Joshua's First Retina Rodeo

Joshua started wearing glasses when he was just 3 1/2 years old. We've known all along that neither of our kids would probably have a prayer of not needing any kind of vision correction. So I have been taking him for annual visits to the ophthalmologist ever since. This year, I took Benny as well. We weren't surprised to find that he also needed glasses. I was a little sad to put glasses on his little face, but I think they suit him well.

Joshua also got some new glasses that he thinks are super cool. He is super sensitive to sunlight and must always wear sunglasses when outside or else the poor guy can't function. So his new glasses have the Transitions lenses, which change from regular glasses to sunglasses when exposed to UV rays. They're pretty awesome and he absolutely loves them!

While we were at the ophthalmologist's office, the doctor said that Joshua's optic nerves looked large, which would mean there was a pressure issue, or it could mean nothing, so we were sent to a retina specialist to have a little more extensive check. At the retina specialists' office, they took an OCT scan of Joshua's eyes which showed some abnormalities. The doctor said these kinds of abnormalities were something normally found in a 50 year old, not a 6 year old. Joshua's sensitivity to light kind of hindered the physical eye exam. The poor guy was trying so hard to keep his eyes open, but he just couldn't. In light of the abnormalities shown in the OCT scan, the retina specialist wanted to take a good look at his eyes, and thought that putting Joshua under general anesthesia was the way to go. We scheduled the procedure at Phoenix Children's Hospital. Joshua was so super brave! We showed up at the hospital and were taken into preop, where Joshua was given a total of 12 eye drops in each eye. But he took them like a champ!

The hospital was so great. They had a child life specialist who came in and talked to him about what the operating room would look like, the mask they would use to help him go to sleep, and also offered him some movies to watch while we waited for the doctor and anesthesiologist to be ready for us.

Finally it was time to roll. Joshua got to take a ride on his bed back to the OR, which he thought was pretty cool, and he wasn't scared at all! After about an hour the anesthesiologist came out and told us Joshua was in recovery and resting comfortably. We found out that his retinas had some weak spots that the doctor had to use the laser on to strengthen them. All part of being part of the Duncan family! When Josh finally woke up, he was in a bit of pain, saying his eyes felt like fire and his brain hurt, and did throw up a couple times, but after some pain meds was a bit more comfortable. We came home and he pretty much drifted in and out of consciousness the rest of the day, but didn't complain too much more of pain or nausea. This was yesterday. He slept well all night and this morning woke up just about good as new. His eyes are still a little red and he says they still hurt a little, but otherwise he was perfectly normal!

The doctor sounded a little concerned that he had to take any kind of action at Joshua's young age, but early intervention is definitely the key to keeping Joshua's eyes healthy, and we will do whatever it takes to keep his eyes in tip top shape!

Elusive Sleep

Wow, am I ever behind on blogging! I hate when I have so much to write about and no time to write it. I'm always sure I've forgotten something! I'll do my best to get caught up after my upcoming crazy weekend.

With that being said, onto today's post!

My kids have always been very good sleepers. I mean, really good sleepers. Between the two of them, I can remember only one night that we were up until all hours with a crying baby, and that was when Joshua was only a few days old and I was naughty and ate some green chilis. Other than that, there have been no sleep issues in our house. Once they hit the toddler years, they both transitioned seamlessly into their beds and we have never had the fights to get them to stay in their rooms once they have been put down for the night. The only issue we've ever had is with Ben wanting to try to go potty a few minutes after he went to bed. I'm telling you, we've had it good. So good, that we have totally been taking it for granted. And you know what happens when you take something for granted? POOF! It goes away!

It all started a couple weeks ago. We were putting the boys to bed as normal, but this night it all went wrong. Ben decided he was NOT going to go to bed. He was pulling out all the stops. Kicking, screaming, asking for drinks of water, tissues, to go potty. All while crying his little eyes out. My favorite was when he said he needed Daddy to cut his toenails. What? Now that there is a new one.

So we pretty much ignored his demands and were just waiting him out, putting him back to bed if he came out. This went on for the better part of an hour until he finally gave up. At least for a little while. When he would wake up throughout the night, he decided he was NOT going to be the only one awake and we started it all over again. Not fun! This went on for a few days.

