Ah, Life's Little Ironies...

After the Hospital Experience, they highly recommended that we find some H1N1 vaccine for Thing Two and Thing Four, because they hadn't gotten sick.

Yesterday the kids weren't in school. I had a follow-up appointment for Thing Three, just to get an x-ray of his lungs and make sure he was pneumonia-free. All the kids wanted to tag along, except Thing Two, who said he had a headache. But he didn't want to be alone, either, so he came with us.

We all trooped into the doctor's office, and after a harrowing fifteen minutes where I had to chase my two-year old all over the foyer while we waited for Thing Three to get his x-ray, they had the results. Clear and healthy. Hooray! The Dr. reassured me the radiologist even got out his magnifying glass, and looked for any pneumonia, and didn't find any. :-)

Then, they happened to mention that they had TWO doses of the H1N1 nasal mist. I was surprised and relieved. "Let's give it to the kids now!" While they were having me fill out consent forms, Thing Two, who is ten, started complaining that he felt dizzy and his throat hurt.

Uh, say what?

The nurse came back in, and gave my two-year old the vaccine. Just before she was to give it to Thing Two, I asked her to take his temp.

101.5.

Needless to say, she didn't give it to him. The Dr. came back in, checked him out, and asked his symptoms. Fever, sore throat, cough. (In my defense I hadn't noticed the cough because I am so used to hearing one these days.)

Swine Flu Strikes Again. I was seriously like, ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

So, Thing Two is now quarantined to his room, and I am keeping him comfortable. THANK HEAVEN he can breathe just fine, so this looks like we're in for five days of fever, and hopefully that's it. And I can handle that. Truly, it will be nothing.

I can't help but wonder at the Irony of the whole situation, however. JUST as he was about to get the vaccine...

Good Luck Day

I don't care what anyone says, Friday the 13th has always been a lucky day for me! :-)

My kids are going to hate me. I've already forewarned them, but I suspect they may only half-believe me. I told them, since there's no school today (conferences), BEFORE they go on the computer, video games, or play outside, they get to clean their rooms and clean the basement.

No fun stuff. Work first. Thing One's room is already clean, so she didn't complain much. Thing Two, however, had an out-and-out mutiny and told me he was going to stay in his room all day and not clean it. To which I replied, "Fine, I will just set the timer for 20 minutes and if there's no progress I'm going to SWAT YOUR BEHIND. And I will continue to swat it every 20 minutes until the room is clean!"

He simply looked at me. I think he realizes I'm serious about the cleaning thing. I have to clean my own room, as well. It's amazing how clothes seem to "be fruitful and multiply" in my closet.

Thing One begged me to watch Twilight for the umpteenth time with her last night. (My third time, HER umpteenth). I have to say, it really is a BAD movie. The lighting is bad, the music is corny, the CHEESEY LINES these poor actors had to utter borderline on the ridiculous--and I still detest how Edward meets Bella and after a few tense words and a mulch-dump field trip they are proclaiming their love for each other. WAY TOO FAST!! The book at least drew it out a little.

Looking forward to New Moon. (We have tickets for the 21st!) I really liked The Golden Compass so I think this director will have made a more emotional movie. Twilight reminds me of "Star Wars" where the pretty actors had more wooden, corny lines than the droids.

I'm sure all the Twihards will be sending me hate mail, but there it is. I have a feeling there will be a marked difference between the two movies. I'm just sayin...

I got all the conferences knocked out yesterday. Kids are doing great, and I think we need to get out and enjoy the sunshine today. Oh, and my two year old has started being SUPER polite, lately. "Thank You, Mommy." "You're Welcome." "Please?" "Sorry, Mommy." And my personal favorite: "Bwess you, Mommy!"

Crazy Thursday. *Grin*

Yes, it's 8:45 and what have I already done today?

--Woke up (A feat in itself since Thing One ran downstairs at 2am because she'd had a nightmare--I had to go re-tuck her in and soothe her--shoot me now)
--Drove the kids to school
--lugged out the stroller and took the baby into school with said kids, to buy books for the school Book Fair
--Bought Books
--Back to the car and to the gas station because my car told me I only had 55 miles to go until I was empty. (oops!)
--Got Gas
--Mailed a package
--Ran to the Cleaners
--Dropped off a prescription refill
--Went to the bank
--Grabbed a bowl of Mini-Wheats and sat down at this computer.

