It's been a while. I feel like life is really busy, but yet we don't do that much. My days are filled trying to keep two very energetic children out of trouble, attempting to teach them to be at least semi-functional human beings, trying to keep the house in a somewhat livable state, and not losing my sanity along the way. We've spent a lot of time going to parks, going to the zoo, and working on the house. It's been good. I also feel like time is flying by far too quickly. How is it already August? My baby is suddenly not a baby anymore, but a walking toddler. Alex has become a thin, lanky, athletic little boy. How did this happen? I don't know.
We've had WAY too many doctor visits this last month. I'M SO SICK OF GOING TO DOCTORS!!! Caleb had some weird bruise-like spots appear on his torso about a month ago that never went away. I made the mistake of googling it. NEVER GOOGLE SYMPTOMS! The Dr. said they were Café au Lait spots, and while a lot of large spots can indicate a rare neurological disease, as long as they didn't change or get any more, he should be just fine.
Matt was really sick for one day around that time, then I caught what he had and it lasted a week. I had several days of fever, then cough and congestion, then an eye infection and ear infection, so I got the pleasure of seeing a Dr. Caleb got a runny nose, Alex had a cough, but neither boy got very sick. My ear was still plugged, but thankfully I was feeling better by the time we were ready to leave for our vacation.
I made my first call to poison control the day before we left on vacation. I had been cleaning the bathroom when both boys woke up from their naps. Alex had to pee and insisted on using the bathroom I had just finished cleaning, so I quickly moved the chemicals out so he could go. Next thing I know Alex is asking for a towel, because for whatever reason he completely missed the toilet. Great. . .I JUST finished cleaning, and now there's pee all over the floor. I was trying to get him cleaned up, when I heard Caleb cough. I looked over, he was sitting on the floor with the can of bathroom cleaner open in his hands, white foam around his mouth, a funny look on his face. AAHHHHHH!!! I quickly grabbed him, washed off his face, anything that may have gotten in his mouth was gone, so I called poison control. They were surprisingly nice. They didn't even make me feel like an idiot when I had to say, "So, my baby just ate some bathroom cleaner (because yes, I'm an awesome mom like that and left the chemicals on the floor within his reach, and yes, I was totally neglectful, and yes I do use chemicals to clean my house, although now I'm totally going to switch to vinegar from here on out, and yes, this was a total mom fail. . .)". I don't know how much Caleb actually ate, but thankfully there were no negative side effects. He was totally fine.
That afternoon, Alex started complaining that his toes tingled. An hour later his ankle was swollen. I called the nurse line through our insurance, and she told me she thought he should be seen within 8 hours (keep in mind by this point it was about 9pm). Great. We searched online and found an instacare nearby that was open until 10, So Matt took him there. They x-rayed his ankle, said it was fine, probably just a sprain, wrapped it up and sent them home. Two days later Alex was fine. Then the following day his shin swelled for no apparent reason. Two days later he was fine. The next day his knee swelled for no apparent reason. We were concerned, so we took him to an instacare in Maine. There the dr told us it could be nothing, it could be something, and since we were staying in a somewhat rural place away from our pediatrician, it would be beneficial to have some immediate answers so that we know what we were dealing with. She sent us to Maine Medical Hospital in Portland. Yay. After 6 hours there, several blood tests, a conscious sedation where the drs were unable to draw any fluid from Alex's swollen knee, they said, "Hmmm, we don't really know. It could be rheumatoid arthritis or a virus, come back if anything changes." Poor Alex hated every minute of it, but he was such a trooper. Later that night he was running around like nothing had ever happened. He's been fine ever since.
Matt started feeling crappy again and had a sore throat for a few days once we got to Maine. Although that might have just been lack of sleep.
I really hoped this would be the end, but Caleb came down with a fever last Friday for several days. The lymph nodes under his ear became very swollen, so once we got home, we went back to the Dr. on Wednesday. Thankfully no ear infection, but no real reason why it would still be swollen, so take some antibiotics and come back for a checkup next week. If the swelling doesn't go down, bloodwork will need to be done. Fabulous. He seems fine, but it's still a little swollen.
Also, my eye infection came back Tuesday, and I have a soar throat. I'm done. We are now up to 5 dr visits with one more next week, 1 ER visit, 2 x-rays, and about $3000+ in medical bills after insurance. Can we just all agree that this will be the end? I hope so!!
I promise my next post will be a happier one.
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