One night he event went so far as to get himself completely dressed before he came out of his room. It was about 11:00, when we heard his bedroom door open (he's not quiet about it!) and when I went to put him back to bed I saw he was wearing a t-shirt and shorts and was sitting in his doorway putting on his sandals. When he saw me he asked "Mommy, can I be awake?" I don't think so, buddy!

We were wracking our brains trying to figure out what might have triggered this, as it started so suddenly. The only change in environment we could think of was that we had recently put him back on Singular as it looked like his allergies were getting ready to kick back up. Out of desperation, we tried taking him off of it. After a few nights, things started to mellow out a bit, although he was still waking easily. The last couple of nights have been the old, peaceful Ben. So, we're thinking the Singulair was the culpret. And thankfully his allergies have settled back down so that it's not affecting him negatively to be off of it. Hopefully it will stay that way, but if not, we'll roll with it and deal with it as best we can. Ah, the joys of parenting!

Breathing Easy

This last year has just been incredible, compared to the one before. Between January and April of 2009, Ben began having respiratory flareups where he couldn't take a deep breath, or really any kind of breath, without breaking into a horrible coughing fit. He was getting breathing treatments every 4 hours, had three shots of Predisone, a powerful steriod, in that short 4 month period, and nearly ended up in the hospital on at least one occassion. It was miserable for all involved. But then we got together with Kelvin Panasar, M.D., a wonderful pediatric pulmonologist. He prescribed Ben a preventative steriod that we hoped would keep his airways open so that, even if he came down with a cold or allergies (which is usually what did it for him) his airways would stay open. He also put him on Singulair to try to control the allergies to prevent flareups in the first place. I am so happy to say that in the last 12 months, Ben has only needed 3 doses of Albuterol to treat respiratory flareups, and the flareups he did have were super mild compared to those last year. I can't even remember the last time he's even had a cold! (And I'm really hoping I am not jinxing myself in saying that!)

Yesterday we went to see Dr. Panasar for his post-cold-and-flu-season checkup. What I love about Dr. Panasar is that he doesn't expect me to just shut up and listen and do what he says. He values "Dr. Mom" and wants to know what I think since I'm the one that sees it all. Since Benny's been doing so good, we together decided to take Ben all the way off of his medications and see how he does on his own. If the flareups return, we'll try putting him back on one of them, and will also allergy test him to see what he might be reacting to (not that you can really do to much about environmental allergies other than medicate).

I'm so happy that he is now set free from nightly breathing treatments, although he never seemed to mind them. He's always been so good about them, thankfully! Hopefully his little airways have grown enough to be able to handle any mild inflamation should any happen to come on. I'm just praying we can continue down this healthy road we've been traveling the last year. I like it here!

Say Ah!

I FINALLY took Joshua to the dentist for his very first cleaning this morning. I've been meaning to do it for the longest time and never got around to it. Thankfully, Joshua can pretty much handle anything as long as he knows what to expect, so we spent some time in the days leading up to his appointment talking about what they were going to do, so there weren't really any surprises for him. They took some x-rays (couldn't get them all because the poor guy was gagging on some of them... but he tried so hard!) and we got to see his adult teeth in there. They said he'll probably start loosing the baby teeth around his 6th birthday - he can't wait for that. Every day he asks me to check his teeth to see if they're loose yet. They also mentioned that his bottom teeth are a little crowded and probably won't allow enough room for his adult teeth. Hopefully we'll be able to bypass braces for him! But he handled the cleaning like a champ, and became the proud (read: VERY proud) owner of a little dental floss thingamajig. So thankfully the first trip to the dentist was a positive experience for him.

OINK!!!

It all started with a 4:30 a.m. wake up call this morning... "My cheek hurts" Joshua cries to us. Andrew got up to see what was the matter and put him back to bed, but when he was then told that his forehead hurt, Andrew took Josh's temperature to find a 101.7. Well, I guess we're staying home today! So I stayed home with him. We watched TV, played board games and spent a little low key time in the backyard. The fever came back once the Motrin wore off, but we had it pretty well under control. Then, after his nap he woke up crying. I took his temperature and found it to be 105! Instantly I'm thinking flu. I called the doctor, at Andrew's urging, and they wanted to see us right away. The doctor believes that he has the H1N1 flu, although they don't test for it because the test isn't accurate enough to be reliable. We left the doctor's office with two prescriptions for Tamiflu (one for Josh and one for Ben as a preventative measure). He's a pretty darn sick little boy right now. Poor guy. But despite his obvious misery right now, he's still just as sweet as can be. We are praying that this passes through him quickly and that somehow the rest of us, especially Ben, can be spared. Until then, we'll just wait for Joshua's piggy noes and curly tail to grow in!