WHEW!!

I still have to mow the lawn (ONE last time!), run to the store, and go to parent/teacher conferences. Oh, and a basketball game, ACROSS town, later.

I'm loving it! Normal is good!

Wednesday Out of Nowhere...

Happy Veteran's Day!

*Sigh* What a crazy two weeks!

Thing Three went back to school yesterday (we kept him home on Monday because he was still a little weak) and it was like a Rock Star returning to the school. Seriously. I hadn't realized how much his hospitalization had affected the school! All the students outside came running, yelling "(Thing Three) is back! He's back!" and they literally rushed him. We had about 100 students crowded around us in no time, asking if they could carry his bag, welcoming him, etc. All the ladies in the office cheered when I brought him in. I didn't realize how popular he was! (Thing Three has always been our "charmer" and he unabashedly gives out compliments like the BEST brown noser in the world, but I suspect he's sincere.) So, it was a bit of a shock. But it was nice to see his big grin and the sparkle in his eyes back. He can't do Phy Ed or recess until he's cleared by his doctor at the end of the week, but he's glad to be back with his friends and back to school.

And I'm glad of it, too. It almost seems surreal, all we went through those eight days. I think I got lucky--I was almost too exhausted during the ordeal to be hysterically upset, and now that it's over and he's out of the woods, I'm just grateful. Sooooooo grateful!!

Call me crazy, but I am doing something a little early this year--since we're going out of town for Christmas, I'm going to put up all my Christmas decorations next week! Next week will be Throw Every Christmas Decoration Possible Up Week. I am going to get all my trees up, my garlands, my STUFF, and play Christmas music. You watch. I am going to have the most cheerful house ever!

I am so in the Christmas spirit, now! Although a friend of mine and I agreed we need to move Christmas to January 25th, because it's always so DEPRESSING after Christmas when you take all the decor down and everything is plain and empty and you still have THREE FERSHLUGGING MONTHS OF WINTER to get through.

Anyone vote for Christmas January 25th? It would be evenly spaced between Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day. I think it sounds fabulous.

Who's with me???

;-)

And Now...Back to Normal...

...pretty much.

Thing Three came home from the hospital on Saturday. It was good to have him home! He's still a little weak (we're keeping him home from school just today) but he sat in a wagon while we took a family walk (it was beautiful weather this weekend, in the 70's!) and he sat in the grass and watched us while we raked leaves and bagged them. He wanted to join in, but he still gets short-winded just walking up the stairs, so I told him to hang in there a few more days, and he'll be back to normal.

Which is what we'd like to get. We are doing something today we haven't done in a while--we're going SHOPPING! :-) Hubby is staying home one more day to hang out with us and Thing Three, and MIL and I will be at Target, Boston Store...and...the hospital...because guess who, like an idiot, left her only phone charger plugged into the hospital room? *wink* Yeah. That would be me. (I could have sworn I'd gotten EVERYTHING!) I guess just not that one thing. So, we have to go back. But we had such a good experience (despite the bad circumstances) because the nurses were the most caring, awesome bunch ever.

Thing Three can't do phy ed or any recess until he's cleared by the Dr. We'll meet with her in about a week for a follow up. So, things should start getting back to normal! Which means back to crazy, but we have a sports break coming up soon. Thing One only has two more weeks of basketball, then we are on a break until January. Then we have Basketball for Thing Two, Volleyball for Thing One, and Indoor Soccer for Thing Three. I will be living in my car.

Yep, normalcy. Happy Monday everyone!

Best Day Ever.

That's what tomorrow will be!! We are spending our LAST night in the picu, and Thing Three will be going HOME!!! WOOO!!

They took him off his breathing machine this morning, and he's been on oxygen, walking around the halls, but he's improved so much they took him off oxygen and he's good to go tomorrow! They want us to see a specialist for a follow up. But that's fine. He seems to have improved 100% in just one day. The H1N1 lasted about five days, the pneumonia part just got better today, so seven days. SEVEN DAYS in the icu! Craziness!

The best part is, (and yes, I'm being sarcastic here)-- his two other brothers could STILL get H1N1, because we don't have the vaccine! They don't have it at the hospital, at the local clinics, nowhere! Talk about LAMENESS.

I've washed everything on sanitary, wiped/sprayed down all the surfaces in the house, and hopefully all the H1N1 germs are gone. One can only hope. All I know, is I'm grateful to have my little Thing Three back home where he belongs. A lot of people out there haven't been so lucky. They have children who have died from H1N1 and respiratory complications.

