylenol, wrote a note to the school saying that she would need Tylenol at lunch. I had the Dr write a note at the beginning of the year saying she could have some when she had a saliva gland infection. If we stay on the Tylenol, she does ok… if she missed a dose after 4hrs its all down hill and takes a lot to get her feeling better again.

I got a call around 1130 with her crying. She said the school lost her Tylenol. They have the note but cant find the medicine. I had to go get her, brought her home to give her Tylenol and she took a nap on the couch when I finished out my day working from home. We went to get more Tylenol to give the school a new box, which they are now guarding with their lives. LOL

I spoke with the nurse at PCMC Tuesday morning as well. I explained what was going on and what the Dr said to do when this happened next. After some calling around, she found us an 8pm appointment at the hospital to go in and get an MRI done. He wanted the scan while her neck was swollen so he can see exactly what is going on. Not only in her saliva glands, but in her lymph nodes as he feels that this could be more than what we originally thought.

Today is Thursday… and I am waiting on them to call in a prescription of antibiotics, waiting for the results of the MRI, praying for an answer. She is doing better today; the swelling is still there but no worse than yesterday. She is smiling a bit more. She can’t really eat a lot b/c she can’t get her mouth open and that frustrates her but she knows she is going to be ok. We trust the doctor to make the right decisions and to care for her, but even more so we trust that the Lord is going to take care of her. In the car this morning she says “Mom, can we pray that God makes me feel just a little better?”. That’s my sweet girl.

Thankful for grandparents

I am so thankful for my family… my mom and Rob who are amazing parents and grandparents. They give so much to our family and love everyone equally, regardless if you are their own child or not. My mother in law is a wonderful woman. She is going through a lot right now with putting my FIL in a nursing home, but she is so strong. She has jumped into our lives full force. She loves my kids as if they were Bryan’s own. I am also thankful for Nate’s parents. Nate lives with them so when he has the kids they get to stay with their grandparents, which they think is so cool. They help out so much, picking the kids up from daycare and what not. Each of them play such a role in my children's lives and I am so thankful for them.

When I was born, one grandma had already passed away. I was so close with my mom’s parents when I was little. We went to their house instead of daycare. They volunteered at school and were just amazing people. My Nannie died when I was 10 and my grandpa died a few years later. I wasn’t very close with my Gido, my dad’s dad, as he lived in Chicago but he did come out for my wedding to Nate and then passed away shortly after.

I pray that my kids get to experience a lot of their life having their wonderful grandparents around. Love to you all!

Swine Boy

Last Thursday, I came down with a cold. Sneezing, runny nose, headache… that type of thing. Friday night, Ty is the same way. Saturday we laid around for the most of the day… By Saturday afternoon Ty was feeling better and Bryan took the kids over to his mom’s and I stayed home and slept. Sunday I was feeling better, just not 100%. Ty was coughing, but that was it for her. Sunday night, Drew came in and said his head hurt. Monday morning, he had a snotty nose and was coughing too. During this whole time, no one had a fever and everything I read said that you cant have the Swine Flu if you don’t have a fever so Bryan and I made the decision to just treat symptoms and if anyone had a fever (him included) we were off to the doctor. Monday night, Bryan comes home and has a headache and is congested. So now we have a house of sickies, although by then Ty and I were doing so much better.

Tuesday morning Drew was still snotty and coughing, but no fever so I gave him some cold medicine and sent him to school. That afternoon I went to get him from daycare and he was laying on the couch moaning. They said they didn’t call me b/c they knew I would be there soon, but that he was not feeling well. Of course not, he was burning up! I had them get me a thermometer and he was 102.5. His eyes were red and tearing and he was pale. Before I even got out of the daycare building I was already on the phone with the Dr’s office. They didn’t have any appointments but walk-ins started in 30 mins so we ran home to change and went over there.

When we came in, there were two people ahead of us. A boy younger than Drew with a mask on and a teenage girl with a mask on. All were coughing with teary red eyes. The doctor saw us pretty quickly. She talked to us, checked him out, and said “Yup, he’s got the Swine Flu”. She said that they aren’t doing the test b/c there is a 70% false negative and it’s a cost that the clinic has to eat b/c insurance doesn’t pay for it. She mentioned that people she knows are showing up negative when she knows are positive, like a little boy who has 3 little brothers at home who are positive. She said that the main thing to do is treat the symptoms… cold medicine, Tylenol, Motrin, etc. She said that there is a shortage of kids Tamiflu but due to his seizure problems, she recommends we call around and find it b/c we cant let his fever get too high so he has a seizure. She said that once his fever is gone and he doesn’t need any fever reducing medicine for 24 hrs he can go back to school.

We stopped at Walgreen’s on the way home. People looked at him all funny b/c he had a mask on. The pharmacy said they didn’t have any kids Tamiflu but they checked in their system and they had it in SLC and Bryan was in SLC visiting Taylor so I paid for it there and had them call it in there and Bryan grabbed it on his way home.

I gave Drew his Tylenol around 630 and got him in his PJs and off to bed… I went back in at 930 like the pharmacist said to do and switched it for Motrin and gave him the Tamiflu but when I went to wake him up, I noticed he was drenched in sweat. His fever broke already! I got him changed and took his temperature, normal. Hmmm weird.

The next morning he was up before I was…. Just playing in his room. I took his temp, normal. I stayed home with him yesterday and he every time I took his temp it was normal. He didn’t need any Tylenol or Motrin yesterday, just kept giving him cold medicine for his snotty nose and cough and his Tamiflu. The doctor told me if he was 24 hrs without a fever he could go back to school… so when he was 30 hrs past fever this morning at 6, I got him ready for daycare/school and off he went. He is going to have a lingering cough for a while. Some people who had it said theirs stayed up to a month… so we will deal with that. I am just glad we got on top of this as quickly as we did and he made a speedy recovery!