My Wisdom is Gone

I FINALLY got my wisdom teeth out today. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as it sounds, thankfully. I only had them on top, and they had both come through about 6 years ago so really it was just pulling teeth. I didn't have to be knocked out so I was able to drive myself to and from my appointment, and actually be functional the rest of the day.

On my way to my appointment I was driving down Guadalupe Road, paying more attention to my music than to my speed, when I noticed a Tempe police officer lurking in the Marcos De Niza parking lot. I noticed my speed, albeit to late, and slowed down anyway, but of course, here he came behind me, lights flashing. When he came up to me he asked if I knew why he had pulled me over and I told him that I hadn't noticed that the speed limit had changed at the high school, and that I wasn't familiar with the area (I never go to Tempe). He took my information and I was sure I was going to get a ticket. Speeding through a school zone, even accidentally, is usually not something that is easily overlooked. He asked me where I was going, and when I told him the oral surgeon, I think he took pity on me. I got off with a warning! That's awesome. I've never gotten a warning. The few times I've been lucky enough to get pulled over I've ended up with a "driving award." So I was very thankful.

My doctor appointment took all of 10 minutes. I got some topical numbing gel, 4 shots of Novocaine (which was by far the worst part of the experience) and then the teeth were yanked out without my having any idea. I thought she was just fiddling with them getting ready to let me have it, but then they stuffed my mouth with gauze and sent me on my way. So now I'll have a few days of a soft food diet and hopefully I'll be good as new. Just hoping I don't join the ranks of the people with horror stories of dry sockets! I think I'll go have some ice cream.

2 Year Checkup

I just realized I never posted Ben's "Stats" from his 2 year checkup! I made his appointment for last week when the kids were off of school anyway, and made it for one the of the days that I was home because, well, I'm a mommy and that's my thing! :) Taking both kids to the doctor is always an adventure, but thankfully our doctor's office usually gets us in and out without much waiting, so it's usually doable. Anyway, Ben (who got to use the big boy scale now!) weighed in at 25 lbs (25%) and 33 inches (25%). His head circumphrence was in the 75-90%, so he's totally proportionate, except for the noggin. He's just got his daddy's head, and I'm thankful I had a c-section! Ha! But he wouldn't be our Benny without that big ol' head. We just love it! The doctor said that, although they usually don't call it until 3 years old, since Ben has stayed right on the 25% in height for the last year, she said that's probably going to be where he's going to stay. So apparently we have one giant and one shorty. The doctor even looked at them both and commented about how totally differently they are built. Ben's short and meaty (but nowhere near chunky.. c'mon, he's only 25 lbs!) and Josh is tall, skinny and all leg. How fun to have a family variety!

As far as developmental milestones, he's hitting every one. The doctor was impressed at how well he is talking (that's what having a very articulate big brother will do for you) and that he is putting together up to 6 word sentences. He's eating with a fork and spoon, can run and jump, stack, do puzzles and is starting to show interest in the potty.

Ben is the picture of health, which is SO nice to be able to say about him. This was actually our first time with him in his pediatrician's office since the end of April so this summer has been awesome!

Respiratory Update

I took Ben back to the pulmonologist last week to follow up on the treatment for his frequent respiratory flare ups. I was so happy to report to the doctor (who I love, by the way) that Ben has not had a flare up, or needed a breath of Albuterol, since the end of April! From January to April the longest he went without a flare up was 3 weeks, so clearly we are thrilled with his progress. Some of it I'm sure has to do with the change in the weather and the wind down of cold and flu season, but we are totally encouraged by the fact that he has had two little colds/allergy attacks since his last flare up. He had developed a little bit of a cough for a day or two, but it didn't escalate beyond that. Used to be that once he had a little cough it would turn into a full blown attack. We think that his respiratory issues (being careful not to call it asthma - no diagnosis yet) are triggered by seasonal allergies. He started on Singulair at the end of April and since then, no flare ups. The doctor was just as thrilled as we were with Ben's response to the medication over these last couple of months. I voiced my opinion that I think the Singulair was the main champion in the improvement, so we decided to keep him on that for at least the next year. We are also keeping him on the Pumicort (a nightly preventative breathing treatment) until next spring, but he lowered the doseage, so we'll see if we can keep these respiratory flare ups at bay.