We have SO much to be thankful for! (We may not feel that way when we get the hospital bill, heh heh, but there are worse things!)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

The Chest Tube Is Out!

We are very excited about this. Having a tube leading into my son's lungs wasn't exactly an idea I was in love with. But it was necessary, and since he stopped draining they took it out this morning. Wooee!!

And I have to share a PRICELESS card my son was given by a classmate. His whole class made cards for him, and one girl wrote this: (Original spelling intact):

Dear (Thing Three),
I want to tell you a story about me going to the hostptel.
I was about one or two years old. I had a Seasher.
A seasher is when your eyes role back into your head.
That's when I went to the hostptial.
Get Well!!

The things kids say. PRICELESS. It was hands down my favorite card.

His color is much better, he's joking with (and charming) his nurses, and I just ordered him waffles. Hopefully in a few days he'll be asking for waffles at HOME.

:-)

Update on Thing Three.

JUBILATION!!! Yesterday started out badly for us, Thing Three had gone off the bi-pap machine because he had an air leak in his lung, and with the pressure from the breathing machine, air was starting to fill the cavities in his body. So, they'd taken him off the machine and put him on oxygen, but he started complaining of pain and not being able to breathe. They decided he wasn't ready to breathe on his own, yet, so he had to go back on the bi-pap machine. Much to our chagrin, of course, because he already resembles the Stay Puft Marshmallow Boy. Seriously. He has so much air in him, he looks like the Michelin Man.

BUT, his ct results came back promising--the "mass" they'd seen on his lungs turned out to be an accumulation of fluid in the collapsed portion, and it's slowly draining out. So, no growth, or anything scarier than what we already knew. We are SO relieved!

Last night was probably the best night for him, he got about 3 hours of sleep (coughing up gunk keeps him awake) and we only had one episode of The Freak Outs at 2am. Although I was sort of not happy because he finally fell peacefully asleep at 4am and not five minutes later they wanted to come take labs (blood) and x-rays. Poor little guy.

So, relief and joy. He still has a ways to go, but at least we don't have to deal with eventual surgery on top of everything else. Hooray!!

Thanks again for everyone's support and love, and prayers. It means the world to us.

We Have a Lot to be Thankful For.

I have to say, these last few days are days I hope to never repeat. I took Thing Three to the Dr. on Thursday, because he had a fever and a cough, and she told us to call if he got worse. Well, he got WAY worse. His fever spiked and he couldn't breathe well, and it hurt. Turns out he had a partially collapsed lung, and pneumonia, and H1N1.

We went in an ambulance to Children's Hospital, where he's been in the pediatric ICU since Friday. He's in isolation, and everyone has to suit up like astronauts just to come in and take his vitals. Poor kid. He had tubes coming out of everywhere (and going "in" everywhere) and two IVs and a feeding tube and he had to be hooked up to a bi-pap machine. Then they inserted a tube and drained a liter and a half of fluid from his lung. THEN it turns out he has an air leak in his weak lung and with the pressure from the breathing machine the air was escaping into his body and he puffed up like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Boy. Only with a fever of 104.

Four days later, he's a little better, although he's suffering from what the nurses call "ICU Psychosis" at night (which resembles good old-fashioned Night Terrors) and he is coughing up FECES (I swear, that's what the crud looks like). And he is having a ct tomorrow because they found something "suspicious" on his lung, that apparently doesn't belong.

In short, we're ready for him to be all better and come home, and it looks like we've got a long road ahead of us. But he's getting better each day, and that is something to celebrate.

I appreciate the outpouring of love and well wishes you all have sent, in emails and phone calls. I know we have a lot of people pulling for Thing Three and we have faith he will recover from this and be back to his active, happy and slightly annoying eight-year old self once more.

We love you, Thing Three!!

Another One Bites the Dust...

We were at the dr. yesterday afternoon. Guess who has Swine Flu now?

Thing Three. Only he had a chest cold first...so I'm nervous. Last night he woke up with night terrors (he only does this when he has a fever) screaming that he was floating, and he was going to die.

Not a fun time for me. And Hubby leaves for NYC on Sunday. I just wish all the kids would get it at once, instead of this "dragging it out/one-kid-at-a-time crap.

Keep us in your thoughts!