Our ER experience

Yesterday was a pretty decent day for Shaylan. She was up moving around and even ventured outside for a little bit. I was able to get a nap which is a rare occurance but was much needed and Shaylan fell asleep in the sofa around 7:30 last night. She was running a slight temp around 7 so I gave her tylenol and she went to sleep. I was in bed around 10:30 and fell right to sleep. At 2:15 Shaylan came in my room saying she was scared. I went to pick her up and she was burning up. I took her temp and it was 102.9. The doctor instructed us to call if her temp went over 101 but a low grade temp was to be expected. I called the ENT and the doc on call called me back. He said to just watch her and call the pediatrician in the morning. Jeff did not like that answer because why would the one doc say to call if it went over 101 and this one said to wait until morning. Well we decided since we are paying out the wazoo for the cobra that we were going to use it and take her to the ER to be on the safe side. I called my dad and he came back to sit with Katie who was sound asleep. This was around 2:45. When we got to the ER she was still running high 101. They put us in a room and gave her some motrin (I did not realize and wish now that I knew before that if a child is running a really high temp that you can give them motrin an hour after you give them tylenol and it should bring the temp down.) She was complaining her belly hurt and they heard her cough so they wanted a pee pee sample and a chest x-ray. As we were sitting there I smelt something. I asked Shaylan if she tooted and she said yes but her belly did not hurt as bad. Ah gas. So we got up to use the potty and she tooted a big one and did a little pee but it was enough. As we were coming out of the bathroom the x-ray doc was waiting for us so we went down there. She did really well getting the x-ray and when I picked her up to take her back to the room she tooted again. At this point her fever was mostly gone and she was actually talking our ears off. She was sitting on Jeffs lap just tooting away. No wonder her belly hurt. She really has not had anything that would get her bowels moving so I am sure she is a little constipated. Hopefully if she gets some fruits in her she will get moving along. The doc came in and said everything looked okay but to keep our eyes on her and if she runs another high temp to use the tylenol/motrin combo and take her to the pediatrician on Friday. She had a slight cold or allergies before the surgery so the doc thinks her body was just in overdrive fighting off the surgery and whatever else she may have. We got home around 5 am and Jeff went to bed because he had to go to work today. It is "take your child to work day" so he did not want to disappoint Katie who has been looking forward to this day for the last 2 weeks. I tried to sleep with Shaylan on our airbed in the livingroom. She was not tired so we put cartoons on. I dozed for about 30 mins until Jeff came in and asked me to get Katie up and dressed. I made their lunches and got Katie ready. They left at 6:30 and I layed down again. I am figuring I fell asleep around 7 and at this point Shaylan was sound asleep. I slept until 10:30 and she slept until 11. Yes I feel like half the day is gone but the way I was feeling and the lack of sleep I have had, I dont care. So far there is no fever but she is just laying around which I am fine with. She needs to rest up and fight the bug she has and let her little body heal. I am praying tonight is a better night and that we actually get a full nights sleep. We really need it.

Shaylans Surgery

This is the results of anesthesia. Poor kid was so sleepy and look at the blotchy face. It cleared up about an hour after I took this. (Sorry that the pics are poor. They are from my cell)

She was so excited that she was allowed to take home the PJs and the hat she wore. Once the meds started to wear off she perked up.

Is this what I have to look forward too in the future? Doctors or patients? With the grace of our family, I would say the later but I pray for the first. Shaylan was even allowed to bring home the "space" mask that she used. It smells like strawberries and the scent will last for about a year they say. I wrote this on my myspace blog yesterday but wanted to share it with anyone that reads this.