At the doctor, Ben was such a little chatterbox. The doctor was impressed with how articulate he is. He almost fell out of his chair when I sneezed and Ben said "Bless you, Mommy" plain as day. And he's such a good boy at the doctor. Even with all of the torture they have put him through this year, he has never gone through the "white coat anxiety" that a lot of kids get between ages 1 and 2. He just makes friends with everyone and is too busy watching the doctor's every move to even think about being scared. You can't help but to love him!

Right now I think we might be on the verge of another flare up. Josh was sick last week and it seems that now Ben is fighting it off, and has a bit of that raspy cough we know all too well. But that's not discouraging in the least to me. His flare ups are most likely not going to be completely prevented and we don't expect them to be. Hopefully we can get through this without having to treat, but if we do that's fine. We're still so excited about the progress he's made. Hopefully he can keep it up when this year's cold/flu season hits!

Benny's Bruiser

Ben took a little spill at daycare yesterday and cut his lip on his top teeth. Poor little guy got a pretty good sized fat lip. The girls in the preschool office were nice enough to call me to let me know what had happened and also send me a picture so I could check out the damage.

They told me he stopped crying pretty quickly, and they gave him a yummy popsicle to try to bring the swelling down. By the time Andrew picked him up that afternoon the swelling was almost gone, and his cut was nicely scabbed over. Thankfully it hasn't seemed to bother him too much today, so he's well on the road to recovery.

My poor baby. It's always so sad to see your little guy hurt like that.

If you want anything done right...

don't allow the doctor's office to do it. I am so mad today I can hardley see straight. As I've previously mentioned, Ben suffers from respiratory issues. He's too young to be diagnosed with asthma, so right now they're calling it Restrictive Airways Disease (RAD). Because his condition has been flaring up so frequently, the pediatrician told me to take him to a pediatric pulmonologist, and gave me the name of a doc who is supposed to be the best in town. My best friend backed up that recommnedation because her son is also a patient of his. So, I called and made an appointment. Being a new patient, they couldn't get me in right away, and then we had to wait a little while longer because of our trip. So I made the appointment for May 21st (this was about 6 weeks ago). After that, Ben flared up again and ended up back in the doctor. I told her when the appointment was, and she wanted to try to pull some strings and get us in earlier, before our trip. When I didn't hear anything after a couple days, I called the ped's office to follow up, and found out that nothing had been done (this was my first clue to just leave it alone!). So the girl said she was going to call the pulmonologist and see what she could do. Almost two weeks passed and I hadn't heard anything, so I figured that if they were able to get us in, they would call. Then on May 5th at 4:30 p.m. I got a call from the ped's office saying that the pulm could see us tomorrow. I told her that I'm sorry but I can't do tomorrow, so I'll just keep my appointment for the 21st. I come to find out that she hadn't simply checked the pulm's availability, but she had actually rescheduled our appointment, losing our May 21st slot. I told her she had to get it back for me because she wasn't supposed to change anything before checking with me. I got a call back (with much attitude) saying that she got my May 21st appointment back. So I didn't think too much about it.

Fastforward to yesterday. We get home and there is a message on our answering machine from the pulm's office saying that we had no showed our appointment on the 6th and seeing if we wanted to reschedule. I'm sorry, what??? I instantly knew what had happened and was livid! So I called the pulm's office this morning to confirm Ben's appointment tomorrow and of course was told that his appointment was on May 6th and we had no showed for it. Arg! So now we have no appointment, even though I made an appointment that worked for everyone six weeks ago. I hate having to suffer for other people's stupid and careless mistakes. It just really ticks me off. I called and gave the ped's office an earful... not that they can fix it, but I needed to direct my anger towards the ones who deserve it!

So now the pulm's office is trying to work with us to get us another appointment with the doctor we requested before the end of June, which is their next availability. If we can't see him, then we'll get our initial visit with another doctor and follow up with the other one once we're not considered a new patient anymore, and move up on the appointment scheduling totem pole.

Update: Just got a call from the pulm, and they were able to get us our appointment back for tomorrow!!! Oh happy day!

