MAC Day

So after about two hours of sleep last night it was off for another Mac Day. James had a rough night of fevers, rapid breathing and then "owee" (pointing to tummy and chest). He was quiet adamant about the "owee" and I felt awful not knowing what was really "owee" or how to help. Rob spent some time with him early in the morning so I could at least get an hour of sleep before the alarm went off.

James awoke in the morning to confront us with a new dilemma - he had an obvious rash on his face, neck and head as well as a speckled version of it over the trunk of his body. And of course my mind runs through all the questions of what it could be ... something contagious? from the medicine? reaction to something? does this have anything to do with how he's been acting? the fevers? I also did not have a whole lot of time to decide what to do with him. He seemed relatively fine, so after checking with his babysitter for the day, who said it was fine to bring him, we were off.

I spent the morning at Mac for another ultrasound, OB appointment and Dietician appointment. They did another ultrasound because last time they were unable to get all the measurements they needed. For the rest everything is going fine, blood pressure and sugar levels are fine. I'm feeling somewhat better (again ... hopefully it will stay that way this time). I learned yet another new thing about the body again today ... it's just never ending, what an amazing creation the body is. I learned about the S I Joint. The sacroiliac joint (SI joint) is one of two joints in your pelvis that connect the tailbone and the large pelvic bone. This joint does not move much, but it is critical to transferring the load of your upper body to your lower body ... as I have experienced in this pregnancy. I've had troubles with this joint in previous pregnancies (just never knew that was what it was called), but not until later in the pregnancy and not near as bad. Right now I am experiencing pain in the joint area (buttocks, tailbone) when lying down and it that makes it hard and painful to get up after laying down. Once I get past the pain to get myself standing my lower body cannot handle the weight and doesn't want to function at first. Sometimes I also have trouble walking down stairs, where it seems my legs do not want to do what they're suppose to do. There isn't much that can be done during pregnancy for this, heat and ice and massage ... 20 more weeks to go! The joys of being pregnant. What an interesting and complex system our bodies is.

So after spending the morning at Mac it was back to the sitters to pick up James for his appointment with the Lung Specialist ... and off to Mac again. By this time his rash had gotten worse and had spread more obviously throughout his body. The doctor looked at him and believes that this is from the antibiotics. He said that it is possible to get a delayed reaction 7-10 days after starting an antibiotic ... poor guy, wonder if this is what's been making him so miserable lately? So we are to stop the antibiotic immediately; we will wait out the weekend and see if he gets betters. On Monday if the rash settles we are suppose to start two new antibiotics, the combination of these two should fight off the bacteria.

Because James has generalized bronchitis (or chronic bronchitis) he will need to go back on his orange puffers for a more permanant basis in order to try calm the irritation and inflammation. The Lung Specialist will continue to monitor James by x-rays, starting with another one taken today, and the upcoming CT Scan

We discussed James' reflux as well, but are leaving things as is right now. He said he would like to do things systematically, if we throw too much in the equation (like we don't have enough) it gets too confusing. So we need to start with getting rid of the bacteria. What I didn't ask is how we do this if he continues to have aspiration. If food continues to get in the lungs how can we keep the bacteria away? As well he advised that in order to truly know if the Losec is working we should give it about 3-6 months and see what happens over that period. It is possible that he could just need a higher dose of Losec. The other reason for not right away putting him on a medication that reduces reguritation is because this medication helps empty the stomach ... and in so doing, a common side effect is diarrhea - like we aren't dealing with that enough right now. He said that GI would determine if James should be put on this and that it will likely be discussed at the "Meeting of Minds". We see GI next week, so we'll wait for the information we get from there.

So in the meantime, if nothing else is done in the reflux area I guess I can expect more sleepless nights ... and here I thought that we'd were moving closer to getting something to help with that area.

I've been listening to the Mac Kid's Radiothon (for you locals: FM 102.9, AM 820, AM1150) the last couple days. I've never listed before but I know that over a year ago I would have found it "interesting" but as I listen to the stories I feel I'm so often close to tears because I can imagine and feel all that goes on behind the scenes. It all sounds so simple until you're confronted with it yourself. It also has made me realize how fortunate we are, there are so many kids that have to go through far more then they ever should for their years. Although most of the people who speak on the show are positive and uplifting it also reminds me of the comfort we have in each day again as we open our Bible and realize where our strength and hope comes from. How good and necessary it is that each Sunday we begin the service professing that our help is in the Name of the LORD!