What an emotional rollercoaster of a day. Right now I am in the low because things are looking fairly good but I know once I put Miss Shaylan to bed I will be in the high because of concern. Shaylan had her adenoids removed and had tubes put in her ears. If you have read my past blogs you know we have been struggling with this for a while now. She had to be at the surgical center at 10:15 but we did not go back until almost 11. Then they gave her the "giggle juice" which is valium and it made her seem stoned. Jeff and I were in hysterics. She kept repeating herself but half of what she said we could not understand. She did not get wheeled to surgery until 11:45 and we had to go wait in the waiting room. The doctor came out at 12:30 and said all is well. Her adenoids were so enlarged that they were blocking her sinuses and the tube that drains fluid from her ears. Her ears were so full of fluid that it just poured out when he was done. An hour later we got to see her in recovery and that was tough. She had the IV still in her little hand but she was eating a popsicle which was the first thing she had to eat since 7:30 last night. Once she was able to eat it and keep it down they would pull the IV so we could go home. She kept saying that her mouth hurt and that she was sleepy. She was also a little weepy. Finally at 2:15 we were able to leave. Shaylan was allowed to ride in the wheelchair and was allowed to keep her surgical cap, the mask that they used to put her under, the special rocket/astronaut PJs she wore and the special socks. She fell right to sleep in the car. I got concerned because her face got bright red and blotchy but it was from the anesthesia. She was very swollen and congested and rested much of the afternoon after we got home. She finally got hungry and ate some Jello and then had some milkshake and then another bowl of Jello. I had to run out and get her meds and my meds(oh yeah on top of my day I got another sinus infection thanks to my allergies.) and when I came home she was up moving around. She is now down on the porch playing with Katie with her hullahoop. The doctor said she should be doing great by tomorrow and to just push the fluids and when she wants solid food to give it to her. She is still in her special PJs and I am sure will be in them tomorrow too inspite of the fact that she has new Hannah Montana PJs that we just got her. God was good today with everything and we are thrilled with how she is doing. Now we just have to watch for a fever because that could mean infection but she is on an antibiotic so I am sure she will be fine. Tonight and tomorrow I will give her the prescribed pain meds to help her rest but after that she can just have regular tylenol. She is a brave little one and we are so happy that we made the first step to helping her speech improve. Now that she can hear we can move on with the speech therapy. Thank you to all who said a prayer for Shaylan. Your prayers were answered. I will update over the next few days. Enjoy the great weather. I know we will be outside tomorrow!

My cat truly has nine lives.

This story may be a little disturbing but at the same time it is hilarious. Jeff had to go work on a few doors at the storage center where they keep all of their supplies (for those of you reading this that dont know what it is my husband does, he is a garage door tech. He does work on the side if you need a door or opener.). He decided to take Shaylan along because next week Katie gets to go to work with him for take your child to work day. The shop is up in Bordentown which is about half an hour away from my house and he has to take 295. Jeff has a big utility truck that he uses for work. Well after Jeff took the exit off of 295 onto 130 he heard a news that sounded like a cat. He asked Shaylan if she was making noises and she said no, it sounded like Emily but it sounded like it was coming from the back part of the truck. He went outside to open the door and here on the side of Rt 130 was my cat. Apparently she had taken a nap up underneath his truck on the frame but when he started to leave I guess was to scared to jump off. She rode all the way to Bordentown under Jeffs truck. What a cat. So of course he had no where to put her so he called me to tell me about it and to go get her. I was at Target at the time so I had to finish what I was doing and then run home to get the carrier and then back out to Bordentown to get my cat. Oh my goodness. That cat is too much. Hopefully she has learned her lesson about sleeping under vehicles. I have been wanting to repaint my room and get a new comforter set for it for a little while now. I found a gorgeous quilt set at Target today and called Jeff and he told me to go ahead and buy it. It is a set that includes that shams except that when I opened to take a sham to Lowes to buy paint they were not there so now I have to go back to Target to get the shams. I am a little upset but at the same time whatever. I cant put the quilt on yet anyway until I paint. So that is what I am doing now. I am going to get the first coat on. I am doing 2 colors. I found this great green color but I am afraid that all the walls would be too much. I also got a deep cream color too so I am going to do the green on the wall where our bed is and the cream on the rest. I am so excited so I am going to end this, get my painting clothes on and get to work. Oh one more thing. Thank goodness the rain held off because Katie had a great game. Go Blue Jays.