Joshua v. The End Table

In this corner, weighing in at 36 lbs, Joshua.... Andrew... MAPLE!!! (Crowd goes wild!).

In this corner, weighing in at... well, I don't know because I've never weighed an end table... *deep grumbly voice* The End Table (Boo! Hiss!).

We knew the day would come. It was only a matter of time. Joshua ended up in urgent care last night after a run-in with the end table. He was spinning around in the living room after his bath, right before bed, and said in a playful voice "Oh no, I'm going to crash!", but then actually lost his footing and slammed eyebrow first into the edge of the end table, giving himself a nice 3/4 inch cut. After we got the bleeding to stop, we took a good look at it and decided he had done a good enough job to need some stitches. We found the Phoenix Children's Hospital Urgent Care in East Mesa that would be able to patch him up. So after getting him dressed in his jammies, we headed out.

I had no idea what to expect from him. I would imagine the thought of stitches would be pretty scary, so I allowed him to live in blissful ignorance for the most part, only telling him that the doctor was going to come in and use a special tool to fix his boo boo. He got a nice dose of numbing medicine, and then it was time for the big show. They washed it out with a high pressure syringe with cold water, which he was very much not pleased about. He cried, but didn't fight it. When it was time for stitches, the doctor had me hold him with my arms and legs to help keep him still. He did a fantastic job staying completely still, and after a few minutes, he fell asleep, and slept through his last 3 stitches. He did so awesome. So when it was all said and done, he walked away with 4 stitches, a stuffed cheetah, a Kung Foo Panda Book and a red popsicle. We finally got back home around 11:00. What a night! But we were thankful that it was "just a flesh wound".

He's a RAD Dude

Here we go, yet again. Another waive of illness has stricken our family. Right now it's Ben's turn to be down with it, after the other three of us have already had our turn. He started with a fever and a cough on Sunday morning, and he hasn't really gotten any better. And of course, in true Benny style, he started to get the respiratory issues. He hasn't been too bad, and we've been on top of it with regular breathing treatments and running the humidifier, but that just hasn't cut it. He had to stay home from school today (they took his temperature at 3:55 on Tuesday and he had a fever, which knocks him out for the whole next day), so he spent the day with my mom. Apparently Grandma looked like a comfy mattress, because he slept on her almost all day. That is really not like him, and the last time he got so sleepy and lethargic it was because he wasn't getting enough oxygen. So I decided that a trip to urgent care probably wasn't such a bad idea. So after dinner, off we went. Thankfully, there is a pediatric urgent care about 1/4 mile from our house. We were there for 2 hours, got 2 breathing treatments and a steroid injection, and got 4 prescriptions as lovely parting gifts. The doctor was awesome and really spent time with us explaining what was going on. He was able to tell us that Ben has bronchitis and Reactive Airway Disease (RAD). Basically, he's got very sensitive lungs and when he gets a cold, the tubes that lead to his lungs tend to get inflamed and restrict his airway. He warned us to not let anyone tell us that he has asthma, which is completely different from RAD. He suggested that once we get past this flare up, we should meet with our pediatrician and discuss and more aggressive preventative treatment. Poor guy. The good news is that he should grow out of it. When that may happen is anyone's guess. Hopefully we can get it under control soon so we can put a stop to these frequent flare ups!

Enough is Enough

Ben is getting to know his pediatrician a little too well lately. We were back in the office today, for what we thought was going to be an 18 month well check. Instead, it turned into a double breathing treatment/steroid injection visit. He's been kind of congested over the last few days and we have been giving him the breathing treatments at home, but going all day at school without a treatment has proven to be too much for him. He got sent home from school on Monday, and when we kept him home yesterday and were able to do the treatments every 4 hours or so, he was totally fine. So we thought we were doing better. Andrew, who got to endure the doctor's visit today... with both kids... said that he sounded OK when he picked him up from school, but got progressively worse on the car ride, until he was coughing continually by the time they got to the doctor. So now he has to get rechecked tomorrow and has to take a preventative steroid by way of the nebulizer everyday for at least the next 2 months. Poor kid. I guess the breathing issues are going to be his "thing". They haven't diagnosed him with asthma, but he seems to be prone to upper respiratory issues when he gets even a little bit sick. After 2 breathing treatments, he was pretty amped up and crazy by the time we got him home. But thankfully the high wore off right around time for his last treatment of the day, right before bed, and he zonked out about 30 seconds into the treatment.

In all these trips to the doctor, Benny is a pro at the whole routine. He knows how they take his pulse-ox, pointing his little index finger out as soon as he sees the clip coming. He is totally calm and doesn't fight against the examination, which is uncommon for this age, and today, he was even saying "doctor" plain as day. He's such an easy going kid, even when he's being poked and prodded. You just gotta love him!

I Guess That Explains It

We found out today why Joshua's fever was so out of control on Monday. He has the flu.... again. He got it last year, too. So now he has had it twice despite getting the flu shot every year of his life. Why do we even bother!?! He seemed to be doing so much better yesterday. He still had a fever, but was being so silly and seemed to be feeling tons better. But then he started saying he couldn't hear the TV, and we noticed he was talking really loud, so we started thinking that maybe he had an ear infection. He's ever only had one and that was 2 years ago, but of course it's possible. Then today, he clearly was feeling awful again, just wanting to cuddle, looking pale with sunken eyes. It's so sad to see him like that. So, I decided to take him to the doctor today to make sure he didn't need any antibiotics. She listened to his chest and said she heard some off and on rattling around in there, so she sent us for a chest x-ray to make sure it wasn't pneumonia, and she also recommended checking him for the flu. There's nothing they can do about the flu, but at least then we know what we're dealing with. He was none too pleased about having a Q-Tip stuck up his nose, and even less pleased about having to lay down to do it, but we got it done. While we were waiting at the imaging facility for the x-ray, he cuddled up on my lap and kept dozing off, which is so unlike him, even when he is sick. He did a good job getting his chest x-ray. He wasn't happy about having to take his shirt off, but I don't blame him. He has a fever and the chills, so stripping down doesn't exactly sound appealing. He cried through the whole thing, but completely cooperated. But thankfully it was not pneumonia and we just have to wait this one out. He's had his fever since Sunday, so we're hoping to see it come down soon. It could take a week to go away. Since Josh got this right after Ben was sick, we're assuming that Ben also got the flu despite his flu shot. The doctor recommended that, since these boys are apparently prone to the flu, that we get the nasal vaccination this fall which seems to be more effective than the shot. We'll consider that. But, I'm starting to think this flu vaccine isn't all its cracked up to be!

105.8

That is definitely the scariest reading we have ever seen on a thermometer, but there it was plain as day this afternoon. Joshua's fever reached the danger point, and was still 2 hours away from being able to take his next dose of Motrin. We are not rush to the hospital people, so we decided to take a little bit more of a conservative route. My mom suggested putting him in a tepid bath, and the pediatrician said we could give him some Tylenol since it was too early for Motrin, so after about an hour his fever was down to 103. Fevers are kind of like gas prices. After seeing 105.8, 103 didn't seem too bad! So tonight we will be checking him periodically to make sure he hasn't spiked again and will be keeping a close eye on him tomorrow. Tomorrow will be another tag-team day for Andrew and I, both of us needing to have some time in the office, so each of us working short days. It's hectic, but we make it work.

Round 2

Well, as is usually the case, one kid is all better and now the other is down. Josh now has a fever and a cough and had to stay home from school today. We're hoping this little bout with illness won't hit him quite so hard and that he'll be up and running again much quicker than Ben was, and we can get back to our normal routine! It's hard to juggle sick kids and 2 full time jobs! But thank you, God for always providing a way.

The Perfect Storm

That is how Ben's doctor described him this morning. What a time it was! He's got an ear infection, a nose running like a faucet causing the skin under his nose to be bright red and raw, he is wheezing something awful and has a nasty cough. It seems like there isn't much that he doesn't have right now! So, first order of business was to listen to the breathing. Very tight and forced. So we did a 10 minute breathing treatment. After that, the doctor came in and said that she wanted to check his pulse-ox before giving him a steroid injection for his lungs. His pulse-ox ended up being only 87, when it should have been at least 92. The MA said that was "very bad". So the doctor had me give him a second breathing treatment and added a second medication to the mix to try to open up his airway better. After that, his pulse-ox measured 93. Whew! I was then informed that if it hadn't have gone above 92 after the second treatment, we would have been making a trip to the hospital, so we are VERY thankful to have dodged that bullet! So he was able to get his steroid injection, and then we had to hang out for 15 minutes to make sure he didn't have any reactions to the medications. He also got an antibiotic shot for his ear infection. They need to treat this infection a bit more aggressively since he just had one in the same ear 3 weeks ago and that was treated with the more potent of the 2 standard antibiotics for ear infections. So the poor baby got 2 pokes and 2 breathing treatments at the doctor today. They also gave us a lovely parting gift... our very own nebulizer! So now we get to do breathing treatments every 4 hours. You're jealous, I know. But after our trip to the doctor today, he has been doing so much better. He is definitely on his way to being our old Benny again. Since his breathing was so bad today, they want to see him back again tomorrow for a recheck, but after that, we hope we're in the clear. He'll have a few days of oral antibiotics and steroids, but it definitely looks like the worst is over. These kids don't get sick much, but when they do, they really go for it!

Poor Benny :(

Benny has been in a bad way these last few days. He came down with a fever on Saturday, and on Sunday and into Monday his cough was unbearable. He has held onto the fever, and at times it has been up to over 104. He is so miserable, my poor little guy. I was unable to stay home with him today due to unavoidable work conflicts, so Andrew stayed home with the boys and pretty much served as Ben's personal mattress. Ben just couldn't keep those sad little eyes open today, sleeping at least 8 hours throughout the day. This from a kid who gives us only an 1 1/2 hour nap most days, if we're lucky. Despite all that daytime slumber, he still sacked out before he was even in his crib at bedtime. When I got home from work this evening and took over the cuddling duties, I noticed that his left ear was also starting to goop again. So not only does he have a really bad cold, or possibly even the flu, he's got an ear infection to boot. Can't a 17 month old get a break! So tomorrow it's my turn to stay home and get him into the doctor ASAP to start another round of antibiotics. Since he was just treated for an ear infection in the same ear less than 3 weeks ago, I am praying that we won't have to start the discussion of putting tubes in his ears. Please pray for little Ben to start feeling better quickly. My poor little guy. It breaks my heart to see him this way! But despite feeling as bad as he does, he still can light up a room with that sweet smile. You just gotta love him!

Josh's New Look

We picked up Joshua's glasses on Saturday morning, and he has done better with them than I could have ever hoped. He has worn them constantly since we picked them up, and is so excited to have them. My old friend, Matthew, from high school works in the optical at the Sam's Club out at the San Tan mall, so we decided to have him help us pick out the right frames and get the fitted just right. Matt's been doing this since high school, and he has a 2 year old, so I knew he would do a great job. Plus, Sam's Club has awesome prices on glasses, so that mixed with our insurance got us the glasses for next to nothing! We're assuming he is seeing better, since he seems to enjoy wearing them, but it's hard to tell. I think he looks so stinkin' cute in these little wire frames. They make him look so much older and distinguished! So much better than the ugly plastic frames we grew up with!

SPECK-tacular!

I took Josh for his ophthalmology appointment today. Turns out his cornea abrasion is all healed up and we don't have to do any more ointment, which is a blessing since it was almost impossible to get him to hold still so I didn't give him another good poke in the eye trying to treat his poke in the eye! But we did find out that he is pretty significantly nearsighted, especially the left eye. So nearsighted that they gave me a prescription for glasses. Not really a shocker to us. He's never seemed to have any trouble seeing, but Andrew was in glasses at 3 and I was in glasses at 4, so here we go down this road! I am actually quite excited about him wearing glasses. The eye doctor's office had a children's optical in it, so I got to try a few pairs of glasses on him, and OMG he looks SO cute! They make him look about 5 years old! I was really wishing I would have brought the camera. In addition to being stinkin' adorable, I think he won't want to sit so close to the TV anymore, and won't have to stick his nose in books. For some reason we never equated this to his vision. But I guess hindsight is 20/20. It all makes perfect sense now. The optical in the doctor's office didn't take our vision insurance, so we'll have to go somewhere else, but the frames he showed me were pretty kick-booty. The entire frame was completely flexible, and therefore virtually impossible to break. They cost a pretty penny (of course!), but I think it is worth it to spend a little more money on some frames that we won't have to replace in 3 months because he's a 3 year old who falls down a lot! So now I'm trying to get him excited about wearing glasses. My parents believe that he will want to wear them when he realizes how well he can see with them, so I hope they're right. They are the experts, you know. So I think finding some specktaculars for Josh is our mission for the weekend. Wish us luck!